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This article investigates the value of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) candidates’ prior industry networks and experiences as they intersect with doctoral study, as assessed by a group of HASS PhD graduates. While the phenomenon of industry engagement in PhDs across HASS and STEM is widely recognised, the value of these relationships to the PhD experience is less understood. This is particularly the case in HASS PhDs given the opportunities afforded to this predominantly mature-aged cohort of pre-existing professional networks. In our previous work on this topic, we showed that engaging with industry throughout the HASS PhD research lifecycle is widespread, and that networks may have their genesis prior to commencement and persist into careers post-graduation. In this article, we subject these networks to finer-grained analysis. Based on 16 in-depth interviews, we investigate the value HASS PhD graduates ascribe to their industry networks pre-, during and post-graduation. Our analysis suggests industry engagement during the PhD contributes value in two key ways: by facilitating candidate learning, in the form of research design and data collection related activities, and for knowledge exchange. These insights are further enhanced by development of a novel analytical model that measures the extensiveness, or continuity, of industry engagement across the PhD lifecycle. Comparative analysis reveals a correlation between enduring industry engagement and academic careers post-graduation, suggesting additional value in the form of a highly industry integrated HASS academic labour force. Our findings suggest HASS PhDs can function as an important and hitherto under-recognised industry engagement vector, contributing added value to the research process with multiple potential beneficiaries.

Purpose>There has been sustained interest in how to support doctoral students through the often-gruelling journey they undertake from enrolment to graduation. Although doctoral numbers and successful completions have been steadily increasing globally as well as in Australia, the quality of student progression and outcomes has been widely interrogated and criticised in the literature that is reported in this paper. The authors’ interest as experienced research higher degree supervisors and research leaders in the creative arts and humanities prompted a research project that aimed to better understand the challenges and breakthroughs involved in completing a doctorate from the perspective of candidates themselves.Design/methodology/approach>This was implemented through an action learning collaboration with 18 students from three Australian universities facilitated by four research supervisors.Findings>The main findings presented in this paper include the necessity for maintaining, brokering and supporting a range of relationships; understanding expectations of research study and embracing the need for agility in managing these; and finally, using techniques to improve personal agency and ownership of the transformative journey of research higher degree candidature. The importance of establishing an understanding of the multidimensional human experience of doing a doctorate and providing appropriate support through enhanced forms of research training emerged as a core finding from this research project.Research limitations/implications>The relatively small number of research participants in this study and the discipline-specific focus prohibits generalizability of findings; however, the collaborative, action learning method adopted represents an approach that is both productive and transferable to other contexts and disciplines.Practical implications>Further research might investigate the relevance of the findings from this research to doctoral students in other disciplines and/or institutions or apply the collaborative action learning approach to doctoral training presented here to a range of contexts and cohorts.Social implications>Improving doctoral training options to support the multidimensional needs of candidates can better assure the mental and emotional well-being of doctoral students (essential to their continuing intellectual development and sense of agency) through developing sustainable relationships and realistic expectations. This in turn has the potential to address the consistently high attrition rates in doctoral programmes.Originality/value>This research contributes new insights from doctoral students on the challenges and breakthroughs experienced by them as they pursue original research through formal study and present a novel, collaborative and empowering approach to doctoral training that can be applied in diverse setting.

Aim/Purpose: This article reports on university-funded research conducted to inform, design and implement applied industry-integrated training that could support higher degree by research (HDR) candidates in the disciplines of nursing and creative arts. Background: Doctoral candidates contribute in steadily increasing numbers to the intellectual and economic capital of universities globally, however, the quality of candidate progression and outputs has also been widely criticised. How to best support doctoral candidates for success is therefore a critical focus for universities and an ongoing area of research. Methodology: The study was framed as an action research project as it was driven by the identification of a problem embedded in professional practice that invited action and reflection as well as participation from other practitioners in the field. Contribution: This article presents a multidimensional, industry-focused model for HDR training that effectively engages HDR candidates with key threshold concepts for research. Findings: Doctoral training needs to be more holistic, integrative and career-focused to meet the needs of increasing numbers of candidates with diverse backgrounds and post-doctoral career pathways. Recommendations for Practitioners: This article provides a doctoral training model that can be adapted to other disciplines and industry contexts. Recommendation for Researchers: This article provides a doctoral training model that can, and should, be adapted to other disciplines and industry contexts in order to build more substantive and reliable evaluative data. Impact on Society: As secure career pathways in academia are diminishing, while the number of doctoral candidates are increasing, the integration of industry partners and applied contexts into holistic doctoral training is critical for the working futures of doctoral graduates. Future Research: Further implementations and evaluations of the training workshop provided in this article would advance understandings of training design and implementation options and issues.

There are a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches to researching how film spectators make sense of film texts, from the film text itself, the psychological traits and sociocultural group memberships of the viewer, or even the location and surroundings of the viewer. However, we can only understand the agency of film spectators in situations of film spectatorship by studying actual spectators’ interactions with specific film texts in specific contexts of engagement. Making Sense of Cinema: Empirical Studies into Film Spectators and Spectatorship uses a number of empirical approaches (ethnography, focus groups, interviews, historical, qualitative experiment and physiological experiment) to consider how the film spectator makes sense of the text itself or the ways in which the text fits into his or her everyday life. With case studies ranging from preoccupations of queer and ageing men in Spanish and French cinema and comparative eye-tracking studies based on the two completely different soundscapes of Monsters Inc. and Saving Private Ryan to cult fanbase of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and attachment theory to its fictional characters, Making Sense of Cinema aligns this subset of film studies with the larger fields of media reception studies, allowing for dialogue with the broader audience and reception studies field.

Films are not only visual, they are visceral; they allow an audience to feel the unfolding drama, and psychologically connect with the characters. Even for the screenwriter, the experience of writing a film can be deeply moving, where a range of character emotions are assimilated and then poured back into the narrative. The most important thing to remember, for both the audience and the screenwriter, is this: something can only be felt outside of the text if enough work has been done within the text. As such, this PhD explores the idea that the narrative journey undertaken by a protagonist is also one that the audience is invited to take. More specifically, a protagonist undertakes a journey that is comprised of two individual yet interwoven threads, the physical journey and the emotional journey, and it is the complete narrative experience generated by the two that invites an audience to feel. The screenplay for this PhD explores the idea of the physical and emotional journey by offering a narrative that follows one man's struggle to form a gay football team. Although he appears to be following a physical path to achieve this physical want, what becomes clear is that he is also following an emotional path to embrace his emotional need. The critical commentary for this PhD explores the fabric, form and function of a protagonist's physical and emotional journey, and the relationship that they share. Using the specific model of the Hero's Journey, the critical commentary also offers a framework that aims to define and map-out the physical and emotional journey, which can then be used as a basis for writing or deconstructing a screenplay. Like a protagonist, this PhD takes a journey; a journey to improve both a skill in and an understanding of screenwriting. It enhances creative and critical awareness of screenwriting: a creative artefact with a critical commentary; a creative artefact informed by critical reading; a critical commentary informed by creative writing.

Films are not only visual, they are visceral; they allow an audience to feel the unfolding drama, and psychologically connect with the characters. Even for the screenwriter, the experience of writing a film can be deeply moving, where a range of character emotions are assimilated and then poured back into the narrative. The most important thing to remember, for both the audience and the screenwriter, is this: something can only be felt outside of the text if enough work has been done within the text. As such, this PhD explores the idea that the narrative journey undertaken by a protagonist is also one that the audience is invited to take. More specifically, a protagonist undertakes a journey that is comprised of two individual yet interwoven threads, the physical journey and the emotional journey, and it is the complete narrative experience generated by the two that invites an audience to feel.The screenplay for this PhD explores the idea of the physical and emotional journey by offering a narrative that follows one man's struggle to form a gay football team. Although he appears to be following a physical path to achieve this physical want, what becomes clear is that he is also following an emotional path to embrace his emotional need. The critical commentary for this PhD explores the fabric, form and function of a protagonist's physical and emotional journey, and the relationship that they share. Using the specific model of the Hero's Journey, the critical commentary also offers a framework that aims to define and map-out the physical and emotional journey, which can then be used as a basis for writing or deconstructing a screenplay.Like a protagonist, this PhD takes a journey; a journey to improve both a skill in and an understanding of screenwriting. It enhances creative and critical awareness of screenwriting: a creative artefact with a critical commentary; a creative artefact informed by critical reading; a critical commentary informed by creative writing.