This module aims to equip practitioner researchers with the resources to proactively plan and develop their own personal and professional development in relation to designing practice-oriented research projects at doctoral level. Broadly, this involves: 

• Planning and addressing own personal and professional development priorities as a practitioner researcher seeking to influence practice.
• Developing knowledge at the forefront of a field in order to define and conceptualise practice-based problems suitable for advanced investigation.
• Developing knowledge and skills in designing methodology and method, which contribute to practice and scholarly debate.

Specifically, the module includes activities spanning the following topic areas, designed to underpin the development of practitioner research skills:

• Expectations of doctoral study, and becoming a practitioner researcher
• Negotiating and planning own researcher development
• Strategies for resilience and personal effectiveness
• Research philosophies and perspectives (e.g. ontology, epistemology, axiology)
• Contemporary and emerging strategic issues in society (e.g. globalisation, resilience, sustainability, big data)*
• Artful inquiry and experimentation with conceptualising practice problems
• Experimenting with theoretical lens to examine practice problems*
• Information literacy (e.g. finding and critiquing arguments and evidence)*
• Digital tools (e.g. for referencing, source and idea capturing, and data analysis)*
• Practitioner oriented research approaches, methods and techniques
• Strategies for engagement, influence and impact*
• Research governance and ethics

*The Faculty’s researcher development hub provides a common spine of activities oriented to the development of the researcher and their research. Some content will also be negotiated around the specific development needs of the researcher. This is agreed with the Personal Academic Tutor at the start of the programme and reviewed annually.

The principal aim of the module is for the student to successfully complete a substantial project which results in significant benefits in the context of the professional advancement of the student and/or impacts positively on the strategic direction of, or operational efficiency of his/her organisation, while providing the context for the student to fully demonstrate his/her achievement of level 8/D characteristics as defined in the learning outcomes for this module.

The nature of the Research Project will have been identified in the Approved Studies Learning Agreement and will have been precisely defined in the previous part of the programme, where the preparation of a thoroughly planned research proposal will form part of the assessment. The Project will therefore reflect a coherence and focus relevant to the DProf or DBA award title, approved at the start of the programme.

The project will be grounded in professional practice and will be distinctive in terms of its aims and its intended outputs such that it will make a significant impact on, and make an original contribution to, the advancement of the student’s profession and/or organisation. Through the project the student will demonstrate mastery of the generic capabilities specified in the learning outcomes.