Demonstrating how impact can be created and derived from doctoral programmes, this book focuses on their influence on academic knowledge, policy and practice. Significantly, it highlights the crucial impact of these programmes on the individual and the enduring consequences of this.

Drawing on their extensive experience and conversations with stakeholders in doctoral education from around the world, and incorporating real case examples, the authors provide practical guidance throughout the book which enables readers to enhance the design of new and existing doctoral programmes for greater impact. Each chapter ends with questions to stimulate reflection on the readers’ experience of impact from doctoral education. The concluding chapter outlines a manifesto for enhancing and ensuring impact from doctoral research in the future.

With insights into the impact of doctoral programmes on individual researchers, this book will be essential reading for scholars of management education, as well as being a valuable resource for Higher Education administrators and senior academics around the world tasked with increasing impact from their doctoral programmes.

“This book connects impact and doctoral research, a crucial relationship in the era of accountable impact and engagement. It offers readers a panoramic insight into the doctoral research experience from multiple perspectives and showcases the diversity in doctoral journeys. The book offers excellent value to individuals embarking on a transformative learning journey. It provides insights into how the doctoral process is organized, the impact it can have on personal development both during and after the journey, as well as the academic and societal value of the end product, the doctoral thesis. Additionally, new leaders of doctoral programmes can benefit from the book as it offers valuable insights into key organizational dimensions of such programmes.” Wilfred Mijnhardt, Policy Director at RSM Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University, Netherlands.

Emma Parry is Professor of Human Resource Management and Head of the Changing World of Work Group at the School of Management, Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK.

Colin Pilbeam is Professor of Organizational Safety at Cranfield University, Bedfordshire, UK.