Structure
The Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology provides an innovative training programme fully integrated with its research themes.
■ In the first semester at Kent and in the second semester Summer School at Utrecht, there is core training in advanced theoretical criminology, advanced research methods and specialist qualitative and legal research methods. Core training is oriented to global and cultural issues and governed by the interdisciplinary, social science and law-based focus demanded by the programme. The core training also includes general research skills and a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods.
■ In the second semester all candidates take the core course in Advanced Qualitative and Legal Methods at the Utrecht Summer School (see link). This two-week course is unique in bringing together new methods of qualitative research in social science and law-based criminology (see link).
■ Innovative elective subject-specific courses are provided by the four partners. Candidates choose courses according to their research project and the mobility path they follow.
■ The acquisition of a range of high level transferable skills throughout the coursework and subsequent research training. They include language skills, communication, network and dissemination skills, leadership, research management and relationship management skills, taught in skills courses, promoted in supervision, and cultivated in the community of candidates.
Personal and career development is associated with a personal development plan and held in an e-portfolio; this is a candidate-led record making full use of personal reflection supported by guidance from supervisors and associated members.
■ The development of these skills is enhanced by candidate involvement in the Common Study Programme in Critical Criminology (CSP, see link), a long-standing twice-yearly, postgraduate-focused international conference with the involvement of 11 universities from 8 different countries. Candidates attend at least two conferences or ‘Common Sessions’ and present their research work to a diverse international audience of postgraduates, academics, policy professionals and criminal justice practitioners. All four partners are members of the CSP, which extends the international and inter-cultural scope of the doctorate and reinforces its relevance to real-world criminology in social action and policy.
The programme’s innovative, socially-engaged approach to criminology always emphasises a relationship between research and crime policy in all its cultural, social, political and international ramifications. At the core of this societal engagement is the consideration of ethics, politics, governance, democracy, power relations, justice, responsibility and rights in an innovative combination of social science and law perspectives. This is reflected in the development of global-critical citizenship, a new, DCGC-specific set of transversal competencies at doctoral level. The development of these competencies is integral to all research and skills training, and relationships with associated members. This is reinforced by careful attention to the democratic participation of candidates in the governance structure (see link).
■ The integrated partnership with associated members (see link), drawn from fields directly relevant to the research themes of the DCGC and germane to the cultivation of transversal competencies in global-critical citizenship provides a distinctive feature of this programme. The socially-engaged criminological policy orientation of the programme demands a wide range of associated member organisations at the local, national and international levels. The partners have secured the full support of a large number and range of such associated members – they include a range of NGOs, research institutes, and criminal justice agencies. Candidate research in cultural and global criminology is oriented to civil society action and criminal justice policy. As part of their commitment to the programmes, associated members provide the opportunity for candidates to undertake part of their research in the workplace and/or to undertake an internship related to their research topic. The innovative composition of associated members reflects:
—the research themes of the programme;
—the programme’s commitment to policy and social action;
—routes of dissemination of research results to policy audiences and wider society;
—opportunities for research exploitation; and
—many of the future career options of the candidates.
■ The programme reflects the objectives of the European Charter and Code of Practice for Researchers. It encourages the doctoral candidates to engage from the outset in personal and career development. Associated members support skills training through their different functions in the programme. In the course of the programme this personal development plan incorporates a career development plan which is supported by the partner institutions. It is a key innovative feature of the programme that it enables a broad range of high-level career options in academia, non-academic research, positions in NGOs, crime policy, criminal justice agencies and other bodies (see link). Through supervised research, relationships with associated members, development of skills in subject-specific and transversal skills training, advice from career offices, and the use of a personal development plan, the candidate is always oriented to future career development. The personal development plan is carried in an e-portfolio throughout the programme, with an expectation that it will continue to be used in the post-doctoral trajectory as part of lifelong learning and career development.
The importance of publication and wide dissemination of the outcomes of their research is stressed from the beginning of the programme and the range of publication, media and other opportunities are discussed. Sage Publishing, a leading academic publisher in criminology and the British Library conduct workshops on the topic. With continuing support from supervisory teams, candidates are expected to seek out publication opportunities throughout the programme, recognising that these may range from formal academic media, to policy documents, to communication with the wider public. The presentation of at least two papers at conferences of the Common Study Programme (see link) enhance these dissemination opportunities.
■ International mobility is integral to the programme’s intellectual aims and structure. Candidates use the different perspectives offered in each of their host institutions and the region and the country in which they are located. All candidates are supervised by at least two supervisors from their ‘mobility’ institutions, spending a minimum of 12 months in each supervisory institution. With the first semester at Kent, the research and training at two co-supervisory partners, the Summer School, and at least two conferences of the Common Study Programme, candidates study in at least two of the partners, and many have experience of three or four.
