Built in, not bolted on: responsible innovation in UK Centres for Doctoral Training – the new normal?
ISSN: 0969-6474
Article publication date: 30 September 2022
Issue publication date: 30 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of the study detailed here was to engage with Directors of Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) during the first year of their new Centres to form a snapshot view of the nature and type of training that was being incorporated and how this might affect the wider institution – in this case the university. Using an organisational learning lens, this paper empirically examines the work-in-progress of the responsible innovation (RI) training in CDTs to assess how new RI understandings are being created, retained and transferred within the CDTs, questioning whether this process represents a programme of “institutionalisation”.
Design/methodology/approach
During the past decade, RI has become increasingly embedded within the EU and UK research context, appearing with greater frequency in funding calls and policy spaces. As part of this embedding, in its 2018 funding call for CDTs, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) required RI training to be included in the programme for all doctoral students.
Findings
The paper concludes that, at present, institutionalisation is highly variegated, with the greater organisational change required to truly embed RI mindsets.
Originality/value
The paper provides original, empirical research evidence of RI institutionalisation in UK CDTs, and, using a “learning organisation” lens, examines areas of value to both RI and learning organisation theory.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This paper forms part of a special section “Institutional change for responsible research and innovation (RRI)”, guest edited by René von Schomberg and Nhien Nguyen.
This research was supported by EPSRC grant 2220046.
Citation
Ten Holter, C., Stahl, B. and Jirotka, M. (2023), "Built in, not bolted on: responsible innovation in UK Centres for Doctoral Training – the new normal?", The Learning Organization, Vol. 30 No. 6, pp. 669-686. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-09-2021-0117
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited