WISE graduate school

WISE graduate school

The WISE graduate School is open to, and organizes activities for, WISE PhD and Postdoctoral researchers (i.e. Postdocs) from both academia and industry. The graduate school ultimately aims to provide important skills needed to achieve excellence in the interdisciplinary area of materials science for sustainability.

Graduate Research School (GRS, forskarskola) is a term with specific connotations in Swedish higher education. While the concept is not officially defined, according to the Swedish Agency for Higher Education, the factors that generally characterize a GRS are: (i) clear organization for postgraduate education, (ii) enhanced supervision, (iii) collaboration between subjects and/or universities on courses and seminars, (iv) multidisciplinarity, and (v) networking. (Ref. ISRN HSV-R–01/12–SE)

The curriculum and activities provide foundations, perspectives, and state-of-the-art knowledge, taught by leading researchers in the field.

Forming a Strong Professional Network

The WISE graduate school actively supports strong multi-disciplinary and international professional networking between PhD students, Postdoctoral researchers (i.e. Postdocs), and industry. This is done through courses, international and national study visits to both academia and industry, summer schools, use of social media, and an alumni network. There are also recurrent chances for the participants to network with industrial and academic representatives in the several events arranged by WISE.

During the study trips, we visit companies and research groups to learn how industry and society approaches sustainable development. The trips are also excellent opportunities for building a network of professional contacts and promotes the participants to discover and connect with companies and research groups. Networking within the WISE graduate school itself is also an important goal of these trips. The graduate school will organize around four study trips each year.

For WISE PhD students, participation in four study trips in total is part of the mandatory curriculum. The typical group size on each trip will be between 20 and 50 participants.

The graduate school provides added value in addition to existing PhD courses and programs at the WISE partner universities, providing unique opportunities for students who are dedicated to achieve international research excellence with industrial and sustainability relevance.