To channel the challenges of the new models and processes of knowledge creation, which are already a reality in other countries, the Department of Communication at Pompeu Fabra University has just regulated, for the first time in the Spanish State, a line of applied doctoral research in Communication: Thesis for applied research project. 

The purpose of this new type of research is to gain, through practice, experience in generating new models and forms of knowledge

"This initiative is an established reality in the field of research in countries such as the UK, the US and some European countries, and is internationally known as Practice-based Research", explains Carlos Alberto Scolari, responsible for the doctoral programme of UPF’s Department of Communication. “The initiative is also inspired by projects of “industrial” doctoral theses, fully established at European level, and successfully promoted in the Catalan university system by the Government (Generalitat) of Catalonia”, Scolari explains.

So far, in the field of social sciences, the doctoral research process often focused on the production of a research report, which in some cases was accompanied by a scientific publication or presentation at an academic conference. “In this classic model, realizing products, content, prototypes, experimenting with new formats, or artistic creation, had very little place in the Spanish research system”, explains Carles Sora, a professor at the Department of Communication and visiting researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (USA), as well as coordinator of the committee that has driven and designed this innovative proposal for a doctorate at UPF.

“And there were very few cases where the doctoral research process had a particular application extending beyond the project, beyond the university, or that was carried out with the active participation of a society stakeholder”, Sora adds.

A new type of doctorate with a dual purpose

The aim of this new type of PhD is twofold. On the one hand, it seeks to encourage doctoral projects that make use of applied methodologies that generate new, not exclusively written forms of knowledge. And on the other, the aim is to encourage knowledge transfer in the processes of doctoral research in collaboration with other institutions (companies, associations, institutions, groups, centres, NGOs, etc.). Enhancing relations and the implementation of the research project during the process greatly enhances its subsequent development, dissemination and impact.

In applied research, originality and the advancement of knowledge are developed by means of applied, creative, analytical, technological or artistic practices that become an intrinsic part of the research process

An idea that generates new knowledge models

In this new modality based on applied research, originality and the advancement of knowledge are developed by means of applied, creative, analytical, technological or artistic practices that become an intrinsic part of the research process. The resulting products (creative works, analysis, data, software, prototypes, products, methods, etc.) along with the research report, are inseparable contents.

The purpose of this type of research is to experiment, through practice, in generating new models and forms of knowledge. The ultimate goal is for these new models and resulting forms to respond to specific issues of society, or to open new horizons in their respective fields. 

This initiative is at the forefront in consolidating and officially regulating new forms of applied knowledge in a PhD in Communication. With this, the Department of Communication is expanding its lines of doctoral thesis, of which three are now available: monographic thesis (classic model), thesis by compendium of publications (introduced a few years ago), and the new applied research thesis.