EUA Council for Doctoral Education
The European voice for doctoral education, bringing together a community of academic leaders and professionals
About usThe Doctoral Debate
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19 September 2025
The doctorate was supposed to be about discovery — what happened?
Despite two decades of reform, doctoral education increasingly prioritises performance over inquiry, risking the erosion of intellectual freedom. For Sónia Cardoso, we must reclaim the doctorate as a space of critical thinking, care and epistemic plurality and challenge current systems that value compliance over creativity.
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27 August 2025
Supporting early-career researchers to become ambassadors for European higher education’s values
Early-career researchers (ECRs) are vital to the future of science, innovation and society. To ensure the continuity of research and the transfer of knowledge, it is imperative that the next generation of researchers are prepared to tackle our world’s grand challenges.
Five reasons to join
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1
Exchange good practices
Exchange and learn about the latest good practices in doctoral education from across Europe
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2
Strengthen your network
Strengthen and expand your network with our community of academic leaders and professionals from more than 30 European countries
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3
Gain access to expertise on doctoral school development
We bring together a community with know-how on supporting doctoral schools for universities at different stages of development
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4
Enhance your doctoral research capacity
Develop your university’s capacity to attract and shape talented early-stage researchers in a competitive and global environment
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5
Speak with a strong voice
Speak with a strong voice on the European policy level, together with our European network of more than 230 universities
- Become a member
EUA-CDE
EUA-CDE brings together the largest community of academic leaders and professionals working on doctoral education and research training in Europe.
289 members39 countries
Doctoral researchers are vital to the production of knowledge and to challenging the status quo. Focused on improving doctoral education in Europe, our engagement extends from university leadership to those involved in the day-to-day delivery of doctoral programmes and supervision.
Luke Georghiou,
Deputy President and Deputy Vice-Chancellor University of Manchester; former EUA-CDE Steering Committee Chair