“The holders of PhDs, when they are employed, generate production externalities – in other words, their having a PhD raises not only their own productivity but also productivity of those without a PhD alongside whom they work. Those holding PhDs also teach the next generation, creating multiple long-term effects on society.”
UK Research and Innovation funded over £3bn into PhD-level study in 2022/23. The impacts of PhD study can have significant positive impacts on professional and personal development, especially for women, as well as generate significant returns for the individual, the Exchequer, industry, and university-industry collaborations.
Still, there is a need to better understand the how PhD study fits into a place-based strategy, and civic role of universities, and their relationships with industry and place. This report shares the findings of a rapid evidence review into the economic and social impacts of PhDs to improve evidence and make an informed case for PhD study as part of a wider civic mission.
This report, written by Hannes Read, Alice Pugh, Bec Riley, and George Bramley, can support a civic university looking to maximise the impacts of its operations to make a difference for places and with people. PhD study covers key components of university day-to-day operations such as teaching, research and sharing knowledge.
PhD study not only supports the operations of a university, but has spillovers for society, industry and personal development. Embedding a civic university outlook into PhD study needs to take into account the impacts of research in developing people, and places, as well as training future researchers with an embedded civic outlook.
Download the report from Pure
Please reference this paper as:
Read, H., Pugh, A., Riley, B., & Bramley, G. (2024). A review of the economic and social value produced through funding PhD students. National Civic Impact Accelerator. https://civicuniversitynetwork.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/NCIA-Economic-and-Social-Impacts-of-PhDs.pdf
Meet the Authors
Hannes Read
Hannes is a Policy and Data Analyst with experience working on economic development research projects in local government and with business improvement districts. Hannes has recently worked at Lancaster City Council actively engaging with the economic recovery and resilience in the response to Covid-19. He has also worked closely on the council’s Community Wealth Building Strategy for sustainable and inclusive economic prosperity.
Alice Pugh
Alice is a Policy and Data Analyst with an undergraduate degree in BA Economics from Manchester Metropolitan University, and a postgraduate degree in MA Criminology from the University of Manchester. As part of her undergraduate degree, Alice completed a sandwich year with the Department for Work and Pensions as an Economic Data Analyst, working with big data, creating dashboards and conducting evaluations.
Bec Riley
Rebecca (Bec) Riley is an experienced researcher, intelligence provider and information professional. She has been helping practitioners and policy makers make decisions and develop solutions for over 20 years. Rebecca has delivered over 200 research and information projects to the public and private sector across economic, social and environmental policy areas. She is a champion of using evidence for decision making, making research accessible and ensuring it has impact.
George Bramley
George Bramley is a Principal Analyst with extensive experience in knowledge exchange events that have policy impacts, development of evidenced based strategies, the development of economic rationale and business cases for social policy intervention, health technology assessment, formative and impact evaluations, systematic reviews and evidence based policy making.
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