Dr. Ciarán Seoighe:

If I might start, I thank the Senator for her question on how we make PhDs world class. There is an onus on us to do that. We have looked at it quite carefully and spent much time understanding the PhD model, talking to the PhD students and meeting with them pre pandemic. One of the things we learned is that it is a bit like everything else: one cannot be what one cannot see. We found many of our PhDs were not as industry-ready as they needed to be. They were not as ready for that next evolution. It was very much a PhD model designed to create academics in the system. However, we recognise that the vast majority of PhDs go into industry. Many of us have been through that precarity model down through the years, myself included, so I know what it is like when you move across. In the traditional PhD training, one is not necessarily going to be industry-ready when going into industry. Some of the things we are looking at are cohort-based training, where one works with a cohort of other PhDs or peers, because it can be a lonely life sometimes for those working as an isolated PhD, and also industry being part of the training programme, where 12 weeks or so of the training is actually with industry partners who make the PhDs industry-ready. The whole aim here is to have the world’s best PhDs who are sort of able to command the kind of salaries here that they want and will attract the companies to be here, because that is what they come for. They come, and stay for the talent.