"I still remember a throwaway comment from a UX colleague that landed like a dagger: "PhD researchers are a bit lost in theory, and that's why they struggle to get a job in UCD." It was meant to be witty. What it revealed instead was a familiar pattern in UX and UCD spaces: confusing rigorous academic research training with academic posturing. When people working in complex, fragmented, siloed, highly regulated, politically sensitive environments carry such confusion, it's not just an eye-roll moment."
"It becomes a practice risk and delivery risk. Over time, it also creates a culture that stops PhD colleagues (or doctoral researchers) being placed on the right work, recognised as subject matter leads, or even treated as colleagues whose judgement matters. So what this colleague and other people who may think like them often miss is that: a PhD isn't "more education". A PhD isn't "a credential". It's applied training in using theory under scrutiny."
A throwaway comment equated PhD researchers with being lost in theory and struggling to find UX jobs. That comment exposed a pattern of confusing rigorous academic research training with academic posturing in UX and UCD contexts. Such confusion creates practice and delivery risks in complex, fragmented, regulated, and politically sensitive environments. The confusion also prevents doctoral researchers from being assigned appropriate work, recognised as subject-matter leads, or trusted for their judgement. A PhD represents multi-year, applied professional training in using theory under scrutiny rather than additional education or merely a credential.
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