Experiential PhD is a series of distinctive pathways that provide PhD students and postdoctoral research associates opportunities to acquire experiences in authentic settings from laboratories to startup companies to nonprofit institutions, leading to greater impact and broader career opportunities, both within and beyond academia.
Our Experiential PhD opportunities are designed to advance knowledge and innovation by aligning academic pursuits with real-world industry challenges. Faculty gain access to new industry contacts, equipment, and PhD students grounded in use-inspired research. Through access to fresh talent, our corporate partners augment their in-house innovation capacity while also strengthening their workforce development pipeline.
With Experiential PhD, faculty can gain:
- training that develops PhD student and Postdoctoral researcher associates’ leadership, teamwork, and orientation to grounded, in-use research
- distinct pathways to engage industry and international partners
- funding for PhD students
We have executed over 100 executed partnerships since 2017. Faculty can participate in Experiential PhD across four pathways:
Industry PhD provides faculty with opportunities to engage in joint research projects with industry partners while mentoring talented researchers towards a PhD. Northeastern faculty partner with an industry co-advisor to supervise a student who earns a PhD while maintaining their employment and completing their research at their place of employment. All Industry PhD students complete the required curriculum. To find pre-applicants looking for faculty advisors, please view the current pre-applicants to Industry PhD dashboard using your Northeastern credentials.
For more information, contact an Industry PhD Faculty Liaison or [email protected].
LEADERs is a distinctive professional development initiative. All PhD students and Postdoctoral Researchers are eligible to enroll in Leading Self and Others where they build teamwork and leadership competencies they can apply to their work at NU. PhD students who pursue the Experiential PhD Research Graduate Certificate or LEADERs certificate complete a LEADERs internship, which is an academic placement. These internships usually last one to two semesters and the student receives a minimum of two semesters of fellowship funding, making it a useful tool to bridge grants. View open LEADERs internship opportunities using your Northeastern credentials.
For more information, contact Terry Marroquin, Director of LEADERs Partnerships ([email protected]).
Experiential Fellowships for PhD students and Postdoctoral Research Associates are multi-year partnerships with Industry where the fellow’s research is performed predominantly at the partner. This is a growing initiative and a great way for students to benefit from advising from an industry collaborator.
For more information, contact Jason Sidman, Director of Partnership Relations ([email protected]).
Global PhD through dual PhD programs gives faculty the ability to co-advise PhD students with international collaborators and have these PhD students receive degrees from Northeastern and an established international partner. The funding for these students is generally split across both institutions.
Current active partners are:
- Sapienza University of Rome
- University of Paris Saclay
- University College Dublin
- Hong Kong University
These partnerships are open to all research areas provided there is an ongoing collaboration with faculty at these institutions. For more information, contact Sara Wadia-Fascetti ([email protected]).