FACILITATING THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: INITIATIVES WITHIN THE PIEp RESEARCH SCHOOL

Research schools have become common phenomena in the academic world. However, we find lack of studies investigating their influence and role in the academia. This study attempts to address this gap by describing how a specific research school has evolved into an effective learning environment for the enrolled PhD students. The Product Innovation Engineering program (PIEp) is currently the largest research initiative in Product Innovation in Sweden. The PIEp research school is a part of this program, with the aim to increase innovation capabilities in the Swedish industries. Through an action-based research approach the authors, who are research school participants themselves, present the processes and the chain of events to offer knowledge transfer and to give insight into this special research environment. In this pursuit, the findings are presented in three different themes,1) the role of common interest groups, 2) common interest group activities, and c) a tiger team workshop. This paper holds major implications for other research schools and funding organizations.