Symposium topic
Doctoral training is essential for developing the research leaders, educators and innovators needed to strengthen prosthetics and orthotics globally. This symposium will compare two complementary approaches: the UK Centre for Doctoral Training in Prosthetics and Orthotics, which has created a multi-university, cohort-based doctoral training model, and the Siriraj School of Prosthetics and Orthotics doctoral programme in Thailand, which provides an international postgraduate pathway embedded in a leading regional clinical and academic environment. The session will consider how doctoral programmes can build research capacity, support clinical translation, and develop sustainable international partnerships.
Underpinning science and theory
The symposium is grounded in doctoral education theory, research capacity-building, communities of practice, and evidence-based prosthetics and orthotics. It will draw on programme experience, curriculum design, supervisory models, cohort-based learning activities, clinical-academic integration, and partnership with industry.
Relevance for the ISPO World Congress
The Congress theme, “A World Connected: Advancing Assistive Technologies for Global Equity”, directly aligns with the need to develop doctoral-level capability across different health, education and resource contexts. Strengthening doctoral training is a practical route to improving research leadership, evidence generation and equitable service development.
Perspectives
Presenters will provide perspectives from a UK national doctoral training centre, a Thai international doctoral programme, a current doctoral researcher and a recent doctoral graduate. Together, these perspectives will address programme design, curriculum, supervision, clinical relevance, student experience, cohort integration, and international collaboration.
Learning objectives
By the end of the symposium, participants will be able to:
1. describe key components of cohort-based and programme-based doctoral training in prosthetics and orthotics;
2. identify transferable lessons from UK and Thai doctoral training models;
3. recognise challenges in supervision, funding, interdisciplinarity and sustainability; and
4. propose ways in which ISPO and partner institutions could support a more connected international doctoral training network in prosthetics and orthotics.
