Introduction
The name "Eden" calls to everyone's mind the garden of earthly delights to which the Book of Genesis refers. It evokes a beautiful and creative environment, beckoning us to enter and partake of all that is on offer. With the launch of the EIASM’s Doctoral Education Network (EDEN) in June 1988, EIASM opened its doors wide for the most promising scholars willing to partake of this exciting doctoral adventure.
By offering the annual EDEN Programmes, EIASM contributes to the most critical phase in a scholar’s journey – his/her introduction to and early growth in the academic market. Thanks to its unique organizational image and its competitive advantages (such as managing a core of associations while retaining autonomy and flexibility), EIASM is indeed ideally suited to:
- welcoming young doctoral fellows into a highly stimulating system where European researchers can interact (within and across associations) as well as share common objectives and concerns;
- helping scholars in the positioning of their own work with respect to European research generally, by exposing them to various research traditions and orientations;
- opening their minds to the broader international and global perspectives vis-à-vis the Management environment, and heightening their awareness of the challenges that the study of Management is facing in Europe (such as the implications of globalization, new technologies, etc.);
- creating a network of European educators who are currently active at the doctoral level in Management.
EDEN is based on an integrated set of doctoral seminars designed to bring participants into systematic academic interaction, leading them to compare their individual approaches and cross-examine their own research work. The EDEN Programmes consist of a mix of intensive one-week seminars, generally dealing with current and advanced research methodology issues in Management, as well as addressing the frontiers of specific areas of interest.
EIASM involves not only the best doctoral students and their supervisors, but also the institutions to which they belong. To offer a stimulating and varied atmosphere, the EDEN seminars are held in various venues, often alternating locations and thereby establishing important links with leading European business and management schools situated throughout the continent.
EIASM’s Doctoral Education Network supports and complements existing PhD programmes. Its varied, internationally-oriented, and knowledgeable faculty provides guidance and methodological assistance during the one-week intensive and interactive seminars. These seminars are especially designed to help doctoral fellows in the positioning of their research work, critically reviewing their ideas, properly identifying and addressing relevant problems and issues in the field of management, as well as discriminating between “hot” topical issues and those already well-researched in the past.
As new doctoral students join in, positive external contacts are established and the EDEN network expands. The communication and exchanges generated not only involve the doctoral fellows and the EDEN faculty, but also their thesis advisers and the universities and schools to which they belong. As a result of the EDEN initiative, a key group of people who will shape the future of Management Research and Education in Europe is emerging. EIASM plays a crucial role in enhancing the quality of European research in Management.
