Ph.D. Students' Perceptions of Creativity during Doctorate in Science and Technology at NOVA Lisbon University

To perform research, researchers must have scientific skills, communication skills, teamwork and collaboration, organization and time management, attention to detail, problem-solving, data organization and analysis, as well as leadership and interpersonal skills. However, to develop new and cutting-edge knowledge, they should be creative. Creativity is critical for developing original project research in the Ph.D. journey and is a requirement to have a doctoral degree. Ph.D. students in science often apply for scholarships that are connected to their supervisor's project as they may not have sufficient knowledge to construct their own research project at the beginning of their doctorate. They also need time to be integrated into the research work, to create a sense of belonging, and most of the time this implies "fitting the mold" and at the same time forging scholarly identity. So, the development of creativity, originality, and novelty in this context is difficult, as students are "encapsulated" in the supervisor´s project or research team project, and achieving doctorateness in these conditions is challenging. This study explores creativity development among doctoral students in a Portuguese higher education institution. An exploratory case study was conducted where doctoral students completed a survey at the Science and Technology School of NOVA Lisbon University. The survey focused on supervisors' and students' attitudes toward creativity development, teaching and learning methodologies, and types of tasks that can foster creativity at the doctoral level. Ph.D. students don´t see themselves as capable of "pushing the boundaries" of scientific knowledge, and they don´t recognize their supervisors as creative persons. Nevertheless, they recognize the supervisor's effort to develop creativity during the doctorate, and the necessity of participating in scientific meetings and conferences to trigger and foster creativity. The research limitation is the number of participants.