HFT-Stuttgart has taken an important step in the area of PhD qualification of young academics. As a member of the Baden-Württemberg Doctoral Association, professors with a strong research background can now exercise the right to award doctorates and accompany doctoral candidates as their first supervisor. This direct access is a milestone for the HFT Stuttgart and other universities of applied sciences as well as for the higher education system.
This provides graduates with another path to a doctorate at a University of Applied Sciences (HAW). "This increases the attractiveness of studying at HFT Stuttgart for young academics and strengthens application-oriented research," explains Prof. Dr. Volker Coors, Vice-Rector for Research and Digitalization at HFT Stuttgart.
One of the first doctoral students directly at HFT Stuttgart is Mikael Bagratuni. He is conducting research in the field of "Acceptance of Artificial Intelligence in Creative Processes". He is being supervised by business psychologist and researcher of acceptance and transformation, Prof. Dr. Patrick Planing. A total of sixteen professors at HFT Stuttgart now have the right to award doctorates and can supervise doctoral students in the research units: Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, Computer Science and Electrical Engineering as well as Engineering Sciences.
Mikael Bagratuni's premise: "The exponentially growing progress of artificial intelligence will have significant consequences for the creative sector, which is sometimes barely addressed in social discourse and yet will affect everyone to a greater or lesser extent. "On the one hand," continues Bragatuni, "consumers will be increasingly confronted with AI-generated creative content, and on the other, creative professionals will have to come to terms with their own role model, as even today the creation of a solid song with one click and 2-3 words is a matter of seconds." His doctoral thesis aims to evaluate in a bilateral approach how and whether AI integration can find its way into this sector and which factors need to be taken into account for a possible implementation.
Another interesting fact: Mikael Bagratuni is embedded in the Graduate Academy for doctoral students at HFT Stuttgart. This institution has been established at HFT Stuttgart since the end of 2023 as part of the HIRE project. Currently, 29 doctoral candidates are being supervised.
Further information on the Graduate Academy and doctoral programmes at the HFT Stuttgart can be found here:
https://www.hft-stuttgart.de/forschung/promotion/gratuiertenakademie
Author: Dr. Daniela Claus, Head of the Graduate School
