The EFMD 2026 Doctoral Programmes Conference hosted by emlyon
emlyon business school was honoured to welcome the 2026 EFMD (European Foundation for Management Development) Doctoral Programmes Conference.
The conference was hosted at emlyon campus, Lyon, 27-29 April. EFMD Doctoral Programmes Conference gathers annually international participants in leading and executive roles in Doctoral Education who are interested in developing programmes, their focus, content, practices, and support functions.
The conference was co-chaired by Prof Joonas Rokka, Director of emlyon PhD Program and Professor Jan Zouhar, Prague University of Economics (Czech Republic). In total, the event gathered 65 participants, most of whom were Doctoral program directors or Deans.
Isabelle Huault, Executive President and Dean of emlyon, opened the conference with her remarks on the importance of Doctoral Education, including stressing the value of critical thinking, reflexivity and academic freedom in doctoral education.
This conference is the primary venue for discussing the futures of Doctoral Education in business schools. We addressed several key challenges, including the rapidly evolving academic publication demands and requirements (also known as “publish or perish”), increasingly competitive job market, and the new technologies that have come to stay. All of these shifts will significantly impact doctoral education, as well as the creativity, originality, meaningfulness, and freedom of academic work. The conference was insightful in dialogues around how doctoral education can remain impactful and relevant for the society.
Prof Rokka concludes: “We had also a chance to involve many PhD students from emlyon to the conference. We animated a roundtable in which our students could participate in the dialogue, share their experiences and insights, offering much food for thought. As always, their contribution was fantastic!"