Guest editorial

The 2018 Quality in Postgraduate Research conference and its theme
In 1994, the first biennial Quality in Postgraduate Research (QPR) Conference was launched with the aim of fostering collaboration between all parties participating in the development of postgraduate research students: the students themselves, academic developers, research administrators and unusually, governmental representatives and high level university and research decision-makers (Quality in Postgraduate Research, 2019). Although the emphasis has always been on the practice of doctoral education, this conference has also contributed significantly to the body of knowledge and research on doctoral education helping to support the development of a “discipline” of doctoral education. As noted by McCulloch (2018, p. 93), based on his reading of the work of Trowler and Krishnan, a discipline includes “accumulated (or reservoirs of) knowledge, individuals engaged with that knowledge, generally agreed ways of thinking and talking about and of investigating phenomena and concepts, and an organizational form.” The QPR has over its 24-year history from 1994 to the most recent 2018 conference, provided a forum for “talented” practitioners and researchers of doctoral education to meet, interact and collaborate across continents for improved practice, research and publication...