A Case Study of Engaging PhD Students in Applied Research

This paper briefly presents the involvement of doctoral students from all over the world, respectively at the national level (in Romania) or at the local level (in university/faculty) in research activities. The paper presents a case study of the applied research of three doctoral students in rehabilitation robotics. The paper also highlights how the pandemic influenced the research of doctoral students by presenting the answers of the faculty's doctoral students to a questionnaire about research. From the analysis of the doctoral students' answers and from the authors' experience, some conclusions are extracted regarding the involvement of doctoral students in applied research activities.