Background:  In 2002, the Swedish government assigned University West (UW) to develop work integrated learning (WIL). WIL is linked to learning in both organizational contexts and higher education. Research activities at UW are rooted inpractice and expected to contribute to practice and societal impact and focus on “Learning in and for a New Working Life”. Doctoral studies represents important premise suppliers for future research and contribution to the development of WIL, thus UW has provided doctoral programs with a specialization in work integrated learning since 2012.

This paper will explore how WIL and practical implications are described in dissertation work published between 2018-2019, within the doctoral program of Informatics with specialization in WIL (IWIL) at UW.

Methods: Seven dissertations within IWIL were analyzed based on questions related to descriptions of the practice domain and – perspective, relation between research(er)and practice, and the research’s implications for practice. All analyses were discussed based on the intention of WIL as a basis of values.Results: Dissertations were mainly based on engaged research approaches. Despite approach, the analyses revealed the collaborative processes to be scarcely described. Practice domain, problems and challenges are generally well displayed, but mainly representing the research perspective. Lessons learned, insights and reflections arising as part of collaborative processes are not pronounced clearly. Practical implications are often vague, difficult to identify, and presented from a research perspective operationalized as “principles” or recommendations. Added value and implemented changes are slightly discussed. Conclusion: The dissertations meet the intention of contributing to “learning in a new working life”. However, to be in line with WIL the research(er) need more focus on the practice perspective to provide “learning for a new working life”. Different perspectives on practical implications, outcome of collaborative processes and final result should be more explicit in dissertations within doctoral programs within IWIL