Doctoral education must bridge academia and society to address labour market misalignment and structural inequities, fostering inclusive (post)academic careers (Biesta, 2019; Jasanoff, 2004). Yet, traditional structures limit societal engagement, creating gaps in career preparation, supervision and diverse knowledge validation. This paper examines a Portuguese FCT-funded doctoral project linking university, municipalities and migrant communities, contributing to the symposium theme "Inclusiveness and future of the doctoral system". The project operates through FCT's non-academic environment line (550 grants awarded in 2025), placing doctoral researchers in boundary spaces where knowledge is co-produced with societal actors (Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, 2025a, 2025b). Proximity between universities and public administration enhances innovation networks (Runiewicz-Wardyn, 2020), while Jasanoff's co-production framework reveals how scientific knowledge and governance mutually constitute each other in migration policy research. We address two research questions: 1. How does FCT funding enable co-construction of knowledge between academia and society in migration/language education? 2. How do municipal partnerships and co-development workshops reshape doctoral projects as boundary spaces for inclusive career futures? Methodologically, participatory design combines ethnographic fieldwork in schools/municipalities, documentary analysis of linguistic policies, and co-development workshops negotiating research questions and policy briefs with stakeholders. Institutional mobility across sites serves as an analytic lens. Expected findings reveal how boundary spaces support context-sensitive interventions and teacher training while exposing tensions in authorship, evaluation and career uncertainty. Municipal co-development workshops validate diverse knowledge forms, reconfiguring doctoral identities beyond academia. We propose a framework for inclusive doctoral education with four pillars: · Pillar 1: FCT funding structures enabling boundary spaces · Pillar 2: Co-development workshops as knowledge co-construction sites · Pillar 3: Municipal partnerships translating research into governance · Pillar 4: Career pathways recognising transdisciplinary doctoral work Publicly funded boundary spaces demonstrate how doctoral education can systematically nurture societal engagement, validating dialogic trajectories as legitimate career futures.

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