A significant feature of contemporary doctoral education is the continuing trend for research and research education to migrate beyond discipline-based institutional teaching and research structures. The result is a more diverse array of settings and arrangements for doctoral education linked to an increasingly global research enterprise. Recognising the complexity of what is a distributed environment challenges some commonly held assumptions about doctoral education and its practice. Drawing on data gathered in an Australian study of PhD programme development in Australia carried out in 2006-2009, the article describes the fluid and complex arrangements forming the "experienced environments" for doctoral candidates, an environment that can afford them varying opportunities and challenges for completing their candidacy. Some implications for doctoral education are discussed.