"Seems like Industrial Espionage rather than some guy doing a PhD"

I don't think so. Still if they can get the any money needed for the tools by doing a little flipchart presentation at the competitor's head office, then get a PhD thrown in for the results, more power to them.

Also, "Industrial Espionage" is such a bigmouth word with nasty associations. What about "bespoke knowledge elicitation"?