The researcher examined how end-of-first-year students in a professional practice doctoral program were developing professional identities as educational leaders and educational researchers, researching professionals. Data were gathered using two questionnaires and interviews. Quantitative and qualitative data revealed substantial development of…

For an individual doctoral student, doctoral education happens in multiple spaces across a considerable amount of time. However, the existing literature and conceptualisations of doctoral education do not adequately address the spatiotemporal dimension related to it. By using the concept of "scales," this article examines how the social…

International doctoral students are an influential group in knowledge creation and cross-national engagement. Existing studies have mainly focused on this cohort's learning and research experiences in developed countries. However, relatively few studies have explored these students' experiences in non-traditional learning destinations. Drawing…

This conceptual study examines the challenges involved in a new context of postgraduate education that emphasizes timely degree completion, skill development and employability, while still seeking to uphold a commitment to a genuine education ('Bildung'). Findings from two recent empirical studies set the scene for this inquiry since they raise…

This article discusses the research question 'Which characteristics of social behavior and attitudes are embedded in the latent orientation of supervision practices in doctoral education and training?' based on socialization theory (Grundmann, M. 2006. "Sozialisation: Skizze einer allgemeinen Theorie." Konstanz: UVK). These latent…

Doctoral student creativity is critical for technological innovation and knowledge production. Based on the extended scientific and technical human capital (STHC) theory, a moderated mediation model was constructed to explore how supportive supervision is associated with doctoral student creativity through the simultaneous mediating effects of…

Despite their importance to the research enterprise, doctoral students are an underexamined population in higher education. Several studies have emphasized the importance of psychosocial characteristics in academic success and scholarly identity formation. However, few studies have explored their developmental trajectories across a range of…

Prior studies have reported high levels of PhD stress resulting in exhaustion and cynicism related to negative institutional factors. Yet, we know little of the possible influence of personal lives on exhaustion/cynicism. This mixed-methods study examines the interrelation. We drew on exhaustion, cynicism, life-work relation scales and free-write…

Student research is an important pedagogical feature across the higher education lifecycle. Postgraduate taught (PGT) student research has received limited attention in the context of the diverse nature of the PGT cohort. Using Activity Theory, PGT student research is explored from the perspectives of differently motivated Master's students:…

This conceptual paper contributes to a broader perspective on doctoral experience via a synthesis of several crucial concepts during the doctoral journey. The first part discusses the core challenges customarily confronting doctoral scholars due to the distinct PhD genre leading to introducing the main conceptual base. Metacognition, being central…

How can we better support the professional development of the professoriate? This paper reports on the proposal to introduce an integrated higher doctorate to develop and recognise expert leadership in universities. The contemporary professoriate in the United Kingdom is challenged by a multitude of pressures as a consequence of neo-liberalism and…

Academics without PhDs are common in developing countries and among lecturers from marginalised communities, yet the literature on doctoral education largely ignores them. This qualitative study aimed to address that gap by interviewing academics without PhDs in South Africa and Australia. Their narratives of betwixt and betweenness contribute to…

Is it possible to measure how critical soft skills like leadership or teamwork are from the viewpoint of graduate studies offerings? This paper provides a conceptual and methodological framework that introduces the concept of a bipartite network as a practical way to estimate the importance of soft skills as socio-emotional abilities trained in…

Our paper adds to a growing literature of doctoral training by studying factors that drive time-to-completion based on a new and unique data set from an international European graduate school. While previous research focused on individual factors, we inspect the role of institutional factors and the organization of PhD programs for PhD completion.…

How doctoral researchers (and their supervisors) experience and conceptualise the process of becoming a researcher and the identifications that are enacted during the process has hitherto been researched only in terms of disciplinary and professional identities. Yet, within Europe, the creation of a common Higher Education Area has a potential…