Action research methodologies are dynamic, as they often evolve with a group and are shaped by multiple contributions that can change over time. As researchers are embedded within this process, reflexivity is paramount to remain attuned to how they move with and shape the research. In search of a dynamic way of engaging with reflexivity in action…

When reflecting on my years as a doctoral student, I recall several questions that often came to mind throughout my journey: what is participatory health research? Is such an approach to research truly feasible in the pursuit of a doctoral degree? Is it worth it, or have I inadvertently made things more challenging for myself? My response to these…

Purpose: While higher education has been encouraging interdisciplinary research, few studies have been conducted to understand how interdisciplinarity shapes the identity construction of scholars, especially doctoral students who may already strive to socialize into academia. Design/methodology/approach: Therefore, this study adopts the approach…

This study explored the support needs of PG students in health studies at a South African Open Distance Learning institution during and after COVID-19 to address research-related challenges. Using a qualitative, exploratory, phenomenological design, 22 Master's and Doctoral students were purposefully sampled and interviewed via Microsoft Teams.…

A collaboration of 26 Dutch universities of applied sciences is working on the development and implementation of the first generation of professional doctoral programs. The distinctiveness of a professional doctoral program has been defined for seven professional domains, including health and well-being as an example. It is described as being an…

As an autistic researcher and doctoral candidate, I have designed my dissertation research in a way that values the lived experience of my four autistic participants. Using their responses to a series of material objects and a science fiction novel by, and about, an autistic person, I hope to find new and innovative ways to reconceptualize…

The relationship between doctoral research supervisors and their students is crucial for success during doctoral study. Supervisors face increasing complexity in managing these relationships, compounded by job precarity and the pressure to ensure timely doctoral completion. Equally, doctoral students will navigate a competitive job environment…

Two universities in Uzbekistan offer PhD programs in library and information science (LIS). This article used a documentary research method, enriched the collected data with the direct observations and lived experiences of the authors, and explored seven challenges of the LIS PhD program in Uzbekistan: (1) the topics of PhD research, (2)…

A longstanding and significant disparity in representation across gender, economic status, ethnicity, race, and sexual identity exists within STEM doctoral training. Most of the research on the retention and attrition of minoritized PhD STEM students focuses on individual factors, rather than system level issues. To address these gaps, we…

This body of knowledge provides personal narratives of the lived experiences of Native women from an all-Native doctoral cohort. Through personal narratives, we aimed to highlight the unique learning experience created by strong and beautiful Indigenous scholars who honored Native identities, engaged learning with Indigenous knowledge systems,…

A longstanding failure to achieve racial and ethnic equity in STEM doctoral programs in the United States exists alongside a research landscape struggling to comprehensively explain this enduring failure. Towards a comprehensive explanatory model of STEM doctoral persistence and disruption of this failure, I previously proposed critical capital…

Purpose: To examine the influence of occupational socialization on the beliefs and actions of six sport pedagogy doctoral students (DSs) in terms of physical education (PE) teaching and physical education teacher education (PETE). Method: Data were collected with five qualitative techniques and analyzed by employing analytic induction and constant…

This study examined my experience as a doctoral student following the death of my son. The focus of this research is on the interaction of paternal grief and adult learning in the context of higher education. The central emphasis seeks to offer existential bearing to the interplay between the narrative identities of adult learner and paternal…

The thesis template is a guiding document for higher degree researchers to assist their transition into research. But what happens when the template does not mirror your ways of knowing, being and doing? How do we speak back to an institutionalized structure that advocates support and yet, feels like a "Boa constrictor" squeezing you…

Obtaining a doctorate offers various career options. This study takes a person-centered approach to identify interest profiles. Career goals (professorate, entrepreneur, etc.) were assessed at two time points (1-year interval) in a sample of doctoral students and doctorate holders from the STEM fields in German-speaking areas (N[subscript T1] =…