Constructing an identity through time:
Implications for doctoral students and post-docs
Lynn McAlpine (University of Oxford) and Cheryl Amundsen (Simon Fraser University)
In 2006, we began our research to understand the experiences of early career academic; we used
a longitudinal approach that enabled us to follow individuals through time. The construct of
identity-trajectory emerged about two years after we began our research and since then different
studies have made it possible to explore its nature in more detail. Before introducing the concepts
that underpin identity-trajectory, we provide a cameo of one of the participants; Hannah has
participated in our research since 2007 when she was a doctoral student, so we have followed her
for more than four years.
Hannah’s story: Hannah, 39, left school at 16 and had 3 children when young, then
qualified as a nurse which she described as building her confidence. But, she ‘never
dreamt that I’d be where I am now.”
She decided to do a doctorate after her master’s in research methods which she had done
as a mature student; she described her husband as very supportive of her decision. But
she couldn’t do the PhD without funding as she felt that part-time study, work and
looking after her teen-age children would have been too much. She applied for and got
funding and thus was able to quit her job even though this created some uncertainties
since her husband was self-employed and they had a mortgage. She had particular
concerns about future employment. The degree she was doing was in gastroenterology
practice and since she loved clinical practice, she imagined a career combining practice
and research and in her home city since she didn’t want to disrupt her family.
Near the end of the degree she began searching for positions and heard of a clinical
academic post in a research facility. She had not known this type of employment existed;
it combined responsibility for helping others develop their research capabilities while
also conducting her own research. The first time she saw the posting it was too early to
apply, but she saw it again later, and applied even though it was in another city. She was
offered the position and has now been in the post for a couple of years. She enjoys the job
while missing the clinical aspects she had enjoyed earlier.
As to the future, her family is considering moving to a city halfway between their original
home and where she now works. And, she imagines becoming a faculty member rather
than researcher or perhaps Deputy Director of the institution she works in. She expresses
some irritation that career pathways seem to be predicated upon the model of one person
with no responsibilities whereas her family is the most important factor in her career
decisions.
Key constructs
The following are the key constructs underlying identity-trajectory, a way of conceptualizing the
experiences of early career academics, whether doctoral student, post-doc, or pre-tenure faculty.
Academic-doctoral work: Three distinct yet interwoven developing strands
Networking strand: The academic networking strand includes inter-personal interactions with
local, national, and international contemporary networks: a) research and publication
collaborations with others; b) cross-institutional course/curriculum design; c) work with
professionals if in professional schools; and d) membership in disciplinary organizations and on
journal boards. The networking strand also includes inter-textual networking – engaging in the
historical, epistemological, and methodological networks that are constructed through reading.
Reading creates a network of key scholars and ideas pertinent to the thinking underlying the
thesis, and academic thinking more broadly. In other words, the networking strand plays a role in
establishing the intellectual location for one’s contributions, and begins earlier than the
intellectual strand.
Intellectual strand: The intellectual strand represents past and continuing contributions to one’s
disciplinary specialism or field, leaving a trail of artefacts existing independently of the
individual, e.g., publications, citations, papers, course/curriculum design.
Institutional: University and departmental location, not surprisingly, influence the development
of the institutional strand, which incorporates organizational responsibilities as well as resources.
Responsibilities include roles as teacher, supervisor, teaching assistant, research assistant,
committee member, and administrative roles. However, these responsibilities can also be viewed
as a resource, e.g., supervisor as a doctoral student resource, TA-ship as a financial and
networking doctoral resource. Other resources included libraries and librarians, office space and
office equipment, lab equipment and technicians, computers and software to progress their work.
Additionally, there are intellectual resources such as seminars, workshops, and more senior
academic colleagues for advice. And, individuals benefited from university funds, e.g., start-up
grants, conference funding.
Individuals had often chosen their institutional location based on their own desires and personal
commitments in relation to what they understood to be on offer. This had implications not just in
their personal lives but also in the institutional resources and responsibilities available to them –
and this the development of their networking and intellectual strands.
The past-present-future (biography)
The past-present-future perspective emphasizes individuals all had prior experiences,
relationships, and intentions which influenced the decisions leading to their present investment in
academic work as well as their imagined futures. And they had present experiences, relationships
and responsibilities which influenced how they imagined the future.
Agency
Agency represents individuals’ efforts to be intentional in a range of ways and contexts –
reporting efforts to plan, to construct a way forward given constraints and difficulties (whether
expected or unexpected) – though these efforts were not always successful. Further, competing
intentions, unexpected constraints, serendipity, as well as new learning and knowledge could
lead in different directions.
The personal
The personal emphasizes the essential role played by broader lives in understanding ddoctoralacademic experience, motivations and decisions. Individuals experienced life changing events,
e.g., child birth, marriage break-up, illness. As well, personal relationships were drawn on:
friends for emotional support and family/partner for both emotional and practical support. And,
responsibilities linked to these relationships constrained their time and motivation as regards
academic work and influenced decisions about where to study/work and how to invest in their
work.
Two constructs linking the personal and the academic
Opportunity structures represent possible career options: known possibilities related to intra- and
inter-organizational mobility, intra- and extra-organizational support; this knowledge may be
inaccurate and incomplete but provides the context in which intentions are constructed.
Opportunity structures are constantly under change.
Horizons for action focus on the individual’s perceived degrees of freedom: the decisions and
actions the individual considers viable related to imagined futures, given an individual’s
understanding of the opportunity structures at any particular time as well as personal intentions,
relationships and responsibilities. Since only what can be seen or imagined can be chosen,
individuals may make decisions based on incomplete awareness of possibilities. Horizons for
action change through time.
Resources:
 McAlpine, L., & Amundsen, C. (Eds.) (2011). Doctoral Education: Research Based Strategies for
Doctoral Students, Supervisors and Administrators. Amsterdam: Springer.
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http://learning.ox.ac.uk/supervision: website for supervisors and doctoral students that
includes excerpts from our UK research and pedagogical tools and resources
http://apprise.ox.ac.uk: pedagogical resources for doctoral students and academic
developers emerging from the studies conducted by the Network of the UK CETL
Preparing for Academic Practice