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S ’ R E V I E W  \nIdentity-trajectories  \nDoctoral journeys from past to present to future  \nLynn McAlpine  \nUniversity of Oxford, UK and McGill University, Canada  \nDespite much research into doctoral education over the past two decades, theorising the field remains challenging. Recently, identity has been taken up as a conceptualising frame. Views of identity vary but often privilege the reproductive features of society, downplaying how individuals can be intentional in pursuing their desires –with the doctorate but one feature of a broader life. Further, many focus on the experience of the doctorate only rather than the doctorate as situated within earlier experiences and intentions and future imagined careers. This paper draws on evidence from a five-year research programme into doctoral experience to argue for a view of identity, identity-trajectory, that attends particularly to individual agency, interweaving the academic within the personal, and incorporating students’ pasts and imagined futures. By re-focusing attention on the agency, resourcefulness and independence of doctoral students, identity-trajectory contributes pedagogically and conceptually distinct ways of framing doctoral experience.  \nContext  \nDespite much research into doctoral education over the past two decades, theorising the field remains challenging. Recently, identity has emerged as a conceptual frame (Green, 2005) though conceptualisations vary, emphasising, for instance, multiply identities (Barnacle & Mewburn, 2010); embodied, raced and classed identities (Archer, 2008);or identities constructed through community membership (Carlone & Johnson, 2007).These studies largely emphasise experience of the doctorate only, rather than the doctorate as situated within earlier experiences and intentions, future imagined careers, and just one aspect of a fuller life.As well, many tend to emphasise socialisation and acculturation (e.g. Gardner, 2008) or post-modernist (neo-liberal) perspectives (e.g. Archer, 2008)– highlighting the reproductive features of society rather than how individuals can be intentional in pursuing their desires (Archer, 2000) . In this paper, I draw on evidence from a five-year research programme to argue the value of a complementary view of identity, identity-trajectory (McAlpine et al, 2010), that attends particularly to individual agency, nesting the academic within the personal and incorporat-  \n38 Identity-trajectories, Lynn McAlpine  \ning students’ pasts as well as imagined futures. Focusing attention on the agency, resourcefulness and independence of the individual at the heart of the doctoral endeavour – the student – contributes alternate ways of framing doctoral experience.  \nResearch programme  \nSince 2006, two research teams1, one in Canada and the other in the UK, have researched the experiences of over 80 doctoral students in four universities, initially in the social sciences and more recently in the sciences2. Methodologically, the team takes a narrative approach viewing participant information as stories of identity (Sfard & Prusak, 2005).The underlying premise is that narrative can provide a means to make sense of both the constancy of an individual’s perception of identity combined with the perception of identity change through time (Elliott, 2005) .  \nFor about 60 participants in the social sciences and the sciences, narratives of different kinds have been collected over at least a year: an initial biographic questionnaire, weekly activity logs completed every month or two, fol  \nvol. 54, no. 1, 2012  \nA U S T R A L I A N U N I V E R S I T I E S ’ R E V I E W  \nlowed by a pre-interview questionnaire and interview.We recruited another 20 individuals who characterised their stories as particularly troublesome when we noticed that despite difficulties and emotional ups and downs, those participating in the first group reported moving forward. The 20 completed pre-interview qu","cbCaifyaxW5Zyrdl","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaifyaxW5Zyrdl","pdf",129875,"English","# Context\n# Research programme\n# Introducing identity-trajectory\n## Agency\n## The personal","[{\"question\":\"What does identity-trajectory emphasize in doctoral education?\",\"answer\":\"It emphasizes individual agency and independence, treating doctoral development as interwoven with personal histories and imagined future careers rather than only as an experience of the doctorate.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the research programme conducted in the paper?\",\"answer\":\"It uses a narrative approach, collecting biographic questionnaires, weekly activity logs, pre-interview questionnaires, and interviews across multiple years for cohorts in social sciences and sciences.\"},{\"question\":\"What key constructs underpin identity-trajectory?\",\"answer\":\"The paper highlights agency (intentional planning under constraints) and the personal (embedding doctoral and academic experience within broader lives), which together shape how identities unfold over time.\"}]","Australian Universities’ Review - Identity-Trajectories | PDF",1792081268,23]