Abstracts - Earli

G 930 August 2007 08:30 - 10:30Room: 0.100ASymposiumBecoming -being an academic: Experiencing and negotiating theinherent tensions of academiaChair: Lynn McAlpine, McGill University, CanadaOrganiser: Lynn McAlpine, McGill University, CanadaDiscussant: Sari Lindblom-Ylänne, University of Helsinki, FinlandUniversities today can be characterized as much by the internal and external pressures for changeas by the traditions upon which they rest. This situation may produce tensions that are felt at alllevels of the university structure (Central Administration, Faculties, Departments, Programs etc.)as well as within the scholarly disciplines represented in the university. Many new and seasonedacademics, given this shifting terrain, may be struggling to understand how they can best buildtheir own sense of worth and efficacy as it relates to their disciplines and the university itself. Atthe same time, doctoral students, with support of their academic supervisors, their peers and ontheir own, seek to develop their own understanding of the academy as they move towardcompletion of their studies and, in the case of those wishing to become academics, develop theiridentities and situate themselves in their scholarly communities. Some of the questions we addressin this session are: How do doctoral students/ academics experience the tensions betweenacademic structures and pressures and their own personal goals and intentions in relation tocommunity? How do doctoral students/ academics negotiate and/or challenge the affiliations,allegiances and diversities that characterize academic life while at the same time becoming andcontinuing to be productive and fulfilled scholars? Our four papers bring different perspectives tobear on these questions.Tensions affecting the experience of research and being a researcher: Implications for doctoraleducationGerlese Akerlind, Australian National University, AustraliaA key part of doctoral experience involves coming to think of oneself as a researcher, anddeveloping a sense of what being a researcher means. This paper reports on a qualitative study ofdifferent views of what being a university researcher means, based on semi-structured interviewswith research students and academic staff at a research-intensive university in Australia. Fourdifferent views of the nature of being a researcher emerged: 1. fulfilling external requirements; 2.creating a sense of personal achievement; 3. extending one’s personal understanding of anissue/area; and 4. providing an impetus for change to benefit the larger field or society. Theseways of experiencing being a researcher were structurally related in a nested hierarchy ofinclusiveness, where each new way of experiencing included aspects of the previous way(s), butnot vice versa. Given the hierarchical nature of the relationships, it may be tempting to regardthese ways of experiencing as representing a developmental sequence, from novice to expertviews. In contrast, both junior and senior researchers expressed views ranging across the spectrum.This may be explained as each way of understanding being co-constituted by (1) individuals’ priorexperience of research and researchers (where ways of experiencing and ways of understandingare seen as inextricably linked) and (2) contextual factors currently impacting upon the research– 385 –