Research

Title of Thesis

Understanding the identity formations of professional doctoral students: A narrative approach

Description of thesis research

The study aims to explore the identity construction of professional doctoral students, who straddle the academia and the workplace, and have to coordinate multiple subject positions during their doctoral journey. Theorizing identity as both experiential and discursive, this study proposes a tentative conceptual framework to account for participants’ agentic actions in their situated and broader communities as well as their active positionings of the selves through semiotic resources. A narrative approach will be adopted, and narrative in this study is seen as both the method of inquiry and the research data to be analysed. This study is expected to generate insights into the underexplored area of professional doctoral education.

Involvement in research groups, networks and projects

Member of Research Centre for Professional Communication in English (RCPCE)