Writing together, but not always at the same time: Rethinking doctoral writing groups in digital spaces

Authors: Elham (Ellie) Manzari, Michael J. Henderson and Lynette Pretorius. Imagine joining an online doctoral writing group. You share a draft, discuss your ideas with other researchers and receive feedback almost immediately. The conversation helps you clarify an argument you have been struggling with, and you leave the session feeling more confident about your writing.
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Call for abstracts for our doctoral journeys book!

Authors: Xiaofang Lainie Shang, Mandy Salisbury, and Lynette Pretorius We are seeking chapter contributions for a forthcoming edited book titled Was It Worth It? A Journey to the West: Becoming a PhD Graduate and Beyond. This book aims to explore how doctoral graduates understand the meaning and value of their doctoral journeys. The book will be
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What is an education-focused academic?

Author: Lynette Pretorius As a tenured education-focused academic, I am frequently asked a variation of the same curious question: “What is it that you actually do?” There is often an underlying assumption that academia only possesses one true shape, leaving many outside, and indeed within, the university ecosystem puzzled by this specific title. To demystify
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What does success really look like for an international PhD student?

Authors: Maxi (Huy-Hoang) Huynh and Lynette Pretorius. Note: We also acknowledge the other co-authors of our paper, as it was a truly collaborative project: Sandeep Khattri, Zhiheng Zhou, Redi Pudyanti, Abdul Qawi Noori, and Huizhen Nan. Doing a PhD is often seen as a journey of growth and achievement, but have you ever stopped to ask what
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Learning how academia really works: what doctoral students discover beyond the PhD handbook

Authors: Sandeep Khattri and Lynette Pretorius. Most doctoral students begin their PhD expecting to learn how to conduct research. They read the literature, design a study, collect and analyse data, and aim to contribute new knowledge to their field. On paper, the path to becoming a scholar appears relatively clear: map the literature, master the
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Becoming a scholar together: why doctoral writing groups matter

Authors: Abdul Qawi Noori, Michael J. Henderson, and Lynette Pretorius. We often imagine doctoral writing as a solitary endeavour. The image of a PhD candidate working alone, a lone ‘genius’ wrestling with literature, writing drafts, chasing deadlines, and decoding reviewer comments, still dominates academic and public culture. When writing stalls or publications don’t succeed, we
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Call for abstracts for our research paradigms handbook!

Authors: Lynette Pretorius and Basil Cahusac de Caux. We are seeking chapter contributions for a forthcoming edited book titled The Researcher’s Compass: Choosing Your Paradigm, Finding Your Voice. This book aims to demystify research paradigms by offering accessible, reflective, and grounded accounts of how paradigms shape research design, practice, and identity. The book will be
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Seeing myself in pixels: What happens when GenAI becomes a co-researcher?

Author: Lynette Pretorius. I didn’t set out to write an essay about academic identity, generative AI, and publishing politics. But, as with so many qualitative journeys, the story found me first. What started as a playful experiment with image generation soon became a critical turning point in how I understand knowledge, creativity, and resistance within
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