Tag: Sense of belonging

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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Reclaiming our words: how generative AI helps multilingual scholars find their voice

Authors: Lynette Pretorius and Redi Pudyanti. Acknowledgement: This blog post extends our presentation at the Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia (HERDSA) Conference 2025. We acknowledge the other co-authors of our paper, as it was a truly collaborative project: Huy-Hoang Huynh, Ziqi Li, Abdul Qawi Noori, and Zhiheng Zhou. As the South African
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Whose story is it anyway? The transformative power of pseudonym choice

Author: Lynette Pretorius and Sweta Vijaykumar Patel. As qualitative researchers, we’ve often used pseudonyms in our work to protect the identities of participants. It’s a standard practice and one that’s meant to safeguard confidentiality while ensuring their stories remain authentic. But recently, we conducted a study that made us pause and rethink how we approach
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Psychological capital in the PhD

Author: Lynette Pretorius. Hi there! Have you ever wondered what it really takes to thrive during a PhD? For over a decade, I’ve worked closely with graduate students, helping them navigate the academic and emotional hurdles of this journey. Along the way, I’ve seen a lot—students overwhelmed by isolation, stress, and uncertainty. Many come to
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The power of collaborative writing and peer feedback in doctoral writing groups

Authors: Basil Cahusac de Caux and Lynette Pretorius. Have you ever wondered how doctoral students can navigate the challenging journey of academic writing? For many, the answer lies in the strength of community and the power of collaborative feedback. Our recent paper explores this very subject, examining how doctoral writing groups can transform the academic
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Moving beyond binaries in research: weaving the tapestry of participants’ experiences

Author: Lynette Pretorius. In today’s data-driven world, there is a lot of talk about making decisions based on so-called objective data. For example, schools and universities use information about the mix of students and staff to shape how they teach and run things. Information such as age, where people live, how much schooling they have
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Building a sense of belonging for students who do not live on campus

Author: Lynette Pretorius. Students who do not live on campus and commute to university (often termed commuter students) can experience a sense of detachment from the university community, which can adversely affect their student experience. Juggling travel, studies, and other commitments means that these students can feel like they are visitors to their own campus.
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Benefits of doctoral writing groups

Author: Lynette Pretorius. For many years now, I have been working to improve the experiences of PhD students. One practice I’ve found particularly useful is incorporating collaborative and peer-based learning through doctoral writing groups. My work with writing groups started way back in 2013 and, over more than a decade, I have further refined my
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