The questions that keep me up at night and what I plan to do about them in 2026

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Dr Lynette Pretorius

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Dr Lynette Pretorius is an award-winning educator and researcher specialising in doctoral education, AI literacy, research literacy, academic identity, and student wellbeing.

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Hi everyone, and welcome to The Scholar’s Way for 2026! As I start the year back at work, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on what I do. A nice introduction to my new subscribers and a reminder of why you are here if you’ve subscribed for a while. So buckle up for some exciting research-related reflections and plans for the year!

First, I am particularly passionate about doctoral education, so you will see me posting a lot about how to improve the experiences of doctoral education. I have published widely about the benefits of doctoral writing groups. In particular, I keep coming back to the same question: “How do writing groups support doctoral student wellbeing and academic identity formation?”. Some of my favourite papers about writing groups include: Learning Together Through Collaborative Peer Feedback and Discussion, Doctoral Writing Groups as Vehicles for Pastoral Care, and Reflection for Learning in Doctoral Writing Groups. I currently have two papers in peer review about writing groups, so watch this space for more exciting writing groups work!

I have also written two books about the lived experiences of PhD students navigating academia: Wellbeing in Doctoral Education and Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World. These practical books offered students a platform to share their own stories in their own words. This allowed me to reveal the invisible culture of doctoral education. At the moment, I’m particularly interested in how PhD students learn about, and navigate, the often-unspoken norms, rules, and complex expectations of academia. I’ve previously shown that the system of academia marginalises and disempowers PhD students. Currently, I am asking: “How do students’ cultural backgrounds, personal experiences, and social resources shape their doctoral journeys?” and “How can doctoral programmes be more inclusive for students with diverse experiences?”. I’m busy analysing a huge dataset and hope to write several papers! Stay tuned! 😎

Second, I post a lot about AI literacy in higher education. I often wonder, “How does GenAI help or complicate research and teaching?” and “How can educators encourage their students to use GenAI in a way that enhances their higher-order thinking?”. I was one of the first to try to define AI literacy in the age of GenAI. I have since developed this definition into a comprehensive framework, showing that AI literacy comprises five domains: foundational, conceptual, social, ethical, and socio-emotional. At the moment, I am particularly interested in the equity and ethical dimensions of GenAI in academia. I also worked with colleagues from around the world to develop an ETHICAL AI use framework for higher education. Most recently, I wrote a paper with my PhD students demonstrating how GenAI can empower scholars from non-English-speaking backgrounds, helping to democratise and decolonise academia. It is one of my favourite papers I’ve written, so make sure to check it out! This year, I am focusing on editing two open-access practice-based books on GenAI use in higher education, as well as writing several papers on how GenAI can be used to foster critical thinking. 🤖

Third, I am also interested in exploring how research is actually done. I ask myself: “How can emerging scholars be equipped with the literacy to conduct research in a sound, ethical, and reflexive manner?” I am perhaps best known for my work explaining how research paradigms work. Ontology, epistemology, and axiology cause significant confusion for researchers, so I created a practical, easy-to-understand introductory paper that explains each term and how different combinations of these terms lead to distinct paradigms. The paper has been downloaded nearly 30,000 times! 🎉 I have recently been exploring the implications of GenAI on the research process. I showed that GenAI can foster researchers’ higher-order thinking and reflexivity as a partner in data analysis. I also showed how GenAI can be a legitimate source of data generation for autoethnography. I also recently explored how pseudonyms and demographics are used, showing that it is a much more ethical and empowering approach to give participants space to choose their own names and how they are represented in research. Finally, I am particularly well-known for my methodological explanations of the theoretical aspects of autoethnography and its practical application. This year, I am editing a book that expands my research paradigms paper into a practical guide. I am also editing a book on how to actually do reflexivity in qualitative research.

So if you’re passionate about reshaping higher education, supporting doctoral students, or exploring the creative possibilities of research design, you’re in the right place. Subscribe to follow along for updates on my latest publications, reflections on research, and practical how-to-guides. A final note: make sure to follow me on Threads or Bluesky, where you will also find me posting about my huskies (a lot!), books, and food.

Do you have an idea about what I should explore in my research? What are the research questions that keep you up at night? Comment below so that we can reshape academia together.