Becoming doctoral researchers: the role of dialogic activities in fostering community belonging

Abstract

The university research environment is seen as key to supporting the development of autonomous, creative and collaborative researchers, with supervisors often positioned as significant brokers, yet successful integration into research communities is challenging, particularly for early career researchers. In this paper we look beyond supervision to map the practices that support doctoral researchers to develop a sense of belonging to and participation in research communities. To elicit insights into the complexities of doctoral experiences, we deploy a somewhat novel approach comprising analysis of talk in tutorials, supplementing this with individual interviews. The findings reveal the centrality of relationships in doctoral students’ sense of belonging. Although supervisors are important in this work, this study demonstrates the complexity of doctoral experiences and the value of interactions and relationships with other human and more-than-human (e.g. texts, objects, physical and digital spaces, technologies) actors. These relationships were fostered through structured dialogic spaces and activities and various informal encounters. This study shows how these planned activities are experienced and how they interact with serendipitous events. We argue for increasing opportunities for dialogue and the use of tasks that encourage critical engagement within supportive small-group environments, to facilitate candidates’ integration into research communities.