Exploring doctoral students’ expectations of work-based skills training

Purpose - Doctoral students are expected to undertake work-based skills training within their doctoral studies in areas such as problem solving, leadership and team working. This study explores student expectations of doctoral training within a UK Higher Education context. Design - The data for the study was gathered via two focus groups conducted among doctoral students from different faculties in a post-92 UK University. Participants were selected using a snowball sampling approach. Findings - The findings suggest that the expectations of doctoral students are contingent upon their year of study, study mode, perceived fit between training goals and available training, peer recommendations, Word-of-Mouth (WoM) and the scholarly support they received from their supervisors. Practical Implications - The study suggests a better understanding of students’ segmentation can help Higher Education Institutions deliver training that meets the expectations of doctoral students in a way that result in zero or a positive disconfirmation. Originality/Value – This paper develops and deepens the understanding of the doctoral students’ expectations of work-based skills training and highlights the need for universities to adapt their doctoral training according to the expectations of different student segments

‘Stuck in the Middle’: waiting and uncertainty in immigration detention

A defining feature of immigration detention in the United Kingdom is its indeterminacy; that is, there are no statutory constraints on the length of time an individual can be detained. As such, detention is uncertain and unpredictable; it may last a few hours or a few days, or weeks, months, and even years. Consequently, the lived experience of detention is one of waiting: waiting to know both when and how detention will end (i.e. release to the community or expulsion from the country). The denial of liberty and the conditions of confinement present additional challenges for detainees, as they must contend with significant limits to their agency as they await the decisions of a variety of other actors. Waiting has been conceptualised as an exercise of power, one that manipulates others’ time. Although it is a common human experience, for immigration detainees, the lived experience of waiting in the uncertain and unpredictable context of detention is especially challenging. Passing time in immigration detention raises important questions about affect, identity, agency, and resistance within this unique quasi-penal space. This paper draws on ethnographic fieldwork, including 89 semi-structured interviews with detainees, carried out in four immigration removal centres in the UK to explore the lived experiences of waiting. The analysis demonstrates the relevancy of time and agency in immigration detention

A Painter in Paris: Creating authentic biofiction voices for historical artists

This thesis comprises an exegesis and a biographical novel, A Painter in Paris, which centres on the life of the Australian Impressionist John Russell (1858–1930). A key challenge which arose during my creative practice informs my research question: how do biographical novelists create authentic voices for fictional protagonists based on historical painters? Focussing on the thriving sub-category of biofiction, this thesis explores research pathways that I identified during my practice – ethics, place and art. My investigation led me to explore notions of authenticity and to examine biofiction theorists such as Michael Lackey, Lucia Boldrini and Catherine Padmore, to better understand the distinct aspects and contentious nature of the literary form. Using as case studies three biographical novels based on historical artists, and also through an examination of my own practice, I investigate how ethical issues linked to the use of real identities, as well as visiting the places where the figures once lived and the art of the historical painters, help writers create authentic voices for fictional artist-protagonists. My research found that to do this biographical novelists must know the historical facts and then follow ethical protocols – which I propose and collate – and draw on “informed imagination” to express the aspects of the artist-figures’ lives that resonate with them. Important also when aiming to create authentic voices for historical artist-protagonists is a “bodily comprehension” of the places the historical figure lived and worked, and an in-depth study of the colour and subject of the artist’s paintings. In making this argument, I approach the term “authentic” in a way that aligns with how artists such as Russell and the Impressionists viewed authenticity in art. Rather than aiming to accurately represent what they saw, the fin de siècle painters sought to convey the essential characteristics they perceived in the subjects. Similarly, my creative work, A Painter in Paris, which involved extensive historical research relating to Russell and his life, presents a subjective vision. Thus, while my exegesis extends our understanding of the ways biographical novelists shape authentic voices for their protagonists based on historical painters, my novel contributes to Australian biofiction and offers a fresh, fictional exploration of a rich creative life