Identifying story types of PhD candidates lecturing in higher professional education: “ups and downs”, “turnaround”, “continuous growth”, and “scholarly recognition”

Abstract

Purpose – Guided by the quest concept, this study aims to explore how profession-focused PhD candidates, who are concurrently lecturing at a Dutch University of Applied Sciences (UAS), make sense of change while pursuing doctoral objectives. The research question was: How do these PhD candidates navigate, experience and evaluate their enduring profession-focused doctoral quests across the nexus of research, education and professional fields, considering their aspirations? Design/methodology/approach – Eight PhD candidates shared one-year quest experiences, illustrating how interactions with ‘actors’, ‘settings’ and ‘events’ shape doctoral transitions. These narratological concepts guided wit..