This book uses belonging as a lens through which to understand women students’ experiences of studying for a doctorate, exploring the impact of academic cultures on career aspirations. Drawing on discourses of neoliberalism and academic identities, it makes a valuable contribution to ongoing discussions of gender inequality in the academy. Based on data gathered from women doctoral students in the UK, this book offers a contemporary, research-informed understanding of the doctorate as an inherently gendered experience, which has implications for individuals, academic institutions, and for the future of the academic sector. The book will be of interest to academics working in the area of doctoral education, doctoral supervisors and those involved in doctoral student support, including researcher developers and individuals working in graduate schools, as well as doctoral students themselves.

Drawing on academic research and practitioner expertise, this essential volume provides a multidisciplinary and cross-institutional perspective on postgraduate researcher mental health and wellbeing in order to support academic and professional staff in the higher education sector. Contributing authors unpack the key debates, issues and initiatives within higher education policy and practice, while also considering wider contextual factors that may impact upon the mental health of researchers. Readers are encouraged to recognise the importance of belonging throughout and to understand how we may promote healthy research cultures by fostering connections and community. A crucial read for anyone working with doctoral students or involved higher education policy, this edited collection provides a new contribution to research within the field, bettering our understanding of the mental health of postgraduate researchers by drawing from a range of perspectives.

This handbook explores feeling like an ‘imposter’ in higher education and what this can tell us about contemporary educational inequalities. Asking why imposter syndrome matters now, we investigate experiences of imposter syndrome across social locations, institutional positions, and intersecting inequalities. Our collection queries advice to fit-in with the university, and authors reflect on (not)belonging in, with and against educational institutions. The collection advances understandings of imposter syndrome as socially situated, in relation to entrenched inequalities and their recirculation in higher education. Chapters combine creative methods and linger on the figure of the ‘imposter’ - wary of both individualising and celebrating imposters as lucky, misfits, fraudsters, or failures, and critically interrogating the supposed universality of imposter syndrome.

Across the country, women are pursuing doctoral degrees at a rate higher than males. While the data indicates that women are now more likely to pursue this advance degree, limited research addresses the real experiences of diverse women who are pursuing a doctoral degree. This book highlights the lived experiences of diverse women who are progressing through a doctoral degree program and the challenges as well as opportunities that they face. These women share unique and transparent experiences of progressing through a doctoral program. Through a narrative approach, Conquering Academia Transparent Stories of Diverse Women Doctoral Students, addresses themes of intersectionality, lived experiences, challenges and opportunities, and adopting an academia mindset. Featured in the Contemporary Perspectives on Access, Equity, and Achievement series, this book shares perspectives of diverse women doctoral students and how their cultural identities assist them with navigating the academic landscape. It also provides insight for current female doctoral students about strategic positioning as a student within the doctoral program and personal necessary transformation in academia. It informs faculty and staff in academia about the experiences of diverse women and how to support their progression and overall retention.

The concept of belonging has been increasingly understood as the missing piece in diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in higher education. This book explores the need to recognize and account for institutional-level factors that shape academic belonging, thereby improving student experience and outcomes. Though recent scholarship has identified several factors that are associated with student belonging in academics, there is little research that addresses what faculty can do in concrete terms to promote belonging, particularly in the domains where they have the most influence. The 12 chapters in this volume introduce readers to an array of collaborative, cutting-edge efforts to develop pedagogies, programs, strategies, and environments that help students develop academic belonging; that is, a sense of connection, competence, and confidence in academic domains. This book is written for higher education faculty, administrators, and researchers who wish to enhance their students’ sense of academic belonging by taking informed, practical measures to make them feel valued and supported.

This collection draws broadly on decolonial studies, postcolonial feminist scholarship, and identity studies to present autoethnographies written by female scholars who migrated from Latin America to universities in the Global North and vice versa. Contributors examine how gender, race, and place/displacement have impacted their social identities.