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James Burford, Susan Deeb, Dangeni, Emily F. Henderson, Sophia Kier-Byfield and Ahmad Akkad have recently had a paper published in IETI Journal as part of a new special issue 'Fostering Researcher Independence' led by Dely Lazarte Elliot Søren Bengtsen, Inge van der Weijden and Hatice Nuriler.

The paper is titled: "Expectations of independence from the outset? The discourse of researcher independence in the pre-application stage of doctoral admissions"

It answers the question: When is "researcher independence" expected to be visible? We know that doctoral education researchers often expect the independent researcher to be produced during doctoral education, and often expect this to happen near the end of the doctoral journey. But what if some university staff are already expecting applicants to demonstrate independence before they even apply or gain admission?

Drawing on interviews with Directors of Postgraduate Research and doctoral programme officers at a UK university, the paper explores how the discourse of researcher independence shapes pre-application interactions between prospective doctoral applicants and university staff.

It found that judgements about autonomy, professional responsibility and academic preparedness can become powerful indicators of who is (and is not) seen as "doctoral material". These expectations are rarely made explicit, yet they can have important implications for doctoral access. The paper argues for greater reflexivity about how these assumptions operate during the pre-application stage and details how institutions might make expectations more transparent for staff and applicants alike.

Access the paper at