You are warmly invited to next week’s research process seminar. Hosted by FMC but open to all.
Becoming the Imposter: Reframing Imposter Syndrome as Systemic Dysfunction
There is an existential discomfort that forms part of ‘becoming’ a researcher. Undertaking a doctorate is an inherently transformative process in which we negotiate with contributions to knowledge, what counts as such, and whether we are capable of making them. Indeed, the process of becoming a researcher necessitates a coming to terms with our own sense of imposterism. As my presentation will discuss, there is an element of this imposterism that we can find solace in. We are all imposters, or at least feel as such. Developing on this theme my presentation will reflect on my own experiences as an interdisciplinary researcher, or self-defined bricoleur (Kincheloe, 2005) and nomad (Guattari and Deleuze, 1987). The original intention for my doctoral research was to ‘transform’ educational practices through developing technology. I drew on my computer science background and entered the domain of educational research and practice positivistic and naive. Ultimately, my thesis became a reflective, critical, autoethnographic unpacking of this naivety. Now, post-doctorate, as a practice-based educator-researcher moving between disciplines and research-contexts, I find myself in the same recursive state of (un)becoming. From this experience I will argue that the feeling of never quite becoming, of being an imposter, should be embraced and discussed openly for two reasons. First, to view these feelings of discomfort as diagnostic, revealing affective intricacies and pressures in the work we do (Breeze, 2018). Second, in the spirit of Bourdieu, to provide comfort through reminding ourselves that “a good number of the difficulties that we attribute to our own idiosyncratic awkwardness or incompetence are universally shared” (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1992, p. 218).
About the speaker
Dr Phil Wilkinson is a Principal Academic in Communications at Bournemouth University, and a Researcher in Residence at the Digital Skills Hub, Boscombe. He is neurodivergent (ADHD), so his overall research profile is eclectic and interdisciplinary.
About the research process seminar series:
The purpose of this research seminar series is different to your typical research seminar and conference presentation. Instead of presenting the results and outcomes ofresearch, we want to share good practices around the process of doing research. This might often involve a focus on research methods but it also includes aspects of publishing, writing, time management, career management etc.
The idea here is that the speaker takes us through the anatomy of the project or approach focussing particularly on the process – the challenges, the successes, and the failures. For the audience, we walk away with a practical application of a method or approach we may not be familiar with or may not have applied in this way before. Our ambition is to make us all better researchers as a result.
21 January at 2pm
Please register here: https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwpcuihpjMqGdMBsgAIetwLxoSYn0GqMylD
And if you can’t make it but want the recording, then please register and I will send it to you.
cheers
Dan