Academic (Un)Belonging and the Neoliberal University, 2021-2022

In the UK and many other countries globally, university culture today is shaped by the wider ‘neoliberal’ policy context, which encourages individualism and competition and antagonizes collective values and ways of working. This has significant implications for doctoral students, who often occupy a liminal position between staff and students, and desire to be part of an academic community, but commonly report feelings of isolation and ‘imposter syndrome’. While existing research suggests these feelings are likely to affect doctoral students from minority groups and international students in particular, their lived experiences have gone largely undocumented. Other relevant variables affecting the doctoral student experience include the type of university attended and area of study. In this context, the aim of this research is to explore the lived experiences of academic (un)belonging among a diversity of doctoral students across pre-92 and post-92 (‘new’) universities in England and how these relate to conceptions of the neoliberal university, with a particular concern with the experiences and inclusion of minority ethnic and international groups. A cross-institutional case study research design was used involving focus groups with 30-40 doctoral students across two Midlands universities. The research will involve doctoral students in the project team and advisory group. It was action-oriented towards informing policy and practice, and supporting doctoral students, at the two universities and more widely.