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Empowerment in the Crisis: Narratives of COVID-19 Generation Researchers

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Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic influenced higher degree by research (HDR) students’ academic experiences profoundly as it forced HDR students to adjust their intensive and demanding research work and studies according to unforeseeable challenges. This was particularly challenging for international HDR students as they had rather limited resources in their host countries to cope with uncertainties, and the university emergency responses gave them limited attention and support. This resulted in many international HDR students feeling disempowered. However, recent research on international HDR students’ experience in their host countries during the pandemic remains sparse. From an insiders’ account, this autoethnography study aims to bridge this gap, investigating two Australia-based Chinese HDR students’ struggles in their research studies and their academic identity self-formation. This study presents that the international HDR students managed to empower themselves by holding on to their support systems and exercising their agency in the middle of uncertainty. The findings presented in the study add to the understanding of the importance of providing a more inclusive and supportive environment for international HDR students’ development.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

    Weiqi Jiang & Bingqing Li

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  1. Weiqi Jiang
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  2. Bingqing Li
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Correspondence to Weiqi Jiang .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. American University of the Middle East, Egaila, Kuwait

    Basil Cahusac de Caux

  2. Faculty of Education, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Lynette Pretorius

  3. CREATE, Deakin University, Burwood, VIC, Australia

    Luke Macaulay

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Jiang, W., Li, B. (2022). Empowerment in the Crisis: Narratives of COVID-19 Generation Researchers. In: Cahusac de Caux, B., Pretorius, L., Macaulay, L. (eds) Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7757-2_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-7757-2_19

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-19-7757-2

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