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The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education pp 377–394Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Working with/against Imposter Syndrome: Research Educators’ Reflections

Abstract

Researcher developers are agents who are often involved in the spread of ‘imposter syndrome’ discourse. However, over time Burford, Fyffe and Khoo became more curious about what ‘imposter syndrome’ means and does in their practice. This chapter is an experiment in pedagogical reflection. The authors identify four key strategies through which they address imposter syndrome: (1) contributing to the creation of conditions for belonging for all researchers, (2) setting the ‘hardness’ of becoming a researcher in context, (3) offering opportunities for researchers to trial performances of their researcher selves and (4) creating collective spaces to talk about ‘imposter syndrome’. Ultimately, their goal in writing the chapter is to offer a nuanced discussion that provides a platform for other research developers to think alongside.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Education and Development Unit, Graduate Research School, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia

    James Burford, Jeanette Fyffe & Tseen Khoo

Authors
  1. James Burford
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  2. Jeanette Fyffe
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  3. Tseen Khoo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to James Burford .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Durham University, Durham, UK

    Dr. Michelle Addison

  2. Sociology and Public Sociology, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK

    Dr. Maddie Breeze

  3. School of Education, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    Dr. Yvette Taylor

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Burford, J., Fyffe, J., Khoo, T. (2022). Working with/against Imposter Syndrome: Research Educators’ Reflections. In: Addison, M., Breeze, M., Taylor, Y. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Imposter Syndrome in Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86570-2_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-86570-2_23

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