This paper focuses on the impact of lectures own doctoral study on their own and collective identities.

Context. The lived experience of being a university lecture is complex.  Roles and identities become more unstable and multiple as teaching and research seem to become more fractured amidst global neoliberal economic agendas. As consequence of this research becomes more selective and teaching becomes more driven by the student as consumer. (Clegg, 2009; Barnett, 2005; Thomson and Gunter, 2011). For many lecturers in HE across Europe there is a tension in the priorities given to research, teaching and organisational management. Tensions become more fraught as local, national and global accountability systems rank institutions in both teaching and research (Harris, 2005).  Within universities, there are some faculties in which these tensions are heightened. For example in allied health professions and education, taught degree programmes incorporate professional accreditation, such as nursing and teaching.  In the UK, the importance of having expert practical knowledge has often resulted in the appointment of  lecturers whose practical and professional expertise has precedence  over their research standing. (Boyd and Harris, 2010). Within the changing competitive climate in HE, many lecturers, without doctorates, are now engaging in their own doctorate study in order to further develop their own research. Furthermore, institutions focusing on professional qualifications are trying to ensure that all lecturers have research and professional expertise. In the context of this shift, there are significant and under explored issues for lecturers and HE institutions.  The focus in this paper is on six lecturers employed and also undertaking a doctorate on one campus in one of the largest university education faculties in Europe. They have all previously been school teachers. These six lecturers  have voluntarily formed a research group, facilitated by a colleague within the faculty. The purpose of the paper is to:

• Discuss the perceived impact of ‘doing’ a doctorate on lecturers’ own identity
• Develop  a shared context for exploring identity, positionality and doctorate study within HE in order to further develop the notion of ‘collective identity’.

Theoretically, the meta theoretical framework relates to notions of identity.  Bauman’s contribution of ‘liquid modernity’ (2004) forms a backdrop for the paper.  There is recognition that there is a restlessness caused by change and the fragility exposed as systems rapidly evolve, and create, more than ever, unknown futures. Thus, identity is seen as liquid and as a process of ‘becoming’. This is explored by the participants through narrative discussion and writing as they consider their own lecturing roles and the ways in which engaging in doctorate study, alongside their lecturing positions, may influence their lives and their work. The research is interpretative and can broadly be located in a social constructionist paradigm.

Each participant has brought his/her own theoretical lens to explore  meanings of doctoral study and shifts in identity, both for themselves and for the group. The paper therefore draws on a range of theoretical perspectives which include: exploring notions of authenticity through realignment and (re)-positioning in relation to knowledge/practice (Britzman 2003….); understanding and recognising  shifting  ‘leading identities’ (Black et.al 2009)  as part of one’s own ‘identity trajectory’ (Mc Alpline et.al., 2014); and examining the social relations through figured worlds (Holland, 2001) within the academy through power hierarchies (Foucault) within the organisation.

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