The aim of this study is to identify teachers’ self-conceptions as they operate within an internationalised higher education context (Jones and Brown, 2007) by using a narrative role-playing approach with written stories from novice university lecturers (Lyons and LaBoskey, 2002; Moon, 2010). We build our research on two key concepts: (1) self-conceptions refer to teachers’ self-perceptions of their own teaching effectiveness and practice (Roche and Marsh, 2000), (2) internationalisation and its impact on the social and professional context of university teachers (Beerkens et al., 2010; Kreber, 2009; Caruana and Spurling, 2007). Academics have engaged in new tasks facing increasing student and staff mobility; international co-operation; and ‘internationalisation at home’ demands. The methodological approach is a form of narrative role-playing. We asked participants of academic development courses in a set of disciplinary settings (novice lecturers in science, arts, medicine, n=50) to develop their own narratives of two given frame stories set in an internationalising institutional or teaching context. First findings in Switzerland and in Finland demonstrate that self-conceptions relate to optimistic or pessimistic perceptions of internationalisation. This provides a didactical and professional counter-perspective to top-down approaches of institutional internationalisation of academia.