The Project
About
This project is designed to explore the transition of clinical practitioners into academic roles, shedding light on the unique challenges faced by new lecturers as they integrate practical experience with academic research. Through Practice Clinician Becoming Academic, we aim to uncover effective and engaging ways to communicate these insights starting with this blog. By delving into institutional support, mentorship, professional development, and community engagement, we foster a deeper understanding of how clinicians can thrive in academia. This space serves as both a resource and a conversation, helping clinicians bridge the gap between theory and practice while equipping them with the competencies, strategies, and support mechanisms needed for a successful academic transition.
By sharing personal experiences, strategies, and challenges faced during this transition, the blog intends to inspire and support other clinicians in their journey toward academic involvement, thereby enriching both the clinical and academic communities.
The research
On exploring the transition of practice clinicians to academic roles, a mixed-methods approach is employed to capture the complexity of this phenomenon. This methodology allows for the integration of both quantitative and qualitative data, thereby providing a comprehensive understanding of the experiences, challenges, and motivations of clinicians as they navigate this transition.
Interviews
Qualitatively, semi-structured interviews were conducted in July 2025 with a subset of clinicians who have successfully transitioned to academic roles. The interview data were analysed using thematic analysis, a widely used qualitative method for identifying, organising, and interpreting patterns within the data. The transcripts from the Microsoft Teams recordings were thoroughly reviewed, and an inductive coding approach was applied to allow themes to emerge naturally.
Survey
Survey data were collected and analysed using Microsoft Forms, which provides built-in tools for summarising responses and identifying trends, descriptive statistics, such as frequency distributions and averages that were used to provide an overview of participant responses. Additionally, Microsoft Forms' analytics features allowed for deeper insights by identifying patterns, correlations, and response trends within the dataset. This approach ensured that key themes and findings are systematically extracted, supporting a robust analysis of the transition experiences of clinicians moving into academia. The survey and results of the survey are available in this website (see ‘The Blog’ and ‘The Survey’ sections).
Data Dramatisation
This study employs verbatim theatre methods to transform interview material gathered from clinicians transitioning into academic roles into performative scripts. Using participants’ exact words, the process involved careful selection, editing, and sequencing to construct a dramaturgical narrative that maintains the authenticity of the original speech while drawing out key themes and emotional resonances. Actors are then directed to embody these voices through detailed vocal and physical work, including techniques such as psychological gesture. This embodied approach enables performers to capture not only the content but also the nuance and affective weight of the lived experiences represented. The methodology reflects a commitment to interdisciplinary practice, using theatrical tools to animate research findings and enable deeper emotional and intellectual engagement with the data. The audio files are available under ‘Testimonies’.
This project is supported by the BNU collaborative sandpit award 2025 and received ethical approval by Buckinghamshire New University Ethics Panel in June 2025.
Acknowledgement
We would like to thank Dr Liana Psarologaki for her support, invaluable help, and guidance in the research process. Without your support this project would not be posssible.
We would also like to thank Buckinghamshire New University for hosting the project. Another two important contributors to the project that we would like to include here are Ina Stan and Paul Fields, who helped us with the ethical approval process and project editing. Thank you so much for your contribution. Finally, we would like to thank Dr Yutende Dairo, Prof Arinola Adefila and Dr Hoda Wassif for their encouragement and guidance in the early stages of the project.