University professional staff roles, identities, and spaces of interaction: systematic review of literature published in 2000–2020

Third space professionals and undergraduate teaching – A comparative study in China, the United Kingdom and Canada

“…Although some studies highlight the transition of the professional identity from passive or invisible to more active agency (Veles et al, 2023), in practice, a common issue was a lack of clarity surrounding job descriptions, particularly assumptions about the amount of time that was assumed to be devoted to teaching, research and other activities such as knowledge exchange or community engagement. Roles and workloads were often based on understandings between middle managers and individuals, which were open to individuals to interpret.…”

Integrating the disciplines: Applying sociology of third space to contemporary, constructivist career development

“…They often engage in activities requiring multiple knowledge sets relating to academic disciplines, organisational systems, professional expertise, competencies of relationship development and translation skills to connect all these weakly connected systems. Such boundary-crossing activities (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996) include, inter alia, academic development and academic advising, digital technology development, research funding policy and implementation, student engagement and learning support, academic library liaison, community partnerships, employability, career support for students and staff and integrating career and the world of work competencies into the academic curricula (Veles et al, 2023).…”

“…Journal of the National Institute for Career Education and Counselling Research demonstrates that working in third spaces can be rewarding for some and controversial for others (McIntosh & Nutt, 2022;Veles, 2023;Whitchurch, 2008;. One characteristic of third space work is its systemic invisibility within the organisation and the corresponding lack of recognition of the contributions of those working in those invisible spaces, especially on behalf of senior members of the institution.…”

Ecological dynamics in the third space: a diffractive analysis of academic development

“…Other disruptions may be more subtle and/or more personal in their influence, but no less significant for those who are impacted. Those working in the third space might be considered as academic artisans (Brew et al, 2018), honing their practice in an environment that traverses professional and academic spheres and serves for collaboratively shaping diversity and occasionally intersecting professional identities (Veles et al, 2023). In the neoliberal university, they have been described as flexible generalists (Stanton and Young, 2022) and in the ecological university as institutional natural historians (Kinchin, 2024), whose tentacular reach across the university ecosystem brings them into contact with colleagues from the range of academic disciplines -as well as with administrators and managers.…”

“…This challenging process requires individuals to exercise various narrative approaches to establish their credibility across diverse contexts and in connection with different audiences. For example, difficulties are routinely encountered by academic developers when engaging in novel activity domains, embarking on new projects, or addressing university priorities situated beyond or in the transitional spaces between conventional areas (Veles et al, 2023).…”