ICALLD Symposium 2026: 31st March – 1st April

This presentation responds directly to the symposium theme, “Beyond Survival: Agency, Advocacy and Impact in Learning Development,” by foregrounding how academic literacy practitioners exercise agency and advocacy through decolonially and socially responsive writing centre practices. By reflecting on learning development praxis within a University of Technology in South Africa, the paper moves beyond deficit-oriented notions of student support that focus merely on academic survival. Instead, it highlights how writing centre practitioners actively negotiate institutional structures, challenge dominant academic norms, and advocate for more inclusive and contextually relevant approaches to academic writing. In doing so, the proposal demonstrates the impact of learning development work that empowers both practitioners and students, positioning the writing centre as a transformative space that fosters student voice, academic confidence, and meaningful participation in knowledge-making rather than mere compliance with established conventions.

Third-space Advocacy: This presentation responds to the provocation “Third-space Advocacy” by critically reflecting on how academic literacy practitioners in a university writing centre navigate and actively shape the ‘third space’ between academic, administrative, and student-facing domains. Drawing on decolonial and socially responsive praxis, the paper examines the boundary-spanning roles practitioners assume as they mediate institutional expectations, disciplinary norms, and students’ diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds. It further highlights advocacy strategies through which practitioners articulate the value of learning development work, influence pedagogical practices, and negotiate recognition within complex institutional ecosystems. In doing so, the proposal foregrounds leadership practices embedded in everyday writing centre work and demonstrates how practitioners communicate their impact, not only in supporting students but also in contributing to institutional transformation and more inclusive approaches to academic development.

The presentation is likely to align closely with the interests of ICALLD delegates, as it speaks directly to shared concerns around learning development, academic literacies, and practitioner identity within higher education. By focusing on decolonially and socially responsive writing centre praxis, the paper addresses issues of agency, advocacy, and impact that resonate strongly with learning developers working across diverse and often constrained institutional contexts. In addition, the emphasis on third-space roles, boundary-spanning practices, and strategies for articulating the value of learning development work reflects challenges commonly experienced by ICALLD delegates. As such, the proposal offers both conceptual insights and reflective practice that can inform, affirm, and extend delegates’ own professional experiences within the field.

This session will focus on thriving in LD rather than just surviving. I have been personally very fortunate to progress from a LD Tutor to a Director of Learning, Teaching and Libraries. This has involved me being both proactive and strategic in order to build a rounded CV. I hope that by sharing my journey I will be able to provide insights and tips around career planning and development.

Third-space Professional Journeys: I will share my professional development journey from working as a LD Tutor to a Director of Learning, Teaching and Libraries. I will discuss how my current role has afforded me the opportunity to significantly expand my reach as a LD practitioner within my institution. I will share specific examples of how I have successfully integrated LD values and approaches into our University Curriculum Framework and wider teaching and learning policies.

This session should be of interest to delegates who have ambitions to progress their career within the field of Academic Language and/or Learning Development. I anticipate that the tips I share will give delegates greater insight into career progression opportunities which in turn will empower them to become more strategic in personal career development planning.

Our session will tell the stories of how the two presenters – individually and collectively – navigated trajectories to becoming scholars in Learning Development (LD). Our journeys have involved working in the LD field, while researching LD at doctoral level and publishing about it. Much of the fuel for those developments has been through collaboration, allowing us to find pathways through the sometimes challenging territory of becoming a research-active learning developer. Regarding the symposium theme, carving out such niches has taken us considerably beyond mere ‘survival’ in the role, and allowed us to establish a broader professional identity, inclusive of scholarship. This process has involved advocating at many levels: for ourselves, for each other, and for the wider LD field. In addition to our own writing, we champion LD scholarship more broadly through chairing ALDinHE’s Research and Scholarship Development Working Group.

Third-space Professional Journeys: For both presenters, the underpinning theory and the way our practice is enacted are intertwined. We have been research-active throughout our time in the roles. Since taking this to the stage of doctoral theses, the impact has been not only on our day-to-day performance of LD, but on how our institutions frame and deliver LD. We have been able to advocate for our beliefs with leaders at our institutions, as now reflected in how our teaching activity and resources are integrated across school and course portfolios. Our presentation will provide examples to others about how our journeys have allowed us to reflect our holistic senses of professional identity in the way we enact our LD roles.

In addition to aligning to the theme of the conference, the presentation will provide tangible examples of how practitioners can enact scholarship-driven roles in the field of LD. Existing literature highlights a perceived disconnect between LD’s scholarship and practice. The session aims to demonstrate how scholarly-oriented practice can be meaningfully materialised, which we anticipate will be of interest to the delegates.

This session responds to the symposium theme by drawing a movement from survival to agency, advocacy, and impact through research-informed Learning Development practice. My journey into UK higher education began with navigating unfamiliar academic expectations, linguistic barriers, and cultural norms as an international postgraduate student. These experiences of survival were formative, shaping how I later approached Learning Development work. Instead of viewing academic challenges as individual problems, my research and professional practice understand them as structural and intercultural issues. Student agency is highlighted through qualitative research that places student voice at the centre, while professional agency is shown through advising practices that make academic expectations clear, accessible, and inclusive. Advocacy takes place through third-space work that translates students’ experiences into changes in practice while balancing academic standards and equitable access. Impact is demonstrated through concrete changes in academic advising, interculturally aware teaching, and inclusive support initiatives that help students build lasting academic confidence rather than simply cope in the short term.

Third-space Professional Journeys: The session directly addresses the provocation Third-space Professional Journeys by critically examining how my pathway into Learning Development has shaped both the opportunities available to me and the ways in which I use them. My professional journey bridges international student experience, intercultural education research, and academic advising practice, positioning me in the third space between teaching, student support, and institutional expectations. Experiencing academic challenges as a postgraduate student led me to research intercultural education and student transitions, and subsequently to apply these insights within my Learning Development role.

The session aligns closely with the interests of ICALLD delegates by addressing shared concerns around the professional identity of a Learning Developer working in third-space role, offering practical examples and reflective insights that agents can apply in their own practice to support diverse students, foster inclusive learning environments, and navigate the balance between institutional expectations and student-centred support.

We will discuss and encourage conversation regarding how we as LD/ALD practitioners can acquire and enact agency within our institutions.

Third-space Professional Journeys: We wish to share the tale of our differing, but converging, professional and personal journeys into LD and how the places and spaces we have negotiated along the way have impacted on our practice and the centre we built to house it.

We all have differing journeys into and through LD/ALD and we think our trajectories would be a useful starting point for a broader discussion regarding how we can recruit into, develop, and nurture our profession.

Our good news story highlights the impact of integrated learning strategies instruction on all students in a two-year undergraduate business management diploma. Intersections between the expertise of learning developers and business faculty played a key part in this success. Learning Developers share an understanding that student learning involves a complex interplay of cognitive strategies alongside an understanding of motivation, self-regulation, mindset and emotion (Weinstein & Acee, 2018). Similarly, many Schools of Business have a growing emphasis on developing student emotional intelligence and other soft skills. Our presentation tells the success story that comes from integrating the contributions of learning development and emotional intelligence through a business lens. Insights from learning development are integrated into learning outcomes and content for a required first-year Emotional Intelligence course, allowing every student in the program to develop strategic learning skills. Our collaboration also harnessed the third space effectively, bringing together faculty with varied expertise to create a high-impact learning experience.

Good News Stories: Our good news story includes a third space collaboration within our first-year Emotional Intelligence course teaching team. Our course incorporates explicit instruction on time-management, metacognition, and procrastination awareness within a broader structure of fifteen core emotional intelligence skills. Additionally, students actively engage with learning strategy workshops/sessions through a professional development assignment. They engage in regular reflective practice through ePortfolios, allowing them to document learning progress, set goals, and critically reflect on their goals over time. Our non-deficit approach to learning strategies harnesses the associations between emotional intelligence and strategic learning, (e.g., Adeyemo, 2007; Winei et al., 2025) in a sustainable, course-based learning format. Teaching team observations consistently indicate that students view their engagement with learning development content positively and without any deficit framing.

Our presentation highlights the impact that can come from moving academic development out of silos and into cross-disciplinary collaborations. Our presenter team represents a collaboration between faculty members with a primary background in learning development and those with a primary background in business (e.g., management consulting, marketing, human resources). In addition to being a good news story of engaged student learning, it demonstrates the power of the third space in creating sustainable academic development opportunities supported by institutional structures. We demonstrate how the learning development profession can share knowledge and andragogical methods with faculty colleagues in a sustainable collaboration.

Adeyemo, D. A. (2007). Moderating influence of emotional intelligence on the link between academic self-efficacy and achievement of university students. Psychology and Developing Societies, 19(2), 199–213. https://doi.org/10.1177/097133360701900204 Weinstein, C. E., & Acee, T. W. (2018). Study and Learning Strategies. https://doi.org/2443/10.4324/9781315629810-17 Winei, A. A. D., Wahyuningrum, P. M. E., & Karisma, E. (2025). The effectiveness of emotional intelligence psychoeducation on learning motivation, self-regulated learning, and procrastination in students. Bulletin of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.51214/002025071406000

This presentation will showcase how podcasting has enabled us to expand our impact at the college. The Douglas College Learning Centre launched a podcast in Fall 2025 with the goal of sharing learning and study advice with students. Our monthly episodes typically feature one or more peer tutors discussing a particular topic, such as procrastination, critical thinking, and exam prep. Producing the podcast has enabled us to demonstrate the expertise and experience that learning development professionals bring to their work, while promoting and highlighting the effectiveness of our learning support services. Sharing learning strategies and guidance with any student who wishes to tune in has also enabled us to impact students outside of appointment bookings. Finally, it has boosted our confidence and taught us transferrable skills, such as content creation and audience engagement. LC-DC episodes are available on Spotify, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and our website: https://library.douglascollege.ca/lc-dc-podcast

Good News Stories: I believe this is a good news story. The LC-DC Podcast promotes the DC Learning as a welcoming and inclusive space, and inculcates a sense of belonging to the learning support and DC community. We've published 6 episodes since last September, each receiving about 45-50 listens on average. We've collaborated with other areas in the college. For example, Douglas College Student Life helped to design artwork and digital content, including the podcast logo. We've also used our platform to help promote other services and initiatives at the college, such as the DSU Study Buddies Club. Of course, there's still tons of room for growth, and we see further opportunities to expand our reach and collaborate with other areas of the college.

ICALLD delegates will discover how their expertise, experience, and value as learning developers can be shared broadly via popular publishing mediums like podcasts. As such, the presentation will briefly cover the ins and outs of podcasting (time permitting and within my limited experience and expertise), including planning, production, equipment, audio editing, and hosting. Hopefully, participants will be inspired to start their own podcasts and share their learning development experiences and expertise with their communities and the world at large!

Our good news story highlights the impact of integrated learning strategies instruction on all students in a two-year undergraduate business management diploma. Intersections between the expertise of learning developers and business faculty played a key part in this success. Learning Developers share an understanding that student learning involves a complex interplay of cognitive strategies alongside an understanding of motivation, self-regulation, mindset and emotion (Weinstein & Acee, 2018). Similarly, many Schools of Business have a growing emphasis on developing student emotional intelligence and other soft skills. Our presentation tells the success story that comes from integrating the contributions of learning development and emotional intelligence through a business lens. Insights from learning development are integrated into learning outcomes and content for a required first-year Emotional Intelligence course, allowing every student in the program to develop strategic learning skills. Our collaboration also harnessed the third space effectively, bringing together faculty with varied expertise to create a high-impact learning experience.

Good News Stories: Our good news story includes a third space collaboration within our first-year Emotional Intelligence course teaching team. Our course incorporates explicit instruction on time-management, metacognition, and procrastination awareness within a broader structure of fifteen core emotional intelligence skills. Additionally, students actively engage with learning strategy workshops/sessions through a professional development assignment. They engage in regular reflective practice through ePortfolios, allowing them to document learning progress, set goals, and critically reflect on their goals over time. Our non-deficit approach to learning strategies harnesses the associations between emotional intelligence and strategic learning, (e.g., Adeyemo, 2007; Winei et al., 2025) in a sustainable, course-based learning format. Teaching team observations consistently indicate that students view their engagement with learning development content positively and without any deficit framing.

Our presentation highlights the impact that can come from moving academic development out of silos and into cross-disciplinary collaborations. Our presenter team represents a collaboration between faculty members with a primary background in learning development and those with a primary background in business (e.g., management consulting, marketing, human resources). In addition to being a good news story of engaged student learning, it demonstrates the power of the third space in creating sustainable academic development opportunities supported by institutional structures. We demonstrate how the learning development profession can share knowledge and andragogical methods with faculty colleagues in a sustainable collaboration.

Adeyemo, D. A. (2007). Moderating influence of emotional intelligence on the link between academic self-efficacy and achievement of university students. Psychology and Developing Societies, 19(2), 199–213. https://doi.org/10.1177/097133360701900204 Weinstein, C. E., & Acee, T. W. (2018). Study and Learning Strategies. https://doi.org/2443/10.4324/9781315629810-17 Winei, A. A. D., Wahyuningrum, P. M. E., & Karisma, E. (2025). The effectiveness of emotional intelligence psychoeducation on learning motivation, self-regulated learning, and procrastination in students. Bulletin of Counseling and Psychotherapy, 7(2). https://doi.org/10.51214/002025071406000

This presentation will showcase how podcasting has enabled us to expand our impact at the college. The Douglas College Learning Centre launched a podcast in Fall 2025 with the goal of sharing learning and study advice with students. Our monthly episodes typically feature one or more peer tutors discussing a particular topic, such as procrastination, critical thinking, and exam prep. Producing the podcast has enabled us to demonstrate the expertise and experience that learning development professionals bring to their work, while promoting and highlighting the effectiveness of our learning support services. Sharing learning strategies and guidance with any student who wishes to tune in has also enabled us to impact students outside of appointment bookings. Finally, it has boosted our confidence and taught us transferrable skills, such as content creation and audience engagement. LC-DC episodes are available on Spotify, Amazon, iHeartRadio, and our website: https://library.douglascollege.ca/lc-dc-podcast

Good News Stories: I believe this is a good news story. The LC-DC Podcast promotes the DC Learning as a welcoming and inclusive space, and inculcates a sense of belonging to the learning support and DC community. We've published 6 episodes since last September, each receiving about 45-50 listens on average. We've collaborated with other areas in the college. For example, Douglas College Student Life helped to design artwork and digital content, including the podcast logo. We've also used our platform to help promote other services and initiatives at the college, such as the DSU Study Buddies Club. Of course, there's still tons of room for growth, and we see further opportunities to expand our reach and collaborate with other areas of the college.

ICALLD delegates will discover how their expertise, experience, and value as learning developers can be shared broadly via popular publishing mediums like podcasts. As such, the presentation will briefly cover the ins and outs of podcasting (time permitting and within my limited experience and expertise), including planning, production, equipment, audio editing, and hosting. Hopefully, participants will be inspired to start their own podcasts and share their learning development experiences and expertise with their communities and the world at large!

Despite growing demand for technology-enhanced learning (TEL) expertise, third-space roles in higher education remain poorly understood (Mitchell et al., 2017; Altena et al., 2019), limiting practitioner agency and necessitating ongoing advocacy to establish credibility, visibility, and influence (Fyffe, 2018). Career progression within the third space is largely informal, shaped by fragmented and poorly defined developmental pathways. Responding to the symposium theme Beyond Survival: Agency, Advocacy and Impact in Learning Development, this proposal presents narrative accounts from three practitioners working in overlapping related TEL roles (academic developer, learning designer, educational technologist) that explore the challenges and opportunities inherent in these roles in practice and how tensions in boundary-spanning work shape collaboration, professional identity, wellbeing, and the capacity to generate meaningful impact.

Third-space Advocacy: As three professionals who have navigated pathways into third-space careers within the Australian tertiary education context, our presentation draws on collaborative autoethnographic reflection to explore the interplay between professional identity, relationships, and organisational context. Our reflections reveal the highly contextual and individualised nature of third-space career trajectories, where professionalisation remains underdeveloped. We explore how institutional contexts shape career experiences and foreground advocacy strategies used to build credibility, broker relationships, and connect diverse roles to generate value across academic and professional boundaries. The presentation also surfaces informal leadership enacted through boundary-spanning work and the opportunities for connection and professional development, illustrating how third-space practitioners exercise agency and influence within complex institutional ecosystems to move beyond survival towards sustained impact.

Our collaborative autoethnographic process has uncovered connections between professional identity, relationships, and organisational context that provide insight into tensions affecting productivity, morale, and career progression for third-space practitioners. Building on these insights, we propose a framework to explain these relationships, which may support those in third space roles and their managers in making sense of their roles and identities. Through discussing our own journeys, we surface challenges in role boundaries, organisational structures, and team relationships, while sharing advocacy strategies that are transferable across third-space roles.

Our presentation describes a collaboration between learning advisors, librarians and a course lecturer to embed academic and information literacy skills in a first-year engineering paper. The initiative is designed to mirror project realities for engineering students by facilitating critical engagement with available information and a Gen AI agent in a group decision-making context. We provide evidence of the impact of our intervention and critical reflection on possible wider applications.

Good News Stories: The brief for our intervention was to improve pass rates in the course, particularly for Māori and Pasifika students, and we provide evidence of the impact of our intervention, and critical reflection on why it worked. Furthermore, our presentation provides an example of a GenAI tool that works in the service of agentic learning, rather than replacing it.

Many of the delegates are likely to be involved in embedding interventions in papers for specific assessments and may be considering the incorporation of student-centred pedagogies and also AI technologies in their work. We offer an example of how these can be combined to develop a learning experience that has potential impact beyond individual assessments.

This presentation intends to make an impact on how educators interact with learners by paying attention to the language they use to describe their situation and consciously helping them use accurate language to affirm their capacity to learn and develop as students and as human beings on their evolutionary journey through life stages, while being a student is part of the journey.

Good News Stories: I will share examples of my interactions with colleagues and students to demonstrate how my work has made a positive impact on those whom I encounter. So it is a good news story as well as the Third-space professional journeys, because this is my professional journey that I continue paying attention and exploring what rises up during my professional work with students.

As a Senior Lecturer in Learning and Development and Learning Advisor for over 17 years at a tertiary institute, I have shared values and aspirations with the delegates who come together at the conference to keep learning and developing, as I do as a human being and professional. My examples will interest conference delegates as they did in my other presentations on the same topic.

This workshop explores how learning advisors experience and respond to role misunderstanding across institutional and national contexts — and which strategies most effectively support clarity, boundaries, and professional legitimacy.

Third-space Advocacy: This session focusses on: Role misunderstanding as a shared structural issue Strategic responses rather than institutional complaints Practical takeaways despite limited time

This session aligns with ICALLD delegates’ interests by validating shared experiences of role ambiguity in learning development/advising. It combines ICALLD-generated data with practical, transferable strategies, offering credible insights and usable language that participants can apply immediately within their own institutional contexts.

How the audience will be engaged during the workshop: Pre-workshop survey to identify key themes for inclusion in workshop A reflective prompt (e.g., “Which strategy resonates most with your context?”) (Word cloud) A brief chat response

This workshop explores how learning advisors experience and respond to role misunderstanding across institutional and national contexts — and which strategies most effectively support clarity, boundaries, and professional legitimacy.

Third-space Advocacy: This session focusses on: Role misunderstanding as a shared structural issue Strategic responses rather than institutional complaints Practical takeaways despite limited time

This session aligns with ICALLD delegates’ interests by validating shared experiences of role ambiguity in learning development/advising. It combines ICALLD-generated data with practical, transferable strategies, offering credible insights and usable language that participants can apply immediately within their own institutional contexts.

Pre-workshop survey to identify key themes for inclusion in workshop A reflective prompt (e.g., “Which strategy resonates most with your context?”) (Word cloud) A brief chat response

This presentation intends to make an impact on how educators interact with learners by paying attention to the language they use to describe their situation and consciously helping them use accurate language to affirm their capacity to learn and develop as students and as human beings on their evolutionary journey through life stages, while being a student is part of the journey.

Good News Stories: I will share examples of my interactions with colleagues and students to demonstrate how my work has made a positive impact on those whom I encounter. So it is a good news story as well as the Third-space professional journeys, because this is my professional journey that I continue paying attention and exploring what rises up during my professional work with students.

As a Senior Lecturer in Learning and Development and Learning Advisor for over 17 years at a tertiary institute, I have shared values and aspirations with the delegates who come together at the conference to keep learning and developing, as I do as a human being and professional. My examples will interest conference delegates as they did in my other presentations on the same topic.

Our presentation describes a collaboration between learning advisors, librarians and a course lecturer to embed academic and information literacy skills in a first-year engineering paper. The initiative is designed to mirror project realities for engineering students by facilitating critical engagement with available information and a Gen AI agent in a group decision-making context. We provide evidence of the impact of our intervention and critical reflection on possible wider applications.

Good News Stories: The brief for our intervention was to improve pass rates in the course, particularly for Māori and Pasifika students, and we provide evidence of the impact of our intervention, and critical reflection on why it worked. Furthermore, our presentation provides an example of a GenAI tool that works in the service of agentic learning, rather than replacing it.

Many of the delegates are likely to be involved in embedding interventions in papers for specific assessments and may be considering the incorporation of student-centred pedagogies and also AI technologies in their work. We offer an example of how these can be combined to develop a learning experience that has potential impact beyond individual assessments.

Despite growing demand for technology-enhanced learning (TEL) expertise, third-space roles in higher education remain poorly understood (Mitchell et al., 2017; Altena et al., 2019), limiting practitioner agency and necessitating ongoing advocacy to establish credibility, visibility, and influence (Fyffe, 2018). Career progression within the third space is largely informal, shaped by fragmented and poorly defined developmental pathways. Responding to the symposium theme Beyond Survival: Agency, Advocacy and Impact in Learning Development, this proposal presents narrative accounts from three practitioners working in overlapping related TEL roles (academic developer, learning designer, educational technologist) that explore the challenges and opportunities inherent in these roles in practice and how tensions in boundary-spanning work shape collaboration, professional identity, wellbeing, and the capacity to generate meaningful impact.

Third-space Advocacy: As three professionals who have navigated pathways into third-space careers within the Australian tertiary education context, our presentation draws on collaborative autoethnographic reflection to explore the interplay between professional identity, relationships, and organisational context. Our reflections reveal the highly contextual and individualised nature of third-space career trajectories, where professionalisation remains underdeveloped. We explore how institutional contexts shape career experiences and foreground advocacy strategies used to build credibility, broker relationships, and connect diverse roles to generate value across academic and professional boundaries. The presentation also surfaces informal leadership enacted through boundary-spanning work and the opportunities for connection and professional development, illustrating how third-space practitioners exercise agency and influence within complex institutional ecosystems to move beyond survival towards sustained impact.

Our collaborative autoethnographic process has uncovered connections between professional identity, relationships, and organisational context that provide insight into tensions affecting productivity, morale, and career progression for third-space practitioners. Building on these insights, we propose a framework to explain these relationships, which may support those in third space roles and their managers in making sense of their roles and identities. Through discussing our own journeys, we surface challenges in role boundaries, organisational structures, and team relationships, while sharing advocacy strategies that are transferable across third-space roles.

This presentation responds directly to the symposium theme, “Beyond Survival: Agency, Advocacy and Impact in Learning Development,” by foregrounding how academic literacy practitioners exercise agency and advocacy through decolonially and socially responsive writing centre practices. By reflecting on learning development praxis within a University of Technology in South Africa, the paper moves beyond deficit-oriented notions of student support that focus merely on academic survival. Instead, it highlights how writing centre practitioners actively negotiate institutional structures, challenge dominant academic norms, and advocate for more inclusive and contextually relevant approaches to academic writing. In doing so, the proposal demonstrates the impact of learning development work that empowers both practitioners and students, positioning the writing centre as a transformative space that fosters student voice, academic confidence, and meaningful participation in knowledge-making rather than mere compliance with established conventions.

Third-space Advocacy: This presentation responds to the provocation “Third-space Advocacy” by critically reflecting on how academic literacy practitioners in a university writing centre navigate and actively shape the ‘third space’ between academic, administrative, and student-facing domains. Drawing on decolonial and socially responsive praxis, the paper examines the boundary-spanning roles practitioners assume as they mediate institutional expectations, disciplinary norms, and students’ diverse linguistic and educational backgrounds. It further highlights advocacy strategies through which practitioners articulate the value of learning development work, influence pedagogical practices, and negotiate recognition within complex institutional ecosystems. In doing so, the proposal foregrounds leadership practices embedded in everyday writing centre work and demonstrates how practitioners communicate their impact, not only in supporting students but also in contributing to institutional transformation and more inclusive approaches to academic development.

The presentation is likely to align closely with the interests of ICALLD delegates, as it speaks directly to shared concerns around learning development, academic literacies, and practitioner identity within higher education. By focusing on decolonially and socially responsive writing centre praxis, the paper addresses issues of agency, advocacy, and impact that resonate strongly with learning developers working across diverse and often constrained institutional contexts. In addition, the emphasis on third-space roles, boundary-spanning practices, and strategies for articulating the value of learning development work reflects challenges commonly experienced by ICALLD delegates. As such, the proposal offers both conceptual insights and reflective practice that can inform, affirm, and extend delegates’ own professional experiences within the field.

We will discuss and encourage conversation regarding how we as LD/ALD practitioners can acquire and enact agency within our institutions.

Third-space Professional Journeys: We wish to share the tale of our differing, but converging, professional and personal journeys into LD and how the places and spaces we have negotiated along the way have impacted on our practice and the centre we built to house it.

We all have differing journeys into and through LD/ALD and we think our trajectories would be a useful starting point for a broader discussion regarding how we can recruit into, develop, and nurture our profession.

This session will focus on thriving in LD rather than just surviving. I have been personally very fortunate to progress from a LD Tutor to a Director of Learning, Teaching and Libraries. This has involved me being both proactive and strategic in order to build a rounded CV. I hope that by sharing my journey I will be able to provide insights and tips around career planning and development.

Third-space Professional Journeys: I will share my professional development journey from working as a LD Tutor to a Director of Learning, Teaching and Libraries. I will discuss how my current role has afforded me the opportunity to significantly expand my reach as a LD practitioner within my institution. I will share specific examples of how I have successfully integrated LD values and approaches into our University Curriculum Framework and wider teaching and learning policies.

This session should be of interest to delegates who have ambitions to progress their career within the field of Academic Language and/or Learning Development. I anticipate that the tips I share will give delegates greater insight into career progression opportunities which in turn will empower them to become more strategic in personal career development planning.

Our session will tell the stories of how the two presenters – individually and collectively – navigated trajectories to becoming scholars in Learning Development (LD). Our journeys have involved working in the LD field, while researching LD at doctoral level and publishing about it. Much of the fuel for those developments has been through collaboration, allowing us to find pathways through the sometimes challenging territory of becoming a research-active learning developer. Regarding the symposium theme, carving out such niches has taken us considerably beyond mere ‘survival’ in the role, and allowed us to establish a broader professional identity, inclusive of scholarship. This process has involved advocating at many levels: for ourselves, for each other, and for the wider LD field. In addition to our own writing, we champion LD scholarship more broadly through chairing ALDinHE’s Research and Scholarship Development Working Group.

Third-space Professional Journeys: For both presenters, the underpinning theory and the way our practice is enacted are intertwined. We have been research-active throughout our time in the roles. Since taking this to the stage of doctoral theses, the impact has been not only on our day-to-day performance of LD, but on how our institutions frame and deliver LD. We have been able to advocate for our beliefs with leaders at our institutions, as now reflected in how our teaching activity and resources are integrated across school and course portfolios. Our presentation will provide examples to others about how our journeys have allowed us to reflect our holistic senses of professional identity in the way we enact our LD roles.

In addition to aligning to the theme of the conference, the presentation will provide tangible examples of how practitioners can enact scholarship-driven roles in the field of LD. Existing literature highlights a perceived disconnect between LD’s scholarship and practice. The session aims to demonstrate how scholarly-oriented practice can be meaningfully materialised, which we anticipate will be of interest to the delegates.

This session responds to the symposium theme by drawing a movement from survival to agency, advocacy, and impact through research-informed Learning Development practice. My journey into UK higher education began with navigating unfamiliar academic expectations, linguistic barriers, and cultural norms as an international postgraduate student. These experiences of survival were formative, shaping how I later approached Learning Development work. Instead of viewing academic challenges as individual problems, my research and professional practice understand them as structural and intercultural issues. Student agency is highlighted through qualitative research that places student voice at the centre, while professional agency is shown through advising practices that make academic expectations clear, accessible, and inclusive. Advocacy takes place through third-space work that translates students’ experiences into changes in practice while balancing academic standards and equitable access. Impact is demonstrated through concrete changes in academic advising, interculturally aware teaching, and inclusive support initiatives that help students build lasting academic confidence rather than simply cope in the short term.

Third-space Professional Journeys: The session directly addresses the provocation Third-space Professional Journeys by critically examining how my pathway into Learning Development has shaped both the opportunities available to me and the ways in which I use them. My professional journey bridges international student experience, intercultural education research, and academic advising practice, positioning me in the third space between teaching, student support, and institutional expectations. Experiencing academic challenges as a postgraduate student led me to research intercultural education and student transitions, and subsequently to apply these insights within my Learning Development role.

The session aligns closely with the interests of ICALLD delegates by addressing shared concerns around the professional identity of a Learning Developer working in third-space role, offering practical examples and reflective insights that agents can apply in their own practice to support diverse students, foster inclusive learning environments, and navigate the balance between institutional expectations and student-centred support.