A commentary between worlds : a collaborative autoethnography of practitioner academic journeys in small island developing states and island territories

Abstract

As practitioners increasingly pursue doctoral research in ocean governance, understanding the challenges they face at the academic-practitioner interface becomes essential for strengthening policy-relevant scholarship. This paper examines how practitioners from or engaged with Small Island Developing States (SIDS) experience the transition into doctoral research, identifying structural tensions that influence their journeys. Using collaborative autoethnography, five practitioner-academics document critical experiences during and following their PhDs and collectively analyse recurring patterns across different institutions, contexts, and career stages. Author positionalities include SIDS nationals, researchers embedded in island governments, and professionals with long-term SIDS engagement. Six tensions emerge: (1) professional experience being dismissed unless formally cited; (2) academic debates feeling disconnected from the political realities that practitioners navigate; (3) questions of authority and legitimacy when producing knowledge about underrepresented regions; (4) the cognitive labour of code-switching between practitioner and scholarly epistemologies; (5) a critique of expectations conflicting with community accountability; and (6) invisible work including caregiving and emotional labour that shapes but remains unacknowledged in research. Such findings matter for marine policy: transdisciplinary ocean research increasingly depends on practitioners who bring essential knowledge of negotiations, implementation, and community realities. The tensions identified are structural rather than personal, arising from basic contrasts in how practitioner and academic communities validate knowledge. The paper offers practical guidance to those navigating doctoral studies and recommendations to institutions seeking to support them, contributing to more inclusive approaches in policy-engaged ocean research.