Weaving the space between: navigating identities and institutions as a third-sector pracademic

Abstract

ABSTRACT Conceptual reflection of the term “pracademic” comes at an important time in development research. Academic institutions are being challenged to demonstrate research impact, such as through the UK's REF submission. Practitioners in the third sector are feeling the impacts of delivering social change among intense social shifts, including a global pandemic, cost of living crisis and social justice unrest. Coined to describe academic faculty who are both scholars and practitioners in their respective fields, the term “pracademic” has evolved beyond its original context of conflict resolution to find applications across fields and sectors (Volpe and Chandler 2001, 245). This paper, situated from a philanthropic and nonprofit management perspective, examines two aspects of being a pracademic: navigating identities and institutional arrangements. A view that crossing the research-practice divide is an “affair with the other,” where one seeks to fit in at either end, is contested (Empson, 2013). Instead, considering pracademia as “the space between” overcomes the issue of dichotomy by considering how a pracademic creates a sense of self between multiple endpoints (Dwyer and Buckle, 2009). This paper extends pracademic conversations through additional conceptualisation and experiential reflection, adding additional evidence of third-sector pracademics.