A duoethnography of former Biology PhD students navigating liminal roles in STEM education

This duoethnography examines how two former Biology PhD students working in STEM education negotiated professional identity, belonging, and wellbeing in liminal academic roles. Using this collaborative methodology, we juxtapose our trajectories into dialogue to examine what sustained us after graduation. Drawing on reflections written from postdoctoral and contract faculty positions shaped by grant precarity, temporary appointments, and disciplinary border crossing, we learned from each others’ academic pathways, barriers, challenges, and successes. Our analysis foregrounds servingness, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, intersecting identities, academic support, the hidden curriculum, and third spaces as resources for professional becoming. Rather than treating postdoctoral and contract faculty roles as failed steps along a tenure-track pipeline, we frame them as consequential spaces where educators negotiate uncertainty, build relational networks, and imagine more sustainable academic futures. We conclude with recommendations for doctoral students, mentors, and institutions seeking to support early-career educators across unstable and changing higher education landscapes.