Lynn McAlpine is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education Development. She is internationally recognized for her research, conducted in the UK, Europe and Canada, into PhD and post-PhD career trajectories both in and beyond the academy – ranging from new graduates through to leadership roles. Most recently, she has been exploring how national policy regimes and institutional affordances and constraints during and after the PhD influence how they experience and navigate their lives and careers.. Lynn receives frequent international invitations to do workshops and keynotes that explore the implications of the research both from pedagogical and policy perspectives.
Research interests: Lynn’s broad research interest is lifelong and professional/ workplace learning.
Recent publications
- Castelló, M., McAlpine, L. & Pyhältö, K. (in press). What is the point of the PhD in this age of uncertainty: Reframing Researcher Education. Innovations in Education and Teaching International.
- McAlpine, L., & Bebiroglu, N. (under review). Non-academic employer perspectives on university-societal engagement, inter-sectoral collaborations and PhDs: A Belgian case study.
- Pyhältö, K., McAlpine, L., Tikkanen, L. & Castelló, M. (under review). Alike or different? An institutional case study of supervisor perceptions and practices. Journal of Further and Higher Education.
- McAlpine, L., Castelló, M., & Pyhältö, K. (2026). Considering-mobility: Expanding our view of PhD graduate life-career decision-making. Higher Education Quarterly. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70111.
- McAlpine, L., DeLaquil, T., Bengtsen, S. & Gibson, A. (2025). How do Deans of Humanities understand and enact societal engagement within their broader experiences of leading? A Danish case study. Studies in Higher Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2025.2544040.
- McAlpine, L. (2025). Is the notion of ‘mid-career academic ‘fit-for-purpose’? Evidence for a new framing of (academic) careers. Studies in Continuing Education. DOI: 10.1080/0158037X.2025.2508848.
- McAlpine, L., DeLaquil, T., Bengtsen, S. & Gibson, A. (2025). Rektors and university-societal engagement: Re-presenting the ‘reality’ of ‘their’ university. Policy futures in Education. DOI: 10.1177/14782103251324245.
- McAlpine, L., DeLaquil, T., Bengtsen, S. & Gibson, A. (2025). How do Deans of Humanities understand and enact societal engagement within their broader experiences of leading? A Danish case study. Studies in Higher Education. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2025.2544040.
- McAlpine, L. (2025). Towards a richer representation of academic language publication choices: Integrating biography, work and home. Studies in Continuing Education. 47(1), 321-336.
- Rönkkönen, S., Virtanen, V., García-Morante, M., McAlpine, L., Castelló, M., & Pyhältö, K. (2024). STEM PhD holders working outside academia: The role of social support in career transition. European Journal of Higher Education. 15(4), 551-570.
- McAlpine, L., & Castelló. M. (2024). What do PhD graduates in non-academic careers actually do? Interaction between organization type, job specifications and graduate experience. Learning and Teaching: The International Journal of Higher Education in the Social Sciences, 17, 1, 77-106.
