This article discusses how doctoral candidates identify and navigate personal learning challenges on their journey to becoming researchers. Our study asked creative arts and humanities candidates to think beyond the research project itself and reflect on emotional hurdles they were facing or had overcome. The findings point to a great deal of ‘invisible’ work that underpins doctoral study, and show that such hidden work can have a major influence not only on the research project, but also on progress and satisfaction with the learning journey. In this article, we outline the key themes that emerged from the study: on the emotional and transformational dimensions of the doctoral journey. Using these themes and the candidate stories surrounding them, we align the doctoral journey with Joseph Campbell’s journeying ‘hero’ and Mezirow’s concept of transformation, and suggest how making such invisible aspects of candidature more visible might enhance research training.

中文翻译：

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绘制博士“英雄”的情感历程：创意艺术和人文学科候选人面临的挑战和突破

本文讨论了博士候选人在成为研究者的过程中如何识别和应对个人学习挑战。我们的研究要求创意艺术和人文学科的候选人思考超出研究项目本身的范围，并思考他们面临或克服的情感障碍。研究结果表明，大量的“无形”工作支撑了博士研究，并表明这种隐性工作不仅会对研究项目产生重大影响，而且还会对学习过程的进展和满意度产生重大影响。在本文中，我们概述了研究中出现的关键主题：关于博士历程的情感和变革维度。利用这些主题及其周围的候选故事，