Beyond support

Third space professionals as scholars through structured mentoring

Abstract

This panel challenges the persistent framing of third space professionals as research support rather than research leaders. Grounded in Whitchurch’s third space theory, Wenger’s communities of practice, and Boyer’s model of scholarship, we examine how structured mentoring through the 2025 ASCILITE Community Mentoring Program (CMP), the Research Mentorship Program for Third Space in partnership with the Learning Design SIG, enables learning designers and academic developers to engage in sustained scholarly inquiry. Panel contributors will share narratives of identity transformation, research emergence, and boundary-crossing practices that illuminate both enablers and constraints shaping third space scholarship. We propose that third space professionals are uniquely positioned to lead educational transformation through practice-based inquiry. Through facilitated dialogue, attendees will surface institutional conditions and co-develop strategies to sustain scholarly development. By reconceptualising mentoring as a community of practice, this panel demonstrates how CMP fosters the shift from peripheral participation to active scholarly leadership.