Insider, Practitioner, Researcher:
Navigating Positionality and Reflexivity in Applied Qualitative Research
7 October 2026 | Online (Free)
04:00 PM (UTC+02:00 – Malta, Paris, Rome, Stockholm…)
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Session duration: 60 minutes | Language: English
To register, please follow the link at the bottom of the page.
This Panel Discussion is part of the pre-WCQR2027 program. The 11th World Conference on Qualitative Research (WCQR2027) will take place from 19 to 21 January 2027 at ISLA – Polytechnic Institute of Management and Technology, in Vila Nova de Gaia – Porto, Portugal, and from 1 to 4 February 2027 online.
Much applied qualitative research is conducted by practitioner-researchers occupying multiple, often overlapping roles — as inquirers, clinicians, educators, managers, or colleagues — within the settings they study. This dual positioning offers valuable access and insider understanding, but also raises persistent methodological and ethical questions: how does familiarity with a setting shape what is noticed, disclosed, or left unsaid? How do power, trust, and role boundaries shift when the researcher is also an insider? And what reflexive practices genuinely safeguard rigour, rather than simply gesture toward it?
The panel brings together researchers and practitioners to discuss how positionality and reflexivity are navigated in practice — across health, education, and other applied fields — when the lines between “insider”, “practitioner”, and “researcher” are rarely clean.
Our conversation will be animated by the following questions:
- How does the dual role as practitioner and researcher shape access to, and relationships within, the setting of a study?
- What reflexive strategies have you found genuinely useful for managing insider positionality in your work?
- How do issues of power, trust, and role boundaries surface when researching colleagues, clients, students, or communities you are also embedded within?
- What advice would you give to early-career researchers who are, or will be, studying settings they are also practitioners in?
Neville Schembri (Moderator)
Neville Schembri is a Professor at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), where he coordinates the Professional Research Doctorate (DRes) programme within the Applied Research and Innovation Centre. He holds a Doctorate in Health from the University of Bath and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. With a professional background spanning nursing, healthcare management and academia, he has extensive experience in health and social care services, including senior management and leadership roles. His academic interests include qualitative research methodologies, healthcare management, professional doctoral education and doctoral supervision, with a particular interest in applied qualitative inquiry and the relationship between professional practice, researcher positionality and reflexivity.
Alex Rizzo (Panelist)
Dr Ing Alex Rizzo is a professor at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST). His main fields of focus are in vocational education & training, grounded theory focusing primarily on small business strategy and integrated water resource management, with some 50 publications to date. Alex has previously acted as Deputy Principal for R&I at MCAST, as Head of the MCAST University College, and was previously the director and founder of the MCAST Institute of Applied Sciences. Alex has introduced a significant number of undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the fields of health management, engineering and environmental sciences, including the creation and running of MCAST’s first professional doctoral programme. His qualifications include a first degree in electrical engineering from the University of Malta, a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Malta, a Master of Philosophy from the Maastricht School of Management, and a Doctorate in Business Administration from the Robert Gordon University.
Rose Falzon (Panelist)
Prof. Rose Falzon is a senior academic and supervisor for Master’s and Doctoral candidates at the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) and coordinates the Master's in Research Programme. She is also an accredited psychotherapist, clinical supervisor, lecturer, and Academic Board Member at the Gestalt Psychotherapy Institute Malta (EAPTI-GPTIM). She holds a degree in Education, Masters in Counselling and Masters in Gestalt Psychotherapy and Doctorate in Education and Doctorate in Gestalt Psychotherapy. Prof. Falzon has presented seminars and workshops on psychotherapy, supervision, and humanistic research at various conferences. Her research focuses particularly on education, qualitative research, psychotherapy, practitioner ethical dilemmas, mentoring, and supervision, and she has published articles in both local and international journals.
Shirley Ann Gauci (Panelist)
Dr Shirley Ann Gauci is a Senior Lecturer at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), where she teaches research methods and supervises doctoral and postgraduate researchers. Her academic work is grounded in qualitative, interpretivist and sociocultural approaches, with a focus on early childhood education, educator agency, relational pedagogy, curriculum change and qualitative methodology. She is actively involved in national and international research collaborations and leads funded projects exploring innovation, education and emerging technologies. Her work has been published in international peer-reviewed journals and presented at conferences across Europe. Shirley serves on editorial boards and contributes as a reviewer for several academic journals and international research initiatives. Her methodological scholarship engages particularly with reflexivity, relational approaches to inquiry, and questions concerning how qualitative knowledge is constructed, interpreted and warranted. Across her research and academic practice, she is committed to advancing rigorous, contextually responsive and critically reflective qualitative inquiry.
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