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1 Introduction
In a recent exchange of views on research into educational effectiveness (EER) one group of academics ([44] Muijs et al. , 2011) responded to another academic's criticism of the field ([27] Gorard, 2010) with the observation that "so many critics misunderstand the general field of EER" ([44] Muijs et al. , 2011, p. 25). Such a comment manifests an evident disregard for the fact that the parameters, the defining features, the nature, and the purpose of any field are not set in stone and their delineation and definition are not the prerogative of any one individual or group. Inevitably some views will hold sway and will come to represent the dominant perspective, but these may be challenged. Knowledge is contested, and so, too, are the parameters of the (often multiple and overlapping) field(s) in which it may be considered to be located.
So it is with the scholarship of researcher development. The launch of the International Journal for Researcher Development in 2008 was a significant marker in the recognition of researcher development as an emergent new field of research and scholarship. The last decade has seen increased attention on the scholarship of doctoral education and on academic practice and development, and researcher development overlaps with each of these; indeed, it may be argued that it is partially located within - and hence is a component of - the field of academic practice and development (though it is important to recognise that not all researchers are part of the academic community, or indeed of the higher education sector). Yet researcher development has nevertheless begun to develop an identity of its own, and with an identity come identifying features or characteristics. In the case of a field of study these may evolve organically, expanding the parameters of the terrain in multiple directions, often gradually and almost imperceptibly, but sometimes suddenly and abruptly, in response to policy change, political imperatives, or defining events that have major ramifications.
Consensus in relation to delineating and defining fields of study is always elusive - particularly in the earliest period of a field's development, when identification of its founding "fathers" - or mothers - is contestable and involves much jostling for position, and the role of trailblazing pioneer is...