Abstract
Professional identity formation is a complex and developing field of study. Current research work in studying the formation of identity has been explored in a myriad of environments. Such areas as student development, workplace identity, identity within a profession, etc. have been the subject of study for some time now. More intricate inquiries such as how to develop a research identity in doctoral students are being explored. Documenting researcher identity development is critical for designing student-centered doctoral programs. A critical aspect of the development of doctoral students is learning how to become a researcher. Current studies to properly analyze identity development have employed user experience (UX) methods such as journey mapping, which are invaluable in capturing the complexity and richness in this multifaceted landscape. UX mapping methods allow for the development of identity "personas," which are composite descriptors forming a fictional character representative of target users. Personas assist in "framing" a deeper understanding and empathy with the target audience. This UX approach creates several "personas" to capture the sample audience being serviced. Combining UX personas with Systems Theory Archetypes, expands research in this area to better reflect the repeating patterns of user needs, which assists user-focused decisions in the educational curricular design process and mentorship development of the emerging scholar. This research presents the developing work on systemic archetypes for researcher identity personas to assist in doctoral scholars' formation.