Abstract:
There is an increasing volume of research on PhDs’ lived experiences or educational motivations. However, the transformation process of teachers into doctoral students is underexplored. Moreover, their prior lived experience should also be examined. To address these, this research aims to transcend the snapshotting of the lived experience of PhD students. By providing a panoramic view, ranging from their early childhood to the beginning of their PhD research, the paper explores the authors’ agency and their interaction with their surrounding environment. Through a collaborative autoethnography, the authors employed the concept of agency and a cultural historical lens to examine their aspirations in China and Iran, two distinct contexts. For this purpose, we have presented two narratives of our lives, from early childhood to becoming international PhD students at an Australian university. During the stories, we focused on the theme of life quests in connection to education. Our reflections about the stories illustrate that, in a dialectical relationship with the environment, we humans possess agency in our life quests and pursuits. This study contributes to understanding the nuances of PhD students’ life journeys, including their struggles, hopes, dreams, and constant efforts to improve education.