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Research create changes as your inner world changes by Julia Kukard

Dr. Julia Kukard’s article is published in the Action Research Special Issue on Mindset Transformations. Julia introduces her paper below, and here’s a link to our podcast conversation.

“I reviewed ten years (2016-2025) of research on what I call stuckness to understand how my changing inner world created shifts, before turning back to my own action research. My own study then explored five cycles of change in my life, noting how these changes manifested in five iterations of stuckness.  

I demonstrate how I was able to translate the learning from my own struggles, informed by others work, and go back into my research through the processes of reflexivity. The output from my work resulted in a doctorate, three papers, two books, and a coaching praxis. Who knew stuckness research could unstick so much insight!

The inner shifts I explore include my racialised thinking (I live in South Africa), the impact of the deaths of five dearly beloved people, relationship break-ups, my ADHD, and menopause. It’s been a busy ten years.

Significant insights include, foremost a need to bring more contextual and compassionate approach to stuckness.

For example I was able to broaden the applicability of my theory-building as I worked through my own racialised thinking. By gaining a deeper understanding of my own wounding, I was able to appreciate the vital role wounds play in kickstarting transformation, within but also beyond racial contexts. By experiencing loss, I was able to notice the huge losses involved in the transformation process.

My paper demonstrates how reflexivity can be creative. It becomes a transformative engine that refines, enriches and grows one’s theory in practice. In my case, it moved my theory from viewing stuckness as a degenerative cycle (as much previous work does) towards one that is life-affirming, regenerative, and useful. 

I also demonstrate that a compassionate and supportive inner world enables human-centric research that is both compelling, compassionate, and useful.

Is this not what we want (and need) to do, to build useful and humanising theories? If so, we need to have inner worlds that support us. Our research and research participants are only human if we are too.”

Forever Citation

Kukard, J. (2025). Shamefully Stuck to Joyfully Jammed? Reflexivity in Researching Stuckness. Action Research, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/14767503251395537