Trust-building as inherent to academic development practice

We introduce the special issue, ‘Trust in and through Academic Development’, which includes papers and reflections written by 26 authors from seven different countries. These collected papers demonstrate that trust-building is an integral part of academic developers’ practice, serving as an anchor in uncertain and turbulent times. Based on the research presented in this issue and elsewhere, we define trust as exposing vulnerability and holding positive expectations of others despite contextual constraints. Relatedly, we define trust-building in academic development as a process of continuous attention to fostering relationships and organisational structures that can positively contribute to recommendations and actions around teaching and assessment in the university. Towards the end of this introductory paper, we outline five areas for future researchers to investigate this important area of academic development. Overall, the studies in this special issue provide compelling evidence that trust is vital to students, faculty members, institutional leaders, and academic developers themselves.