Fostering trust: a dialogic framework for student reference groups in higher education research

Ginna Brock; Karen Sutherland; Ali Black; Margarietha J de Villiers Scheepers; Prudence Millear; Sherelle Norman; Terri Downer; Nicole Masters; Timothy Strohfeldt

doi:10.1080/01596306.2026.2728953

Fostering trust: a dialogic framework for student reference groups in higher education research

Ginna Brock, Karen Sutherland, Ali Black, Margarietha J de Villiers Scheepers, Prudence Millear, Sherelle Norman, Terri Downer, Nicole Masters Timothy Strohfeldt

Discourse, Vol.Advanced access

08-Sep-2026

: https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2026.2728953

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Fostering trust: a dialogic framework for student reference groups in higher education research957.90 kB

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Higher education

Sociology of education

Educational administration, management and leadership

Trust

Student Reference Groups

Student Participation

dialogic engagement

institutional power

asymmetric relationships

higher education

Universities often rely on student advisory and consultative structures to inform research and educational change. Yet the relational conditions that enable students to meaningfully contribute within asymmetrical staff–student relationships remain undertheorised. Drawing on relationship management and dialogic theories, this paper proposes a Principled Dialogic Trust Framework for fostering trust within these relationships. The framework comprises six relational principles: mutuality, empathy, commitment, risk, relational proximity and transparency, through which trust can deliberately be fostered when authority is not equally distributed. An illustrative case study demonstrates how these principles were enacted across a five-stage blended learning redesign project, in which non-traditional students contributed as advisors from their experiential knowledge and insight. The paper argues that trust functions not as an outcome of successful engagement, but as a relational antecedent that enables students to meaningfully contribute within staff-led initiatives. The framework extends existing dialogic and relationship management traditions to higher education, addressing participatory structures where power asymmetry is constitutive rather than incidental.

: Fostering trust: a dialogic framework for student reference groups in higher education research
: Ginna Brock (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Karen Sutherland (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Ali Black (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Margarietha J de Villiers Scheepers (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Prudence Millear (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Sherelle Norman (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Terri Downer (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Nicole Masters (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
Timothy Strohfeldt (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast
: Discourse, Vol.Advanced access
: Routledge
: 10.1080/01596306.2026.2728953
: 1469-3739
: © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
: Applying student voices in the evaluation of current blended learning initiatives at USC, 0980024964, University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia, Sunshine Coast) - UniSC
: School of Business and Creative Industries
: English
: 991256695302621
: Journal article