As an experienced business school lecturer of over 20 years, I recently completed my Doctorate in Education. My EdD research centred on concepts of identity, analysing how amateur arts-based practice shapes university business school lecturers’ sense of self. My thesis explored creative learning processes and techniques through rich participant narratives around personal, professional and creative selfhoods. In keeping with the creative research context I enjoyed pursuing a more creative research design, including using participants' symbolic artefacts to elicit their stories. This sparked an interest in my professional practice, as a senior lecturer in executive education at LJMU, to foreground creative approaches, challenging the role of more conventional business management education teaching and research methods.