This qualitative research aims at linking recent findings related to cognition and self-regulated learning with complexity-driven educational framework that promotes Teacher-Learner communities of practice, in which knowledge is generated and constructed through a complex process of reflection and negotiation. Building on the data that was obtained through a textual academic literary self-report, we explore students' engagement and agency in the activities that are inherent to higher levels of academic education (Ph.D. studies), that is, researching, reading, writing, participating and interaction with other members of academic communities. The results are relevant for our deeper understanding of academic maturation from the cognitive and socio-cultural perspective within a complexity-driven, transdisciplinary educational paradigm.