The Teaching-Research Nexus (TRN) plays a critical role in shaping students' academic achievement, cognitive disposition, and career choices, particularly in fostering students' identity development. While research on student identity development has extensively examined STEM disciplines, doctoral journeys, and academic professionals, less attention has been given to how research-based learning in early social sciences education contributes to researcher identity formation. From a sociocultural perspective, researcher identity development emerges through participation in disciplinary communities, involving the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and norms specific to a discipline, as well as the ability to critically engage with knowledge claims. The timeline for developing undergraduate researcher identities varies based on factors such as research experience, mentorship, and peer recognition. This study examines a 12-week intervention where undergraduate students (N=102) participated in a research-based learning course designed to nurture researcher identity development. Implemented within two undergraduate social sciences courses at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, the intervention provides design guidelines for TRN at institutional (macro), curriculum (meso), and learning outcome (micro) levels to ensure accessible, meaningful learning opportunities. Survey data from 61 students (82% response rate) were analyzed using both manual coding in NVivo by the primary researcher and GPT model analysis as a secondary coder for 25% and 41.6% of responses across two iterations. The methodology combined reflexive and deductive approaches with Large Language Model thematic analysis. Findings reveal that second-year social sciences students primarily focus on pre-professional identity development, with researcher identities emerging only through explicit TRN implementation. This study contributes to TRN research by highlighting the role of research-based learning in fostering researcher identities in under-researched social sciences disciplines, while offering practical insights for designing interventions that support students' academic and professional development. The research demonstrates the importance of intentionally structured research experiences in undergraduate education for developing enduring scholarly identities.

Keywords: Teaching research nexus, student’s researcher identity, thematic analysis, design guideline, Mozambique.