When people talk about doing a PhD, they often speak about the reading, the writing, the deadlines, the supervision meetings, the imposter syndrome, the endless cups of tea or coffee, and the quiet battle of trying to convince yourself that you do, in fact, belong here. All of that is real, but there is another part of the PhD journey that I think deserves far more attention, especially for those of us who are still finding our feet in the academic world.

I am talking about showing up!

Not just showing up to your desk, your laptop, your library corner, or the Word document that has been staring back at you for three days with the audacity of a blank page. I mean showing up to the events, seminars, conferences, workshops, networking sessions, school gatherings, research conversations, and all the strange little academic rooms where people gather to think out loud together.

Learning the Hidden Curriculum

As a first-year PhD student, just completing my first semester, I have already learned that attending events is not some optional decorative add-on to the research journey. It is part of the journey itself. It is one of those “must experience” parts of the PhD that helps you understand not just your own work, but the wider world your work is entering.

For me, this has been especially important as an international student. Coming into a new university, a new academic culture, a new country, and a new research environment can feel like landing in the middle of a conversation that began long before you arrived. Everyone seems to know where to go, what to say, how things work, who is connected to whom, which events matter, and which acronyms you are apparently meant to understand by spiritual download. In those early months, attending university events became one of the ways I began to make sense of the space I had entered.

The seminars and gatherings at the University of Edinburgh have been a no-brainer for me because they have given me something that the desk alone could not. They gave me access to people, to conversations, to the rhythm of academic life, and to the hidden curriculum of how things are done in these spaces. I was able to speak to my supervisors beyond our formal meeting times, which matters because sometimes the most grounding conversations happen in the small moments before or after an event, when everyone is a little less formal and a little more human. I also got to meet other PhD students and hear about their work, which reminded me that while the PhD can feel painfully individual at times, we are not actually doing this thing alone.

There is something powerful about sitting in a room and listening to someone present their research, not because their topic is exactly the same as yours, but because their questions, methods, tensions, or discoveries suddenly help you see your own project differently. I have found some of the most unexpected intersections with my own research by simply being present at events I could have easily skipped. A paper on theology might spark something in my thinking about healing. A discussion on archives might make me rethink memory and testimony. A conversation about methodology might help me name something I had been sensing but had not yet found the language for. This is the beauty of showing up: you never fully know what you are going to receive until you are already in the room.

The Theatrics of Academia

And let me say this honestly, attending events also helps you learn the performance of academic life. I do not mean performance in a fake or shallow way. I mean that academia has its own culture, rituals, its own ways of presenting, questioning, responding, disagreeing, networking, and positioning knowledge. Some of these practices are helpful, some are strange, and some deserve to be challenged, but you cannot discern that from the outside. You learn by watching. You learn by listening, by noticing how people frame their research, how they handle difficult questions, how they connect their work to wider debates, and how they make space, or fail to make space, for others in the room.

For those of us who come into the PhD from community work, activism, professional practice, ministry, care work, creative work, or any space where knowledge has always been lived and embodied, these academic rooms can sometimes feel intimidating. But they can also become spaces of translation. You begin to understand how your work speaks in this environment without losing the truth of where it came from. You begin to realise that your presence is not accidental, and that your research has something to contribute to the wider conversation.

This is why I believe events are not simply about “networking” in the shallow sense of collecting names, LinkedIn connections, or awkward cups of lukewarm conference coffee. They are about capacity-building. They stretch your thinking, sharpen your language, expand your community, and remind you that the PhD is not only about producing a thesis at the end. It is also about becoming a researcher, and becoming requires exposure.

Of course, not every event will be life-changing. Some will be deeply inspiring, some will be mildly useful, and some will make you wonder whether you should have stayed home with your laptop and snacks. That is also part of the process. The point is not to attend everything until you are exhausted and over-socialised. The point is to be intentional. Find out what is happening around you. Sign up when something speaks to your research, your development, your curiosity, or even your need to be reminded that there is life beyond your own chapter draft. Show up when you can. Listen generously. Ask questions when you are ready. Introduce yourself even when it feels awkward. Take notes, not only on the content, but on the culture.

Within SGSAH, there are already so many opportunities for funded students to connect, learn, and grow, but universities themselves are also overflowing with events that can help us develop as researchers. The challenge is that these opportunities can pass quietly if we are too caught up in the pressure to sit at the desk and prove we are working. But the truth is, attending the right event is also work. Listening to another researcher is work. Building scholarly community is work. Learning how to inhabit academic spaces with confidence and integrity is work.

Coming Next: Reflections on SGSAH Day, Summer School, and Yale-Edinburgh 2026

And that brings me to the next SGSAH blog post, where I will be taking you properly into the Postgraduate Summer School experience at the University of Edinburgh, with a special focus on SGSAH Day. If you are an SGSAH-funded student and you missed it, I will say this with love and just a little bit of dramatic emphasis: you really missed an exciting experience. But do not worry, because through the lens of those who attended, we will take you on the journey. The good, the memorable, the insightful, the funny, and the moments that reminded us why these gatherings matter.

Following that, I will also be sharing updates and reflections from the wider SGSAH Summer School and the Yale-Edinburgh Conference 2026, because one thing this season has confirmed for me is that the PhD journey is not meant to happen only in isolation. Yes, we need the desk. Yes, we need the reading. Yes, we need those quiet, disciplined hours where the work slowly becomes something real. But we also need rooms full of people thinking, questioning, presenting, laughing, challenging, connecting, and reminding us that research is part of a much larger conversation.

So, if you are a PhD student, especially if you are in your early stages, do not get trapped into believing that productivity only looks like sitting alone and writing all day. Sometimes productivity looks like walking into a seminar where you know no one. Sometimes it looks like staying behind after a talk to ask one question. Sometimes it looks like meeting another student whose work has nothing and everything to do with yours. Sometimes it looks like being present enough to realise that your research is growing not only through what you write, but through what you witness.

Find out what is happening around you. Sign up. Show up. Pay attention. Make the most of this journey while you are in it.

Because the PhD is not only built at the desk. Sometimes, it is built with you being present in the room.

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We are always seeking new guest bloggers! If you have an idea for a blog post, or would like to informally discuss writing for the SGSAH blog, please get in touch with Olivia via email at olivia.shaw-lovell@glasgow.ac.uk or connect with the blog on social media.