This guest blog comes from Emma Brunton, a first-year PhD student at the University of Glasgow. Her thesis is titled: ‘Transformations in women’s spiritual power from precolonial to early colonial Rwanda’. Here, she discusses her experience conducting fieldwork from May to June of 2019. When I started my PhD about eight months ago, I knew … Continue reading Research in Rome
In one of my earlier posts, I discussed what it’s like giving a paper as a sufferer of anxiety. In that blog, I briefly talked about some of the tips my counsellor gave me at the time, and how I got through giving my first talk. I thought it might be helpful to expand more … Continue reading Top 5 tips for giving papers
Being a postgraduate tutor has been one of the best things I’ve ever done, hands down. I was so nervous when I was offered my first classes, teaching medieval literature (from Old English riddles to Chaucer and Henryson) to second year undergraduates. As is typical for me, I ended up spending a lot of time … Continue reading 4 things you should know about being a postgraduate tutor
There are many struggles you’ll encounter during your PhD experience, two of the major ones being feeling overwhelmed, and feeling completely stuck. Both are things I’ve come up against quite a lot over my 2 and a half years of being a PhD researcher, especially the former due to my depression and anxiety. So, in … Continue reading What to do when you feel like you just can’t do it anymore
As I mentioned in my previous (and first ever!) post, one of my missions over the next six months is to explore the PhD experience as a sufferer of mental health problems. This is something I barely, if ever, discuss, but I’ve come to realise how important it is for so many reasons, not least … Continue reading Fight or flight? Presenting papers with anxiety
Every PhD student has their health struggles. Be it a short-term illness, stress, anxiety, or just needing someone to remind you how to function normally (cue Birdie, the adorable PhD assistant) we've been there. There's an immediate connection that forms when you join up with a group of PhD students and someone throws out 'and … Continue reading Invisible Illness and the PhD
Sometimes it can be difficult to admit you're in over your head and need some assistance, but I'm sure we've all been there- including your supervisors. I know when I started out my PhD I felt like I was going to take on the world. I was going to be the PGR Representative, take a … Continue reading Asking for help
