During May, the SGSAH blog will focus on mental health in recognition of Mental Health Awareness Month which runs from 1st to 31st May. In this first post, blogging intern Garry McLaughlin introduces the concept of mental health and how to look after yours while you study. Mental health is the overall state of a … Continue reading Mental Health and PhD Studies: Broad Strokes
This week, blogger Garry McLaughlin gives a quick overview of his research journey so far, including re-scoping practical work and allowing for methodologies to change as you encounter new scholarship. At the tender age of 39 and with roughly 10 years of illustrating, making comics and facilitating community arts under my belt, I entered academia. … Continue reading Isn’t Time Queer?
This week's guest post is by Emma McCabe, a SGSAH-funded researcher at the University of Stirling, who was awarded a Holstein Dissertation Fellowship from the University of California, Riverside for the academic year 2021-2022. In this article, she details some of her adventures duringher visit. Having applied to The University of California, Riverside, for a … Continue reading Academia Abroad: My Fellowship and Research Trip in California
This week, Blogger Vesna Curlic grapples with what makes a good PhD routine and her journey towards finding a routine that works for her (for now, at least). Make sure to read until the end for some exciting happenings over on our SGSAH Instagram page! One of the best and most challenging part of doing … Continue reading Strict but Compassionate: Finding a Routine as a PhD Student
Sometime in early 2020, when it sunk in for everyone that the pandemic was not just going to be a weeks-long affair, many PhD students and ECRs were suddenly scrambling to replicate some semblance of the office environment. I’m one of those people. I love the office environment. Pre-pandemic, I loved going into the office … Continue reading An Ode to Virtual Writing Groups
When I started as the SGSAH blogger six months ago, I did so with the anticipation that it would allow me a space to be creative when so much of my PhD life was anything but. What I didn’t expect from this time was to be introduced to so many amazing researchers who, for the … Continue reading The Long Goodbye (And Some PhD Advice)
In this guest post, University of St Andrews PhD researcher Ann Gillian Chu offers advice on what academic conference organisers in Britain might be looking for in their Calls for Papers (CfPs). Similarly, she also explores how British conference organisers can strive to be more inclusive and understanding when opening CfPs to a global audience. … Continue reading Tips for Responding to British CfPs as an International Scholar (and How to Organise a More Globally Inclusive Conference)
A few weeks ago I came across a post on Twitter asking people how many jobs they’d had since they first started working. It got me thinking. I’m currently twenty-six years old and I got my first job when I was fifteen. After doing the maths, I realised that in the eleven years since, I’ve … Continue reading Financing a PhD: The Realities of Being a Self-Funded International Student
In this guest post, University of Strathclyde PhD researcher Andrew Porter discusses his experiences as a part-time, self-funded researcher who has yet to step foot on his campus, and offers advice on how we can all persevere through our PhDs. When I began studying my PhD in October, I knew that it was going to … Continue reading Searching for Normal: Navigating Unconventional PhD Journeys
This guest post is part of our continuous GTA series, where current and former graduate teaching assistants across Scottish HEIs discuss their experiences, thoughts and/or concerns about GTA practice. Here, University of Stirling PhD researcher Lorna Wallace (who recently submitted her thesis!) looks back at her time as a GTA in English literature and offers … Continue reading Notes from a Previously Nervous GTA
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