One of the aspects of the covid lockdown is the sudden rise in virtual teaching, conferences and talks. This comes with its own set of challenges and positives. In this post I will share some of my own experiences over the last few months of virtual presenting and attendance and discuss some of the lessons … Continue reading Beyond attending from bed: virtual presenting
To end the week, I wanted to take a moment to consider those who help many of us get through the day, keep us grounded and keep things in perspective. I am, of course, talking about pets. I put out a call for the pets of PhD students who are based at Scottish universities and … Continue reading The importance of research assistants
One of the impacts of the closure of campuses during lockdown is being cut off from library resources. Having spent a lot of time in libraries as a child, the experience of browsing a physical shelf and finding related sources is a difficult experience to replace. Having a physically present and knowledgeable librarian who can … Continue reading Top 5 digital resources when working from home
I am excited to present the first of our guest bloggers since I took over the blog. Fleur is based on Orkney and PhD looks at connectivity in rural life. COVID-19 lockdowns meant Fleur's research and personal life became further entangled, as she discusses below. To undertake my PhD research, I moved halfway around the … Continue reading An international state of affairs
Hello everyone! I am Neil Ackerman and am going to be running the SGSAH blog for the next six months. Firstly, a big thanks to Chiara for the last six months of excellent and thought-provoking posts. Also, thanks to the SGSAH team for their support in getting things all set up for me. I guess … Continue reading Greetings from the Northern Isles
This is the second part of our guest report from Kiefer Holland on his trip to the US. The title says it all! When thinking about how I could create a blog post that reflected upon a five-week research to the US the best form I could come up with was to do an “expectations … Continue reading Expectations vs Reality on the US Trip
It’s all getting a little bit fraught in the UK at the minute. There’s a general election happening in three weeks. The media and government are at each other’s throats. Fake news abounds. There are strikers outside nearly every HEI in Scotland right now. And I’ve run out of milk. If you're doing a PhD, … Continue reading Politics.
We live in a time when people all over the world are actively making changes. People are planting trees, reforesting, irrigating deserts, eschewing combustion engines, boycotting single-use plastics, and even cleaning the oceans. And you can make changes too. Not always on a grand scale, but certainly on a local scale. And at your HEI … Continue reading Making a Change
PhDs are relentless, and they can obviously be very stressful. It's a good idea to take a break regularly. As my therapist said, you have to rest before you burn out to avoid burnout! So here are some ideas for decompressing days out near the main HEIs of Scotland, going north to south. If I … Continue reading Take a Break!
This week we have a guest post from the incredibly busy Morven Gow. Morven is a second year doctoral researcher at the University of Stirling, researching the negotiation of authenticity in 21st Century book publishing. She spent most of her working life in advertising and marketing. Currently, she is in her fifth decade. I thought … Continue reading Advice for the IMDR (Incredibly Mature Doctoral Researcher) – but which may be useful for all
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