In this post for Mental Health Awareness Month, current blogger Garry Mac talks about social anxiety, a condition that can be debilitating and which can have all kinds of effects on your PhD research. He'll discuss his own experiences with the condition, dig into why ‘networking’ events can be crisis-inducing for those with social anxiety, … Continue reading My Life in Research: Coping with Social Anxiety
Week 3 of our Mental Health Awareness Month posts come from Jodie Russell, a 3rd year PhD researcher at University of Edinburgh whose research explores the intersection of mind and medicine. In this guest post, she explains how our concept of the self can influence mental health. Мышь 2 by George Shuklin is licensed under … Continue reading The Person That I am and How that Affects My Mental Health
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
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
In this guest post, University of Glasgow PhD researcher Mariana Rios Maldonado discusses her experiences with racism in academia and explores how we (staff and students alike) can do better at implementing and fighting for anti-racist policies. You can read more about Mariana's research in her '5 Minutes With' interview. Spring of 2013. Sitting in … Continue reading Learning to Not ‘Unsee’: Racism in Academia
In this guest post, University of St Andrews PhD researcher Kate Mackenzie discusses the upcoming UK Supreme Court decision on the Scottish Government's Rights of the Child Bill and explains how child laws in Central Africa could set a precedent. It is perhaps a feature of the life of a PhD researcher that, even when … Continue reading Interpreting the Rights of the Child: Look South (a lot further than Westminster)
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
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
Keep an annotated bibliography. It helps to know what books you've read, but it helps even more to know which books were useful, and had good points and ideas to remember later on. If you write a lit review as part of your first year it also pays for itself many times over! Keep it … Continue reading Ten Things I learned in the First Year of my PhD
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