PGR: PhD Chat - Finding Your Tribe

PhD Chat: (Re)Connection Series

Being a PhD researcher is a hugely rewarding journey in many ways, but can also involve some challenges, especially when faced with a pandemic.

Join your Westmere Scholars (fellow PGRs working with the University Graduate School to support the community) for a series of four online ‘PhD Chat’ sessions themed around (Re)Connection.

• PhD Chat: Let’s Catch Up! – Friday 11th June @ noon
• PhD Chat: Mental Health – Friday 18th June @ noon
• PhD Chat: Finding Your Tribe – Friday 25th June @ noon
• PhD Chat: Creative Visualisation – Friday 2nd July @ noon

PhD Chat is an informal and supportive environment where we’ll have a chat about our individual experiences and concerns, share wisdom, advice, and tips with each other. Sessions are open to all PhD students at the University of Birmingham (if the topic is relevant to you, other PGRs, such as MRes students, are also welcome to join the chat!).

Discussion topic: Finding your tribe

It goes without saying that doing a PhD can be an isolating experience, and this is especially true of doing a PhD over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic. With restrictions easing and life hopefully returning to something a little more normal, it’s time to consider how we can rekindle with our peers and forge new connections. Or, in other words, it’s time for us to think about how we can find our tribe: a group of peers with whom we share interests and passions so that we no longer feel so isolated. 

New and returning PGRs alike are welcome to come for an informal session in which we will discuss the different strategies that can be used to help us find our tribes as PGRs and overcome feelings of isolation that have been exacerbated by the last eighteen months. 

The event will include:  

• Introductions 
• A short introduction to the topic 
• Informal chat and sharing of experiences
• Opportunity to meet other postgraduate researchers  

Some questions to get you started:   

• What strategies have you already used to help connect with the PGR community? 
• What sort of connections are you looking to forge? Friendships? Research contacts? Colleagues? 
• What hobbies or interests would you like to share with fellow PGRs? 
• How would you like to make those connections? Online? In-person?