Online co-working sessions for PGRs from all colleges and years of study. Come tackle your to-do list and get more done!
What is Shut-up and Work?
Our Shut-up & Work groups can help you to work more productively. You come along, set your own targets for the session and work in a supportive environment until you achieve your targets. Your targets can be related to writing or any other aspect related to your research e.g. reading, data analysis, planning etc.
If you need a space that's distraction-free and gives you the structure you need to focus and get your work done, or if you'd simply like some company whilst working, join one of our Shut-up and Work groups.
Shut Up & Work is open to all postgraduate researchers (PGRs), but might be especially useful to neurodivergent PGRs who find body doubling and accountability a useful tool for productivity, and to PGRs with parental or caring responsibilities, who might appreciate a supportive online co-working space with like-minded people.
How do I join a group?
You can find the dates, times and contact details for current groups at the bottom of this page.
Shut-up and Work groups always welcome new members, whether you plan to join regularly or as a one off. Joining regularly gives the opportunity to build relationships with other PGRs, provides structure and builds good working habits. Joining as a one off can help you to meet an upcoming deadline or tackle something you’ve been putting off.
A number of groups are organised and ran by the University Graduate School, but we also encourage PGR-led groups at times convenient to youhttps://intranet.birmingham.ac.uk/as/libraryservices/library/research/workshops-and-training/shut-up-and-work-for-ecrs.aspx.
How do I set-up my own group?
If you’d like to join a Shut-up and Work group but can’t find one that suits, why not set-up your own group!
We are a diverse community of night owls and early risers here at the University of Birmingham, with PGRs across time zones all balancing varied work and caring commitments. Find your crowd by starting a group on your preferred platform at a time, date and frequency to suit you.
Get in touch with our Community Engagement Manager, Katie Mill, to talk about setting up a new group, including advertising on this page.
University Graduate School led groups
A video and text based group meet on Microsoft Teams on the 'PGR Shut-up and Work' Teams. You can self-enrol on our Shut-up and Work Teams site by pressing 'request to join' or by entering the following code: f060mfz
For support accessing Microsoft Teams, please see this IT Knowledge article: Microsoft 365: Microsoft Teams Guidance
Contact our Community Engagement Officer, Katie Mill, with any queries or issues.
Monthly Thursdays
The groups meets on the fourth Thursday of the month from 09:30-16:30 UK Time. Dates in Semester One:
- 31 October 09.30-16.30
- 28 November 09.30-16.30
- 12 December 09.30-15.00
Drop-in and Work
This is an open channel for the PGR community to let others know if they are online and working on an ad-hoc basis - just like a virtual office! Just join the PGR Shut-up and Work Teams site (instructions above) and navigate to the 'Drop-in and work' Channel and take part. Post to let your fellow PGRs know that you're looking for a co-working session and the times you're thinking of working in, and see who joins in! You'll be surprised by who you may end up working with; there's always at least researcher or two out there who would similarly benefit from a co-working session and some mutual accountability! For further suggestions on how to run a 'Drop-in and Work' session, please see our Teams channel.
Weekly Tuesday Evenings
Group Lead: Sarah Chung – Part-time doctoral researcher in the College of Social Sciences.
The group meet every Tuesday evening from 18.45 – 21.05 UK time.
Sarah runs a text based group via 'The Common Room' on Discord. If you are already a member of the Disord site simply join the session channel, or email Sarah from a bham email address to be sent an invite link.