• Question: What did you find the most difficult during your academic journey, how did you overcome the difficulties and what advice would you share?

    Asked by anon-328813 on 10 Jun 2022.
    • Photo: Karin Purshouse

      Karin Purshouse answered on 10 Jun 2022:

      There are lots of ways to answer this question, but I might pick the singular most challenging moment that came halfway through my PhD when I lost my dad last year to cancer. It was obviously really hard. I think the main thing was that I was really supported by everyone I work with and my supervisors, and was able to take time away from work until I was feeling well enough to come back.
      I think everyone will go through different tough times in their life, but for me, the things that helped the most were finding somewhere to talk about it (I still go to Maggies, a cancer charity) and not putting too much pressure on myself when I came back to work. I think it’s really important to talk to people when you are going through a difficult time and not pretending that you’re ok when you’re not. My lab mates were so supportive and helped me so much, and I really think it made us closer friends as a result.

    • Photo: Rachel Harris

      Rachel Harris answered on 10 Jun 2022:

      I really struggled during the first year of my PhD with “imposter syndrome”, which is when you think you don’t deserve to have the position you have. I was constantly convinced that my supervisors had picked me for the project by mistake, and I spent so much time worrying about it that it distracted me from actually doing my work properly. So I suppose I’d say try not to fall into that thought train because it’s not helpful. Just do your best and if you’re meant to be there, you’ll be able to.

    • Photo: Jocelyn Bisson

      Jocelyn Bisson answered on 10 Jun 2022:

      I found my final year of vet school tough. There was a very competitive attitude between all of the students and I put a lot of pressure on myself to keep up with my peers. Looking back I realise that there was no reason at all to compete with other students, we’ve all ended up with very different careers in different places. I should have just focussed on myself and my own achievements and not tried to compare myself to others.

    • Photo: Rosie Matthews

      Rosie Matthews answered on 10 Jun 2022:

      Sometimes the amount of work that you have to do in a short space of time I can find really overwhelming, I always write myself a list in order of priority – and just crack on with it! It’s easy to procrastinate when you have a lot to do, but the sooner you get it started the sooner you’ll finish the work and be grateful that you have!

    • Photo: Annabel Black

      Annabel Black answered on 15 Jun 2022:

      I’ve found settling in my PhD over the past few months incredibly challenging (which I think is a common theme with a lot of first year PhD students). It can be quite overwhelming joining a group which is already established, taking on a massive project that you’re responsible for and learning to juggle everything it takes to get your work going!

      My advice would be to 1. do what’s best for you – if this means taking a break, seeking advice from people you trust or rearranging your work to better suit you and 2. to speak up for yourself – if you’re not being supported properly or you feel you need help then ask for it! Similarly if you don’t understand something ask for it to be explained differently – often scientists will nod along and act like we understand and then instead spend hours on google and reading articles to try and clarify what someone has just told us (I spent hours and hours of my time doing this during university). I’ve found people actually appreciate when you’re straight with them, say you don’t quite understand and ask for further explanation (and you’ll likely get a far better answer in a fraction of the time than sitting on google).

    • Photo: Chelsea Gerada

      Chelsea Gerada answered on 16 Jun 2022:

      For me my PhD was a challenging time because I wasn’t dealing with stress in a healthy way and ended up being burnt out. This is where I learn’t that taking care of yourself both mentally and physically is extremely important. I put more emphasis into my diet and exercise and also made sure I did social things that I enjoyed. I also started journalling because I found that this helped me process stress in a more positive way. It’s important to work hard and enjoy your work but not at the expense of your health and happiness.

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