On Kindness in Postgraduate Study

When we consider the challenges involved in postgraduate study, it's easy to think of with some obvious examples: coming up with a Masters dissertation topic, giving that first conference paper, heading into the exam room for your PhD viva. . . The good news is that you'll overcome all of these with a bit of hard work and the support of your tutor or supervisor.

Some of the other challenges posed by a Masters or PhD are less obvious.

Imposter syndrome, loneliness and poor work/life balance aren't major milestones during your degree, but they do make for a fiendishly effective combination: imposter syndrome generates guilt that erodes work/life balance, leading to loneliness and the feeling that everyone else must be coping much better with their degrees, at which point we're back to imposter syndrome.

Hard work won't always see you through these (in fact, working too hard can make them worse) and, sometimes, there's only so much a supervisor can do. Instead, one of the best ways to cope with these challenges is by drawing on the support of other students and supporting them in turn.

That involves kindness: seeking it out in your student network and exhibiting it yourself. This is all the more important right now, which is why kindness is the theme for this year's Mental Health Awareness Week. With that in mind (no pun intended) here are some tips for discovering and reinforcing kindness during your Masters or PhD.

There will be times during your postgraduate journey when you're competing against other current or prospective students: for studentships, grant applications, conference places, perhaps even academic jobs one day. Those moments are actually few and far between though.

Most of the time you'll be working alongside other students (at your institution and others) on topics that you share an interest in. So share it. It's so much more validating and motivating to get someone else's perspective on your work than it is to silently guard your ideas or, worse yet, worry that they aren't as good as everyone else's.

People like to say that a PhD is a "sprint, not a marathon." Either way, it's your finish line, not anybody else's.

Some students are funded and some aren't. The processes that lead to these two outcomes are often strange and inscrutable, saying as much about the priorities of a specific funding body and the idiosyncrasies of human decision making as they do about the actual merits of any particular student.

Whatever your own funding status is, or ends up being, don't let it define you – and certainly don't let it lead to a sense of superiority or inferiority in relation to your fellow postgraduates. The reality is that, whilst funding might be zero-sum, quality isn't.

I would say all of this, of course, because I self-funded my PhD. Still though. . .

This one should be obvious, but we've all done it. Nothing's worse than prepping for a big piece of work only to discover that a monograph you need to consult has been checked out for the next three weeks. Pay it forward and take books back when you're done with them.

The jury's out on meticulously erasing all of your pencil annotations beforehand.

The best antidote to imposter syndrome is discussing work with other students in a neautral atmosphere that doesn't depend on a tutor or supervisor's appraisal. You might be lucky enough to study in a department that already offers forums for this – postgraduate reading groups and so on. If not, why not start one?

At least that way you'll get to choose the refreshments. Cake is nice.

Following on from the above, it's easy for postgraduate networking to fall into the same pattern of people, with the 'usual suspects' showing up at most events (and eating all the cake). It might be that these are the only people who are interested in getting involved. But it could also be that they're extroverted enough to break the ice when other students aren't. This is even more important right now: if there's someone in your department you haven't heard from since everything went online, maybe now's the time to ask if they fancy a coffee over Zoom?

All things in moderation though. Nobody needs ten emails inviting them to the next PG Guest Lecture on 'The Significance of Pickles in Victorian Epistolary Fiction.' Nine will do.

Socialising with other postgraduates doesn't always have to involve work. It is perfectly possible for a group of Masters students to get together for a coffee and not talk about essay deadlines, or for PhD students to go see the next entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe without deconstructing its simplistically manichean representation of the actual universe.

And yes, this does mean you can all go to the pub. Not right now though, obviously.

Tell other people about that cool conference you're thinking of submitting to and the bursary competition for PG presenters. Mention your peer's cool idea when you get talking to that famous professor. Share a link to that survey article you found really helpful. Lend people books.

Doing these things won't just help others with their work; they'll also make you the kind of person people want to work with in the future.

Just be prepared to accept that not every book comes back (I'm pretty sure I still have a couple on the shelf behind me – and a few gaps too).

We could all do with a bit of positivity at the moment, and that's even more true if you're about to embark on a challenging postgraduate study journey.

We've included some other blogs you might find helpful, below. There are also some resources available from the Mental Health Foundation.

Stay safe and take care of yourselves.

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