King's Doctoral College

Page 9 of 14

PGR Student Wellbeing Communities Fund

17/09/2020 /

Do you have an idea for an initiative that promotes PGR student wellbeing and mental health, diversity and inclusion, or community and cohort building? Would you like up to £700 to get your project off the ground?

The PGR Student Wellbeing Communities Fund supports initiatives which allow you and your peers to address the mental, physical and social wellbeing challenges which these demands can present.

Applications are now open so apply today, and read on to find out how three recipients of the PGR Student Wellbeing Events Fund (as it was previously known) created fun, interactive and inspiring activities last year.

The Wohlbeing Festival

The Wohlbeing Festival

With support from the PGR Student Wellbeing Events Fund, Women of the Wohl hosted a collaborative event, The Wohlbeing Festival, to celebrate the end of KCLSU Wellbeing Week in October 2019.

This relaxed evening event provided nearly 40 researchers with an opportunity to unwind, socialise and take part in craft and stress-busting activities, including a performance by improv comedy group ‘Just Friends’.

It was also a great opportunity for both attendees and for Women of the Wohl to create, build and strengthen connections with other groups and departments at King’s, including KCL Women in Medicine, KCL Womxn in STEM, and the Centre for Stem Cells & Regenerative Medicine.

The Wohlbeing FestivalThe organisers took the time to join in and chat to attendees, several of whom commented that they had come to the event alone but that the friendly, welcoming atmosphere meant that they were able to just pull up a chair and start chatting comfortably with people they’d never met while doing the activities.

Overall the evening was a great success, and we received encouraging and positive feedback and comments from collaborators and attendees, who thanked the organising team personally for creating such a relaxing space.

Research in Action Group ‘Crafternoon’

PhD students in the Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care organised a ‘Crafternoon’ in October 2019 which was sponsored by the PGR Student Wellbeing Events Fund.

The event created a space for students to do something creative and have a break from their desks, and provided an opportunity to discuss research issues in a neutral space; the faculty has a lot of part‐time students, so this was a chance for everyone to get together.

Research in Action Group Crafternoon 2We supplied craft materials and participants were encouraged to bring their own creative projects: we had knitters, headpieces, and some creative paper crafts. Some people came just to enjoy the atmosphere. It was a fun chance to get together and for people to ask about issues with coding, writing, or simply navigating the faculty. We had a great time and hope to host more events like this in the future!

Wolfson CARD Yoga

Yoga is well known for its ability to ease stress and promote relaxation: it provides the benefits of physical exercise and improves mental health through moving meditation. In November 2019 our group was awarded funding from the PGR Student Wellbeing Events Fund to support yoga classes in the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases, with the aim of improving PGR student wellbeing.

We held seven classes for up to 10 participants every two weeks; the department then agreed to continue to support the classes through match funding, which allowed us to continue running them for a number of months. We received lots of positive feedback, including the following:

“Having access to yoga classes has been tremendously helpful while I have been completing my PhD. I am able to take the stress and anxieties I am feeling and release them in a constructive way, leaving me feeling refreshed and clear headed for the rest of the day. Having the classes in the building makes it more accessible and easier for me to attend if I have experiments running during the day.”

“Practicing yoga helped me with my shoulder and back issues linked to the many hours I spent at the microscope and sat at the desk. Moreover, after every class I feel much more relaxed and this indeed helps with the general stress level I usually have.”

“Being able to practise yoga in the same institute where I work is a great advantage and my physical and mental well-beings benefit from it.”

“Attending these yoga classes has really helped me deal with the stress of my PhD. By the end of the class I feel much more relaxed, and ready to come back to work refreshed the next day.”

“These yoga sessions strengthen the sense of community in the department by giving an opportunity to socialise with other colleagues and build a happier healthier work life balance.”

How to apply for the PGR Student Wellbeing Communities Fund

To apply for up to £700 to support your own wellbeing activities for PGR students, complete this application form by 12:00 (midday) on Thursday 29 October 2020. All current doctoral research students, from all faculties at King’s, are welcome to apply.

Why PhD students should think about their entrepreneurial skills

26/08/2020 /

Blog post by Emily Clements, PhD Student in the Neuroscience of Entrepreneurship.

PhD students and entrepreneurs are actually very similar in a number of ways.

PhD students are already very entrepreneurial by nature – there aren’t many roles you can go into and say ‘here is the gap, and this is how we are going to address it’. From the get-go you get to contribute novel findings and manage your own project. But the word ‘entrepreneur’ is something many of us may not relate to.

My PhD research explores the neuroscience of entrepreneurship. This is a collaboration between the Entrepreneurship Institute and Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience at King’s. My background is cognitive neuroscience, and I knew very little about business before beginning. Therefore, I understand that to most, the word ‘entrepreneurship’ can seem intimidating and off-putting.

But entrepreneurship is not just about starting a business.

In the same way we often do our PhD because we love the topic, entrepreneurs create ventures based on their passions. Entrepreneurial behaviour is that which provokes change, drives ideas forward and compels other to follow suit. Whether for economic or societal impact, its absolutely pivotal people exist that are able to do this.

However, one key difference exists between entrepreneurs and PhD students – while there is an existing and current issue in the measurable impact of research. Entrepreneurs are consistently creating measurable impact. I think helping PhD students improve their entrepreneurial skills would create an undeniable force of informed change-makers.

PhD students should improve their ability to get-it-done and compel others of their ideas.

While both PhDs and start-ups provide new ways of doing things, in research we spend more time thinking, planning, and hypothesising. This is key and necessary to ensure we produce meaningful and informed research; however, I feel this sometimes creates a habit-behaviour in us, in which we sit around talking about things, without getting it done, perhaps one of the most important skills to learn for success in any career.

What’s more, we produce such compelling and novel work. However, often we want the complexity of our work to speak for itself based on journal publications, which anyone outside of academia doesn’t respond to. Conversely, entrepreneurs are incredibly good at pitching themselves and their ideas to everyone – PhD students should be just as confident in their expert knowledge and be able to speak about in a way that compels people outside of their field to realise its potential.

This is why I now think PhD students could learn a lot from entrepreneurs and the skills they posses.

Research by the Higher Education Policy Institute has shown 67% of PhD students want a career in academic research but only 30% stay in academia three years on. Moreover, while PhD students feel confident in analytical, data and technical skills, we tend to be less confident in managing other people and finding career satisfaction. Up until completing a PhD, many of us have only experienced and developed skills for the research world.

By developing entrepreneurial skills, those of us who leave research would be equipped with a skillset with which we can drive ideas forward, compel others and create meaningful, measurable impact. Whether starting a business or working in any industry, companies at the moment are actively investing in people who have an ability to promote change in their workplace. So why not work on these skills now?

Meanwhile those of us who stay in research make up the future generation of academics. It’s important that this generation learns to promote its own research efforts, as well as address many of the current issues and challenges we are all so aware of today. Entrepreneurial thinking already exists and is evident with the rise of open research, however we can do more; such as speeding up the pace of our work, eradicating a bullying culture, and increasing the number of women and people from BAME communities in senior academic roles.

 

If we learn anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s the speed at which studies and labs can be set up and whole departmental structures changed. This highlights that there is possibility for change – but it needs disruption and entrepreneurial minds to push it forward.

Learning entrepreneurial skills supply you with the means to get it done, be resilient, compel others and build teams to help you make an impact.

 

 

I recommend taking part in the Entrepreneurial Brain Challenge (EBC), a project I have just launched, which makes up the first part of my PhD. By completing the challenge you can get personalised feedback on your 7 Skills of an Entrepreneurial  Mindset (a framework developed by the Entrepreneurship Institute at King’s), your personality, cognitive strengths and weaknesses, as well as a pack containing resources to help you improve your weaker areas.

 

 

Emily Clements, PhD Student in the Neuroscience of Entrepreneurship.

 

Independence in your PhD: a positive or a challenge to manage?

22/10/2018 / / 0 Comments

Dr Nicola Byrom is Lecturer in Psychology at Kings’ College London and is conducting research into wellbeing and mental health issues for PhD students. 

In this post, Dr Byrom reflects on some of the issues and advantages that come with the experience of being independent during the PhD.

Dr Nicola Byrom

As part of an Office for Students / Research England funded project with Derby University I’ve had the opportunity to interview PhD students about their experience. It seems a time packed full of challenging balances to navigate. Many students point to the freedom that they have as one of the best parts of being a PhD student; you have the opportunity to create your own profile, to manage your own time, to follow your own interests and motivations.

As with any long project, there are peaks and troughs. At the peaks the independence is exhilarating. In the troughs, the independence can feel overwhelming.  With independence comes a real sense that “this is on me;” that if you don’t work out how to make the experiment work, or how to get a project running, no one else will.

Students have talked to me about the challenges they face around training. Even when working in a large and supportive lab group, it can be hard to find someone to help when you get stuck. It feels like this is because, as everyone specialises, there may genuinely be no one within the group who really understands what you are doing and why you are stuck. Reflecting on this experience, students see the positives; these experiences teach you to have self-confidence – you can, eventually, solve problems on your own. If grit wasn’t a pre-requisite for a PhD, it seems to be something most students feel they’ve developed.

When you are independent, you are also responsible. When things are going well, this can feel great. When problems arise, experiments don’t work, or your line of inquiry hits a dead end, it can feel awful. At these points, it can be difficult to separate personal responsibility for errors (the self-doubt can be quick to creep in) from the reality of research; failure is common. After nearly a decade working in research, I’ve learnt that the only certainty seems to be that most things fail! Failure is part of the process, it is something that we can learn from, but that reality doesn’t make it much easier to bear your first failures.

The feeling of independence, and the positives that accompany this, was not universal. Two situations seem liable to curtail independence. First, where a student has transitioned from working as a research assistant in a laboratory group to completing his/her PhD in this group, there can be challenges making the transition to independence. It can be difficult to let go of previous projects and papers to find time to carve out for your own work. Second, where students have industry funded PhDs and spend some of their time in industry, there may be conflicting ideas about the purpose of a PhD, with industry partners expecting to have more influence over the focus of the research and even the day-to-day activities.

Finally, most PhD students that we’ve spoken to so far identify that there is a limit to this independence; their studies are, after all, directed by their supervisor. Interestingly, students in their later years of study have been describing a process of learning to manage their supervisor; there is a process to work through from looking to the supervisor for direction to truly feeling you own the project.

As a PhD student, do you have independence? Is this a positive thing? Or can it be a challenge? You can share your experience and help us better understand how to support PhD students by visiting our survey page.  

Represent your PGR Peers & Colleagues – Become a KDSA Representative

28/08/2018 / / 0 Comments

The King’s Doctoral Students’ Association (KDSA) is the recognised representative body of the Postgraduate Research Student community. It is an autonomous body within the KCLSU representative structure. All doctoral students at King’s are automatically members of the KDSA.

The KDSA seeks to make a difference to you and your peers’ education experience, drive change, and bring the postgraduate research student community together.

With a new website that will be ready to launch by end of the month, King’s Doctoral Students Association (KDSA) is recruiting Faculty Leads who will sit on the board of KDSA. The leads will be responsible for and in charge of student welfare for their respective Faculties and will closely work with Departmental Reps.

Roughly, the duties entail:

– Attending monthly KDSA meetings to discuss and approve motions proposed by yourselves/members

– Coordinate with Departmental Reps as the need arises

– Meet Faculty Vice Deans/staff from Centre for Doctoral Studies if need arises

– Attend quarterly PaRC or an equivalent meeting at Faculty level

– Feedback to KDSA Chair/board members on the progress of your work/project on a monthly basis

KDSA is also recruiting two GTA Reps, two Events Coordinators and a Social Media Officer.

The Event Coordinators would plan and implement various events/socials that it will be hosting while the Social Media person would manage the accounts.

These vacancies represent a  fantastic opportunity to gain leadership, decision-making, and communication skills. Beyond that, joining the KDSA board offers you to shape KDSA operations and drive changes in the PGR student experience, and thus allow you to support your peers and colleagues.

You do not need to have prior experience to suit a particular role perfectly as training would be provided but a strong commitment is required from the very beginning.

If you are interested in any of the above positions, please email kdsa@kclsu.org with a brief paragraph (max 200 words) explaining your suitability to, and motivation for the role by end of day on Friday 7th September 2018. 

 

 

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 King's Doctoral College

Theme by Anders Norén — Up ↑