The Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) and the Researcher Development Advisory Group (RDAG) are proud to announce that the University of Kent has retained the European Commission’s HR Excellence in Research (HRER) Award after our Eight Year External Review. (Please see the Vitae press release for further information.)

Retention of this prestigious award, which the University has held since May 2013, is indicative of Kent’s continued commitment to further embed researcher development across the institution, including through collective work to implement the Principles of the Researcher Development Concordat which encourages best practice in researcher development and support.

Kent’s submission for the Eight Year external Review was published in November 2021 and consists of new documentation which details the wide-ranging work taking place across Kent to support staff who research.

Professor Shane Weller, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation, said:

“Kent’s retention of its HRER accreditation is a wonderful achievement and demonstrates to our varied stakeholders – but, most importantly, to our researchers – how we are striving to support staff who research across the whole academic lifecycle and, in so doing, to build an institutionally unified and inclusive research culture that provides the appropriate support for colleagues to achieve their potential.

My sincere thanks go to Dr Alison Charles and the GRC which coordinated the submission in conjunction with the Researcher Development Advisory Group (RDAG), as well as to numerous central and Divisional colleagues who contributed to the process at multiple stages. We are also grateful to Vitae for providing feedback, support and encouragement throughout the submission process.”

To learn more, please view our HRER resources including the individual submission documents.

For further information about the HRER, Concordat or any aspect of researcher development at Kent, please contact the GRC.

The Graduate and Researcher College (GRC) is asking academic and research staff to spare five minutes to help us understand current usage of digital resources to support them, as well as preferences for future resource types.

Our short survey will capture information about your usage of a variety of electronic content, most of which has been developed or updated recently, and all of which is designed to support you, both to perform your current role(s) and in your ongoing professional and career development. The survey will also ask you to indicate which types of resources would work best for you going forward.

Your input will inform our future communication plans and, in particular, help us to determine whether or not (and if so how) we create any additional signposting information, guidance and/or resources for researchers and research managers in the coming months, which would be accessible by the wider Kent academic and research community

Dr Alison Charles, Researcher Developer (Academic), said:

“New and recently refreshed resources developed by central and Divisional teams act as portals to a vast range of information available for academic and research colleagues. Please tell us how you are using them and what formats you would like to see in the future so we can continue to signpost the information you need in the most appropriate ways.”

The survey was featured in this month’s GRC Researcher Development Bulletin sent to all academic and research staff – please email acresdev@kent.ac.uk if you haven’t received this. You can also access the survey via KentNet (Kent staff login required) – please note that the survey is open till midnight on 20 June 2022.)

Thank you in advance for sharing your views on this topic with us.

The University of Kent academic staff reflect on their experiences as PhD students.

A guest blog by the team at Togetherall.

Togetherall is an anonymous online peer-support community, managed by clinical professionals 24/7 and is free to all students and staff at the University of Kent, including PGR students who can register here.

At Togetherall we know how powerful sharing experiences and peer support can be, so we asked academic staff at Kent to reflect on their own Ph.D. journey and what they wish they knew back then. Read the advice from others who have been in your shoes.

“Am I doing something worthwhile here?”

One staff member felt this a lot throughout their PhD journey. When your research feels like it’s going sideways, it’s easy to second-guess yourself.

If you’ve ever felt lost or lacking direction, try some of these tips from fellow academics below.

1. When motivation wanes, remind yourself of why you are doing this work. Each day is getting you closer to your goal.
2. Do active, useful, vaguely PhD-related things, like volunteering and activism linked to your research topic. A grounding in the ‘real world’ will help you to stay sane and keep you joyful about your work.
3. Every day, write down 5 things (no matter how small) you have achieved. Focus on those, rather than on the list of things to do.

Your PhD “does not define who you are.”

While it may not feel like it at times, your work does not define you. It’s one facet of your identity, but there are so many aspects and layers to who you are as a person and the uniqueness you bring to the world.

One professor stated they had to remind themselves constantly that, “your PhD is not your life.” It is a part of who you are, but it’s not who you are.

Getting perspective can be really difficult, but if we can find interesting activities that allow us to be at the edge of our comfort zones, we can feel better and more grounded.

If you feel like you’re in need of a fresh cup of perspective, try some of these tips from your professors.

1. Remember that you can have a good life outside of academia. Your self-worth does not depend on being valued by this group of people for doing these things.
2. Have a life outside the PhD, and outside academia. Academia is too precarious for all your energy to be put into it. You need other things to turn to when you get a paper rejected, or progress is slower than you would like.
3. Success in academia is not a measure of merit. Being good helps, but it doesn’t guarantee anything. Stop measuring yourself against career success.

Academia is ‘famously bad’ at ‘setting boundaries between work time and rest time.’

It can be really hard to prioritise yourself over your work in academia. Your journey may be filled with unique opportunities, pressure, and excitement, which can make it hard to tear yourself away from your work.

Feel like you need help prioritising rest? Check out what these academics said below on the importance of resting and what it can look like.

1. Prioritise rest as rest will enable your brain to work better, make you more productive, give you perspective.
2. Expect to have bad days where you don’t achieve much but don’t push on a bad day – take a break instead.
3. Go home, hang out with some friends, call your loved ones, and book a holiday!
4. Invest in yourself with nutritious food, exercise and rest.

“Don’t try to solve your problems on your own.”

Getting your PhD can be a lonely experience at times, which can contribute to self-doubt and burnout. Professors said they wish they would have laughed more and shared their frustrations with friends to help them through it.

If you feel like you’ve been isolating yourself, check out these tips and reminders from academics who have been there before:

1. Find friends and people you can share your frustrations with. Doing your PhD in isolation is the absolute worst.
2. Find your tribe of fellow postgrads, and if all else fails have a get together and give yourselves a limited amount of time for a good old moan!
3. Reach out to others. They may need you. You may need them.

“It’s ok to feel lost and lonely.”

It can sometimes feel like everyone else is in control of their life and finding things easy, but this is rarely the case.

If you take the time to share with others, you’ll see that everyone struggles with something. Their struggles may be different than yours, but everyone has challenges.

If you remember one piece of advice from a professor reflecting on their Ph.D. journey let it be this:

“When you conduct your research, it is OK to feel lost and lonely. All of us did, we just tell you after we graduate. Because while we were doing the Ph.D., we were ashamed to admit it. I realize now that I should have spoken up and there was not shame in what I was feeling. It was normal and there was help out there. I just needed to ask.”

You’re not alone. There are a range of support services available at The University of Kent which you can access here. 

You also have FREE access to the Togetherall community where you can anonymously share your story and get and give support to others who understand what you’re going through.

The Togetherall community is managed by clinical professionals 24/7 and access is immediate – there are no waiting lists. You can find out more about the Togetherall community and the range here.

Funding Awarded to Stephen Morris, Research Postgraduate in the School of History

The Graduate and Researcher College were delighted to fund a recent series of meditation workshops led by Stephen Morris through the Postgraduate Community Experience Awards. Running every Thursday since February, Stephen’s popular meditation workshops will continue to be held weekly at our Canterbury campus. Why not join Stephen and the group from 5 pm for a guided meditation followed by refreshments? An online meditation also takes place at 7 pm and is open to all. You can just turn up; no experience is necessary. Follow @KentCompassion on Twitter for more information.

According to Stephen, who has been running community-based meditation projects for two decades,  “compassion and loving-kindness practices have been demonstrated to offer a range of health and wellbeing benefits.” Stephen’s meditation workshops are currently focusing on the plight of war refugees.

If you would like to run your own workshop, or have a project idea that could positively impact the postgraduate community, apply for the Postgraduate Community Experience Awards! Keep your eye on our blog site for the next application deadline.

We are delighted to announce that the 2022 Graduate and Researcher College Prizes are now open for nominations.

These prizes recognise the excellence of Kent’s researchers and the outstanding work carried out by academic and professional service staff members in support of postgraduate research and education.

Visit our GRC Prizes website for more information and details about how to make a nomination. 

The Graduate and Researcher College have the privilege of funding exciting student-led projects through the Postgraduate Community Experience Awards.  One such project was ‘Mixed Roots’ – an informal conversation with individuals coming from multiple and undefined cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

On the 22^nd of March 2022, Master’s student Grace Ingram hosted this ‘fishbowl’ event in partnership with the Postgraduate Network, the BAME Network, and Student Success. Dr Barbara Adewumi acted as moderator, asking a panel of students a series of thought-provoking questions. The audience were invited to watch as the conversation unfolded, and the panel were encouraged to speak freely about their personal experiences.

Grace Ingram shared that through the planning process for Mixed Roots, she learned about leadership and community.

“Leadership is challenging but rewarding— This experience allowed me to challenge myself as a leader. I was tasked with recruiting a moderator and 5 other panelists, giving them instructions both verbal and written on what the event would be like. None of them familiar with a fishbowl style event, I was also responsible for not only the technical side of things, but nurturing and easing them into things, making sure they were comforted. At times, this was really fun as we got to have dinner together and I got to create a safe space for them to share their stories. At other times, as panelists failed to answer my emails and text messages regarding payment forms and bios, it was less fun, and I found myself having to get strict. The ways in which I saw myself grow as a leader extended beyond just recruiting and taking care of the moderator and panelist team. Recruiting a graphic designer and explaining my vision to them, reaching out to catering, booking a room, reaching out to departments to advertise our event, and working alongside the wonderful Abigail and Odell throughout this very long process are all other ways in which I saw my skills being strengthened. Through this experience, I have not only been given the opportunity to defend a budget, but I have worked alongside a team (a very diverse one as well!), networked, and had to meet personal and external deadlines, while coordinating with other individuals and department. For that, I am very thankful, and these are skills much more valuable than a couple hundred pounds.”

“Community— This experience allowed me to both form and immerse myself in a community. The recruiting of panelists was mostly done through word of mouth and close inner circles, but through those meets and greets even while I may have already had a connection to each person, the other panelists and moderators did not and seeing those bonds and friendships form over dinner and cups of tea was very rewarding. Tuesday night it really was just a conversation among friends! Even more, throughout the process of advertising the event and explaining the vision for the event, I found that the mixed roots community was growing beyond the 5 panelists  and moderator that had been recruited. And we continue to see this community grow as people share their feedback in the survey, we created to receive honest, but respectful audience feedback. In these prep months, planning for this event, I got to hear the numerous stories of other individuals who have grappled with how to define their identity to the world. It has been so great seeing this unique community extend beyond this 2-hour event.”

Thank you to Grace for her hard work and dedication to such a fantastic event. You can also see this event programme here.

The whole Mixed Roots event is available to view on YouTube, and we encourage you to take the time to listen and learn from this extraordinary panel.

If you would like to apply for the Postgraduate Community Experience Awards, keep your eye on our blogsite for the next application deadline.

You can also hear more from Grace about ‘Mixed Roots’ in the latest GRC Insights publication.

The Graduate and Researcher College is delighted to announce the launch of ‘GRC Insights’. The focus of this first edition is the international postgraduate student experience here at Kent. Learn about Huda Elsherif’s fieldwork in Sudan and read the articles ‘Mixed Roots’ written by Grace Ingram and ‘Virtual Reality to Support People with Mild to Moderate Dementia in Care Homes,’ by Hiba Jawharieh. Students please check your inboxes to view the new GRC Insights publication!

In this edition, you can also learn more about upcoming events and PhD scholarships that are open to applications. Next term’s edition will focus on ‘wellbeing’. If you are a Postgraduate student that would like to share your experience of wellbeing at Kent, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us regarding anything in this edition by emailing us at KentGRC@Kent.ac.uk. We hope you enjoy reading about the fascinating work of our postgraduate students, and about the international student experience.