The SOFI Sessions

This week we're back on the topic of Mental Health; Merin, Charlotte and Ruth discuss personal and systemic challenges concerning mental well-being in academia and the PhD life. Their conversation is based on their own experiences and refers to the following resources:

https://amhcollective.com/2017/12/06/i-can-and-i-will-rebuilding-an-anxious-mind-in-time-for-orals/ 

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/the-emotional-toll-of-graduate-school/ 

https://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2018/04/graduate-students-take-charge-mental-health-care 

External Well-Being resources for PhD students: PhD Balance https://www.phdbalance.com/ 

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/internal/doctoralschool/wellbeing/mentalhealth  

Twitter handle by Dr Zoë Ayres @ZJAyres 

Disclaimer: We are not professionals in this field; please do not take anything discussed in the podcast as specific advice. Seek a health professional if you experience mental health problems, it is highly likely that your academic institution has one of these.

Seth is joined by Ruth, James and Burhan in the first episode of a new series on PhDs and faith. Do PhD students believe in God? How does faith fit into their lives? How important are faith communities? And how does faith relate to studying science? 

 

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Burhan is joined by Jack and Veronica to challenge some of the assumptions about the monotonous life of the PhD student. This is the first episode of a new series in which PhD students get the chance to talk about what they love most in the world - other than their study!

In our second episode in the Other Side series, Burhan, Merin, and Charlotte return to share more of their experiences as people who belong to minority groups in academic science. They recount stories that contributed in bringing them to science, discuss some of the merits and pitfalls of so-called ‘positive discrimination’, and finally talk about the apparent inequalities brought to light by the A-Level grading algorithm.

In our third plot episode, Jordan, Jack and Seth discuss the recent UK lockdown - how will this impact the lives of PhD students in the future? This episode was recorded near the beginning of the lockdown and, due to the very current nature of the topic, much has changed since then. Nonetheless, we hope that our discussion is helpful to those continuing their studies and those intending to start a PhD in a post-COVID-19 world.

In this second pilot episode, Ruth, Adele, and Lucas discuss issues of mental health while studying a PhD. They talk about their own experiences of societal pressure, the structure of the UK education system and imposter syndrome.

Academia in STEM has been a main driving force pushing the frontier of science and technology. However, the other side of the coin of STEM reveals problems within it. Issues of underrepresentation, diversity (or lack thereof) and gender equality has lead science to fall behind in modern times. In episode 1, Burhan, Charlotte, and Merin discuss personal experience as students in science in terms of diversity, equality and inclusion; they also review Tomas Hudlicky's recent controversial paper on 'the current state of affairs' in organic chemistry.