Josh Hutton

The first piece of advice, which I think is the most important one, is that this is a marathon and not a sprint. You’re given 4 years in total to do a PhD and that’s for a very specific reason, because you can’t do it in two or one.  I kind of aimed to hit the ground running when I started my PhD and that was not the best way to go about it.  Taking a breath at the beginning to really focus on the big picture of how much time you’ve got to do the task is a really important step that I don’t think enough people take.

Chris McDermott

[to be added]

Sophie Valeix

I would advise new researchers to not underestimate the importance of their well-being, once they’ve done that, there are many ways to address that. I think main thing to think about is to reach out to people and a lot of resources at university, a lot of people working towards students’ well-being, but also in your department, supervisors, and  your PhD colleagues as well.

So I think the advice I would tell is don’t stay alone because we tend to say PhD is very lonely journey, and I think it can be, but it doesn’t have to be. And you can feel supported.

Grace Jones

Yes, so what I would say is there are going to be times when your PhD feels intellectually inspiring and incredibly rewarding but inevitably, during the course of that journey there’s going to be times when it gets very tough and it can feel overwhelming, but you don’t have to feel you’re alone in coping with those feelings. There’s a wide support network at the University which includes the Doctoral School, the counselling service, the academic School and the Student Life Centre and sometimes just talking about your problem can help it to feel a bit more manageable.  We can help you to look at different option and potential solutions so you can really find the best, optimal solution for you in your circumstances.

Yumiko Kita

I suggest that new researchers should enjoy doctoral researchers’ life as much as possible. You may find thousands reasons to feel down during the course from time to time. But, for example, you may feel guilty when you have nice time with your family because you do not have good research progress. On the other hand, you may feel guilty when you do research, but you cannot spend enough time with your family and friends. So, yes, doctoral course is important but still it is just the part of your life. So try not to forget enjoying your life and try not let your research invade your life.

And also it is good opportunity to enjoy your research and academic opportunities too. There is a lot of support and resources at university take advantages of these, so that enjoy your life, including your research and your private life as much as possible.