Danielle Fatzinger (@bonniecelt) was the 2019-2020 PGR Office Intern and is a final year PhD researcher in Celtic & Gaelic. In this post, she reviews some good-to-know things when starting, or continuing, as a PGR at UofG.

Another academic year has started, which means we have new PGRs (welcome!) and returning PGRs (hello again!) who are either seeking advice on how to begin their PGR life or be their best selves as they continue. There will be inductions to cover many of the things you’ll need to know, so this post focuses on things that may not be in the inductions, alongside things that might be there but are so useful that they’re worth enforcing. 

Mailing Lists  

Mailing Lists are the key to a lot of timely information and opportunities. Your college and perhaps even school/institute will have one that you will be signed up with automatically (and you can email the admin at other colleges if you want to receive their mailing lists, too). They will tell you about upcoming events and seminars, funding opportunities, and more. 

But there are also mailing lists for things like reading groups, public engagement, and careers/internships. Think about what you’ll want access to and seek them out.  

And then read the emails, even if briefly, to stay up to date. Don’t set up filters to bypass your inbox or automatically delete the emails, even though it’s tempting: you’ll miss something that way!

Twitter/Social Media 

Social media and an online presence were growing in popularity even before the digital realm became the primary mode of communication. Twitter has an active academic community, with popular hashtags #AcademicChatter, #AcademicTwitter, and #PhDChat having participants from around the world. Discipline-specific hashtags are also popular, like #twitterstorians and #scicomm. Even if you want to use it to read, like, and share others’ tweets rather than posting yourself, it’s a useful tool, and can even help with learning about job and training opportunities. 

If you’re not sure where to start, you can check out Upping Your Online Presence for tips, and @UofG_PGRblog has put some Twitter Lists together with suggestions of accounts related to UofG and academia (click on ‘Members’ to see the accounts: Academic/PhD/PGR, UofG Accounts, UofG Staff). The lists aren’t exhaustive, but they’re somewhere to begin! 

Finally, @UofG_PGRblog is running #UofGPGRs Photo Challenges during the four full weeks in October, and we encourage you to get involved on Twitter and/or Instagram! Information can be found on Twitter/Instagram, and PGRs have been sent an email. 

Literature Reviews 

Many PGRs start out their research with a literature review of some kind, no matter the subject, and continuing PGRs find themselves adding to those reviews and groups of resources. But how does one do that? PGR@Home has a great resource on writing literature reviews and useful websites/software to accomplish it, like citation managers and the library. 

Writing 

With literature reviews and research comes writing, but writing is hard. That’s where writing groups can come in, and luckily, there are online writing groups running on a regular basis. The UofG PhD Society has twice weekly Writing and Wellbeing virtual writing groups, folks on Twitter regularly hold #RemoteRetreats, and the PhD Forum runs a 24/7 Online writing/’library’ space. 

PGRs also have access to writing support specifically for us: we can book appointments with a writing advisor or sign up for a writing class. 

PGR Development 

It’s important to start thinking early about what’s coming after your research degree and what skills you want to, or need to, develop. Three to four years can feel like a long time, but then when you’re submitting your thesis, it’ll feel like only yesterday that you were coming to campus for your first day as a PGR.  

You can use the Vitae Researcher Development Framework as guidance to think about the skills you have and those you want to improve or develop. Then there’s training available for PGRs from your College, School, and/or Institute, and maybe even your subject. Research and Innovation also holds workshops and training, and you’ll see what they offer over at the PGR Development Hub. You can also seek out reading groups, the Arts Lab, GTA opportunities, conferences, committees, competitions, and so many other activities that can help build skills, share your research, and motivate you. 

What are you glad to know now that you wish you’d known at the start of your PhD? What software, advice, and activities are important to your PhD life? Let us know in the comments, and check out This PhD Life, an online symposium with advice by PGRs, for PGRs, taking place 21 October 2020.