Lessons Learnt as a PhD Intern

Zein Al Maha Oweis (Zee) is a PhD Student in Media and Cultural Policy, researching the impact of Facebook on shaping perceptions of disability. In this blog post, she shares her experience working as a Summer School Intern at the University of Glasgow and the lessons she has learnt during her time with the Research and Innovation Team.

As I work on my submission for my first ever annual progress review in the James McCune Smith Learning Hub, I find myself looking back at my time working with the UofG Research and Innovation team as one of the Summer School interns. I came into the internship with an open mind, just hoping to jump-start my career in the academic field by working alongside experienced academics. I never expected to gain the experience of a lifetime! As an intern, I get to tackle important tasks, explore creative ideas and work with a talented team.

One of my responsibilities with Research and Innovation was working on the GUILD Summer School, which the University of Glasgow hosted during the first week of July. In April, I applied to attend the Summer School in my capacity as a PhD researcher but, unfortunately, did not get the opportunity due to high demand and limited spaces. So, you can imagine that I was incredibly excited to be offered this internship- in this role I got to attend the amazing Summer School sessions and I got to work on the event from start to finish. I was ecstatic to meet other PhD researchers from around the world and work with the range of speakers who ran sessions during this packed week, which was focused on communicating research. Throughout the week I learned lots of new skills and added to my repertoire of proficiencies and experiences.

Tweet from Zein Al Maha Oweis “Love me some engaging #UofGGuildSS sessions! So happy to be meeting such diverse PGR researchers from around the world.

Retweet of content from @UofGPGRs “What do you think about Leigh Biagi’s engaging sessions on confident public speaking and effective communications? Let us know what you think by commenting below! #UofGGuildSS '#UofG #PGRs #Communication #Research

Here are some of the lessons I learnt while working as a Summer School Intern:

Time management: Every task has a time and place

During the weeks leading up to the GUILD Summer School, I was assigned a huge range of different tasks to work on. One day I was researching different online activities for the participants, including the Buzzfeed Harry Potter House Sorting quiz (Ravenclaw all the way!) and the next I was enquiring about group tickets for virtual exhibitions at the National Gallery in Edinburgh.

With so many different tasks to take care of, it became harder to determine which should have priority. That is why I adopted the “every task has a place and time” ideology. To avoid becoming overwhelmed, I organised my tasks according to how much time they would take to accomplish and the order in which they needed to be completed. For example, getting in touch with the National Gallery had higher priority than researching screen time apps.

As a PhD researcher, having time management skills is crucial in order to work on your research chapters and to meet supervisory deadlines. It was very helpful to develop this skill, and it helped me manage my time while preparing for my annual progress review. With ongoing practice, writing in academic calendars and using a lot of colour pens (all part of an academic’s arsenal), I have become a whiz at organizing my tasks according to deadline dates and times.

“Listen to my voice and tone,” said the PGR Social Media account!

While working on the GUILD Summer School, I posted regularly on the @UofGPGRs social media accounts, chatted with participants and shared key messages from the sessions. Whilst I am confident with posting on my own social media accounts, it was nerve-wracking posting on a university account because I was worried about making a mistake. Whenever I hit the post or tweet button my heart rate would rise to a thousand beats a second! However, with time, I began to feel more confident and found it easier to follow the voice and tone of the page.

I have found that this experience of social media has really helped me with my PhD writing. I was able to dive confidently into writing academically, despite it being a total shift from my journalistic training. I realised that by understanding the voice and tone of my research, I found it easier to create a structure and style for my research chapters.

Tweet from Zein Al Maha Oweis- “Session four of the #UofGGuildSS is underway and a continuation of Sian Bevan (@sianbevan@ talk on presenting your research to younger #Audiences! @UofGlasgow ~guildeu #UofGPGRs #UofGGuildSS #UofG #guildeu #PhD #Communication #Research

Your screen time affects your mental wellbeing

One of the core things that I focused on during the Summer School was our online footprint and how it relates to mental health and wellbeing. Before the pandemic I would use the laptop between 4-6 hours per day due to my visual impairment, but now I am using my laptop for over 10-12 hours due to everything shifting to a virtual world. During the five days of the Summer School, I spent over 12 hours on Zoom and social media alone! I could not believe how much my screen time increased in the span of one week.

Unfortunately, I began to notice how this was affecting my mental health in a negative way. It is so important to preserve your mental health during your PhD, or you face the possibility of burn out. This was something I learnt the hard way! Because I was overworking myself, I ended up sleeping less, eating less, my hair began to fall out and my vision was affected. The final straw was when I almost walked into one of the doors in my flat because I was too exhausted and did not focus on my surroundings. I decided to work on a new plan for managing my time and balancing my hours, and tackled this using a mind map- reverting to doing so via a pen and paper. I began to see that I had to take time out for myself as well as balancing my working hours between my PhD and internship.

From that point onwards, I set strict breaks at breakfast, lunch and dinner, where I would have a meal, meet with friends, join dance classes in front of the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum or schedule a kick boxing class at the Botanic Gardens. I even got the chance to adventure through the Highlands on my annual leave, with little means of communication- just my friends and my trusty white cane. By taking care of my mental health, I felt a change in energy and began to wake up feeling positive, ready to take on the world.

I am definitely going to focus on balancing my work-life balance as I move into the second year of my PhD. I hope to take time off on the weekends to explore more of Scotland, and get back to the habit of reading one book each week. If you need me, I will be sitting on the grass in the Botanical Gardens with a cup of coffee and a book to read!

Image of Zein walking down a cobbled street, surrounded by plants and flowers. She is wearing a blue floral dress and carrying a white cane

With every door that closes, a window of opportunity opens

The saying “when one door closes, another opens” was definitely true in this situation. I applied to participate in the GUILD Summer School as a PhD researcher but was not accepted. A door closed! However, a window of opportunity opened when I was offered this internship, and I got to see the Summer School from a whole new perspective. This experience proved to me that you should never see a closed door as a lost cause- there will always be a small window of opportunity which may prove better for you as a researcher.

As my internship with the Research and Innovation team comes to an end, I begin to gear up for my second year of my PhD here at the University of Glasgow. I can’t wait to work on my methodology and start collecting data, whilst discovering more of what Scotland has to offer.

You can read about Zein’s experience as a visually impaired researcher in her blogpost “Rollercoaster of Possibilities”. A summary of the 2021 Guild Summer School is available on the Guild News and on our Twitter @UofGPGRs. To hear more about future GUILD Summer Schools for PhD Researchers, keep an eye on the Guild website.