Six things: PhD-ing

Sundays are for PhD-ing. Or, at least, writing out my thoughts on PhD-ing.

As I’ve started to reshuffle and rework some of my earlier PhD writing, I’ve finally related to the idea of “don’t ask how the PhD is going.” My brain is constantly swirling, rapidly sifting through everything – including what needs to be left behind. Many challenges and anxieties I’ve read about also feel relatable. Add the hecticness of the world in its current state on top of that, and it’s a lot.

Since writing is usually how I relax, I’m glad I have a few avenues for doing this. It’s a source of hyperfocus and one of the ways I like to think through problems and ideas. It also makes space for reflection when I have a busy schedule without being an overly structured or forced form of reflection.

I wanted to focus on some small wins and joys but was struggling to get the challenges out of my mind – so I’ve turned to writing about ‘six things’ – tentatively categorised as either challenges, curiosities, or joys. I’ve also added photos of two work/research buddies at the end.

Challenges

1. Multiple contexts

I have my full-time job and committee responsibilities alongside a PhD. Time management is something I’m constantly aware of. My organisational methods and tools continue to shift, but at the moment, I default to templates I use in Obsidian. It’s not a perfect set-up (thanks to the ambitious nature of what I’d envisioned using Obsidian for), but it’s pragmatic and works.

What often feels more challenging is shifting between different outlooks and communication styles as I manoeuvre between those contexts. ¹ Report writing, committee and board papers, various publications, research papers, my thesis, and all their meetings demand different language, emphasis, and frames of reference.

2. Systems

I’m using systems very broadly here – technical, organisational, soft systems – anything goes. I occasionally have days when the entire world feels inaccessible, and systems-related barriers exacerbate this. I’ve often ended up feeling hat asking for help isn’t helpful if the barrier to asking feels greater or riskier than going it alone. ² At the moment, I’m leaning toward making life easier more generally so that I have a greater capacity to navigate the systems type challenges when I encounter them.

Curiosities

3. Scope

I seem to find myself with a lot of bigger-picture thoughts and ideas, which I then manage to connect to other bigger-picture ideas. For my PhD, it is both a challenge and joy – and I remain curious about my approaches to navigating this. There’s a lot of wrangling and untangling concepts and connections in my mind. Ultimately, I have to be curious and mindful about how I translate my questions, navigate scope, and consider who my audience is.

4. GenAI

I’m doing my PhD amidst new developments and conversations on generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) that impact research practices and other socio-political and cultural matters. Additionally, I’m experiencing these developments as a manager across research support and digital experience teams and as someone whose personal use of AI (mostly Claude) leans toward accessibility with a critical lens. The most engaging GenAI conversations I’ve seen (critical or otherwise) have avoided detracting from existing societal challenges and instead brought perspectives grounded in an understanding of these.

Joys

5. Problem-solving

I like challenges and feel joyful at the end, so I’m hesitantly placing problem-solving in the joy category. I’ve found that putting on headphones with music and finding a hallway to dance, pace, spin, and jump around in can do a world of good for thinking through complex problems (or at least getting the energy or frustration of them out).

6. Research & people

The complexities and nuances that come with the research itself are a joy. I adore the analytical and theoretical processes (when I’m not bogged down with the administrative side). Additionally, I’ve always had fantastic supervisors across the formal research programs I’ve undertaken. My doctoral research initially stemmed from an exploratory project in the workplace (which I have a past colleague to thank for) that led to me emailing one of my current supervisors a proposal a few months later.

Each of these six things doesn’t neatly fit into the category I’ve placed them. That in itself has been helpful though. It highlights the nuances and shows small joys across each, without diminishing challenges.

Now, with this writing out of my brain, I’m back off to PhD land – which, for the rest of today, might be the floor.

1. I have some core themes/values that seem to have encompassed all of my work/research. They don’t negate this challenge, but they do keep me feeling grounded. ↩︎
2. I’m probably the kind of person who uses frustrations as a driver for action/solutions (which also contributes to the ‘doing a lot’ nature of the first challenge). ↩︎