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An automated email from student services arrived in my inbox recently reminding me to register for the second year of my PhD.\u00a0 So after nearly a year of doing a PhD, I thought it was an appropriate time to reflect on what I\u2019ve been doing and what life as a PhD student has been like so far.\u00a0 I started my PhD in October last year, researching professional women\u2019s participation in public sector trade unions.<\/p>\n
This time last year I was working out my notice in my old job, eager to start my PhD, wondering what it would all be like and whether I would actually be able to do it.\u00a0 The second question I\u2019m still wondering about but at least I can share some answers to the first.<\/p>\n
The First Few Months<\/span><\/p>\n Anyone who has ever changed jobs (or started a job!) will know that one of the first things you realise when you find yourself in a new organisational setting is that people speak their own special language.\u00a0 Starting my PhD was no different.\u00a0 Getting used to the fact that everyone \u201cconceptualised\u201d things was one thing, but it was also a relief to work out that when people referred to a \u201cTA\u201d they were talking about teaching assistants not the Territorial Army.\u00a0 Luckily, immersion is one of the best ways to learn a new language so after a few weeks things were becoming clearer on the communication side.\u00a0 However, the PhD itself was still a murky beast.\u00a0\u00a0 The first few months provided the opportunity to get into some of the reading that you need to do but the lack of outputs and short term deadlines did feel unsettling at first. Luckily though, supervisors are there to provide guidance and reassurance (and occasionally to dump a load more reading on your desk!) so while feeling like I wasn\u2019t making much progress I was actually developing that frequently mentioned \u201cconceptual framework\u201d for my research.<\/p>\n Days spent reading might sound like a fairly solitary and lonely activity and before starting my PhD I was often warned about how lonely an experience it can be.\u00a0 However, NUBS and the University offer plenty of opportunities not to be lonely!\u00a0 NUBS offers a series of seminars for PhD students, offering the chance to meet some members of staff outside your supervisory team, learn about some of the research that\u2019s going on in the school and network with your fellow PhD students.\u00a0 Further to this, all PhD students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences are offered research training and can study for a Postgraduate Certificate in Research Training.\u00a0 The training itself is interesting and also provides those strangely craved for deadlines, but it also offers opportunities to meet and socialise with PhD students outside of your department \u2013 including at the Christmas party (plenty of wine, always good for networking!).<\/p>\n So having spent some time settling in over the first few months, here are some of the highlights from the rest of the year.<\/p>\n Conferences <\/span><\/p>\n Just to make it immediately clear, I HATE giving presentations, it really does make me nervous.\u00a0 However, on the advice of my supervisor, I had to bite the bullet.<\/p>\n I presented my research at both Newcastle\u2019s own doctoral conference and at Leeds Univeristy Business School\u2019s.\u00a0 And both were excellent opportunities to discuss my research with interested and informed audience members.<\/p>\n The conference highlight for me was, however, the BUIRA conference held in Strathclyde.\u00a0 I had had an abstract accepted for presentation there and while delighted, I was also very nervous.\u00a0 The conference itself provided the opportunity to hear a number of interesting presentations on work people were doing that closely related to mine.\u00a0 In addition, the conference dinners meant that there was plenty of time to meet people and get to know colleagues working in the same area.\u00a0 The evening disco also had excellent music, but unfortunately, Stewart Johnstone, of NUBS, could not be persuaded to get his dancing shoes on!\u00a0 I gave my own presentation on the Saturday morning.\u00a0 The paper I was presenting considered the ways in which unionised managers understand their working identities and whether there is conflict between their roles as both managers and union members.\u00a0 Although presenting the paper was nerve racking, it was a good experience to be able to share my work with more experienced academics and get useful feedback.<\/p>\n Progression<\/span><\/p>\n The formal progression process that the university requires PhD students to go through seemed pretty daunting at the start of the year.\u00a0 Towards the end of the year you have a progression panel \u2013 three academics (not your supervisors) have the pleasure of reading some of your work and then being given a presentation on it.\u00a0 Which written down now doesn\u2019t seem like too much work\u2026.however, once again that familiar feeling of nerves returned in the run up to the panel.\u00a0 One of the strange things that I have found over this first year of PhDness is that things seem to move quickly so by the time I was to actually have my progression panel, I thought the document I had submitted already seemed out of date and full of typos (another learning point \u2013 leave some time between writing something and rereading it, otherwise you just read what you think it should say not what it actually says!).<\/p>\n So, the day of my progression panel arrived and it was hot and sunny.\u00a0 The panel itself didn\u2019t get off to the greatest start \u2013 the door to the room it was scheduled in was locked and no one knew where the key was, the projector didn\u2019t work and my efforts to contain my nerves were faltering!\u00a0 However, despite all of that, I got through it and I have to say my overwhelming feeling on the process was that it was incredibly useful and motivational.\u00a0 The feedback was helpful and has meant that I have been able to see more clearly what my thesis might come to look like, which is strangely exciting.\u00a0 Now I just need to get on with it!<\/p>\n So, in summary, my first year as a HRMWE PhD student has passed quickly, with lots of nerve racking moments that turned out to be positive.\u00a0 I\u2019m looking forward to starting the interviews for my research, which are planned to start in October \u2013 exciting times!<\/p>\n Eve Ewington<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" An automated email from student services arrived in my inbox recently reminding me to register for the second year of my PhD.\u00a0 So after nearly a year of doing a PhD, I thought it was an appropriate time to reflect … Continue reading