As academics, we deal with big topics and huge research problems. From disillusionment about the impact of your work, to self-censorship, these natural features of our work can contribute to burn out. This post commiserates with you, but also suggests some coping strategies for managing.
Preventing burn-out during COVID-19 lockdown
After more than a year of COVID-19, some of us are going into a second lockdown. The end to this seems very far and it's harder and harder to stay positive. In this post, I share with you some tips for preventing burn-out and staying positive.
Burn-out
This is an opening post for a series on "Burn-out". The content and reflections I present here are based on a workshop I recently hosted on "Academic mental health and well-being". In this workshop, we focused on two themes: burn-out and secondary Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). But given the depth of the issues we discussed … Continue reading Burn-out
Choosing Academia
Those of us still on the early-career academic treadmill probably already know that we didn't choose academia, it chose us. But the choice to accept or decline this calling is easier for some than for others. I hope this post will give you courage to pursue your calling.
Dealing with transience in academic life
This one is for all the post-docs out there. It's also for those of you thinking about pursuing a PhD. Here are some hard truths about life as an academic: it's nomadic, transient and sometimes lonely in the "in-between periods". But it is also (mostly) interesting, it is a global occupation like no other, and … Continue reading Dealing with transience in academic life
Finishing that thesis under COVID-19 lockdown conditions
So it looks like 2021 is going to be a continuation of 2020, at least for the first half of the year (if we're lucky!). And if you are somewhere in the last stages of your PhD, writing up your dissertation or pumping out those publications, this could prove challenging with many university offices and … Continue reading Finishing that thesis under COVID-19 lockdown conditions
Introduction to The Doctorate
Hi there! Welcome to The Doctorate blog. The idea to start this blog has been brewing in my mind for at least three years but I never quite had the courage or the time (!) to get it going until now. Thanks to COVID-19, I finally ran out of excuses - so here it is! … Continue reading Introduction to The Doctorate
Year-end Resolutions
There's no doubt 2020 was difficult for most of us. Many of us started the year with new year's resolutions to get fit, have more work-life balance, finish one chapter of your thesis each month, etc., etc., etc. To be honest, even without COVID-19, many of these resolutions would have met the same sorry demise, … Continue reading Year-end Resolutions
Finding Perspective
Given all that's happened this year, I found myself coming back to this question more often than I had in past years -- why does any of what I do matter? I am an environmental sociologist and I spend most of my time collecting and analysing data on public and expert perceptions of risk of … Continue reading Finding Perspective
The Doctorate 