Living the PhD Life

02/02/22 • 38 min

In this extra special episode, 5 different PhD students at different stages discuss their own unique PhD journey. We hear from the recent graduate Miguel (@mcueva89) about how his career plans changed during the highs and lows of his experience. Rist discusses how he dealt with getting scooped – and how he experienced fatherhood at the same time. Joan (@JoanCortadaGar) moved with his supervisor from Glasgow to Edinburgh in the midst of his second year and talks about the impact this had on his research. We hear from Lindsay what it was like to have children during her PhD and how working part-time has helped her with that. Finally, Liz (@LizGaberdiel) discusses the benefits and difficulties of moving to a new discipline when starting her PhD.

Interviewing and editing by Sam Haynes @youvegotmyname.

Interviewing and editing by Sam Haynes @youvegotmyname.

Previous Episode

Crop improvement: getting inspiration from algae

What does algae photosynthesis have to do with solving food insecurity?

In this episode on crop improvement, @_applechew interviews Liat Adler (@noodlyscientist) to hear how algae can help us improve the photosynthesis efficiency of “land plants”!

Crop photosynthesis is not exactly perfect. One key enzyme in the mechanism called RuBisCo is slow and gets confused between carbon and oxygen: not what you want from your energy storage mechanism!

Algae, however, have developed a system to improve both the speed and the accuracy of this process. The @McCormick_Lab is trying to integrate this system into land plants. That way, crops could use sunlight more efficiently, grow faster, and thus produce more food!

Art by @donohoho, intro and editing by @_applechew

Next Episode

PhD Advice from Dr Harriet Harris, the University Chaplain

In the first episode of our PhD Advice series, Liz (@lizgaberdiel) talks to Rev. Dr. Harriet Harris, the University of Edinburgh Chaplain, about how PhD students can look after themselves through practicing mindfulness with everyday tasks, and overall building healthy habits. We get to learn about services being offered by the Chaplaincy to help support PhD students who may be struggling with mental health, as well as those who wish to find a community.

Resources mentioned:

Taming your inner critic and Imposter Syndrome: https://www.ed.ac.uk/chaplaincy/abundant-academy/compassion-for-our-times/taming-your-inner-critic-and-imposter-syndrome-at
This blog has embedded in it a recording plus links to two other blogs on Imposter Syndrome.

This podcast series, episode 3, ‘The Joy and Vitality of Not Knowing’, provides a tonic for perfectionism and a corrective to white privilege.

https://www.ed.ac.uk/chaplaincy/blogs-podcasts-and-reflections/the-chaplaincy-of-joyful-abandon-podcast-series