The good, the bad and the PhD

My PhD journey

I think of a PhD as a journey of excitement where you are raring to collect data, understand individual experiences but also recognise the importance of the research process. What we often don't realise is that this excitement can often be overshadowed by many other emotions that can question your ability to complete this highly rigorous qualification, which sometimes I have felt during my time as a PhD student in their second year. 

When completing my Master's degree in 2018, we were told that clinical psychology is the way forward into a career in psychology, so I wanted to achieve this milestone as someone from an ethnic minority background. However, I gained experience in teaching and that is when I realised that I wanted to become a lecturer but also pursue a PhD and remain in the field of academia.

Since starting the PhD, I described it as a reflective journey where I currently note down the milestones (whether small or big) achieved through this programme, as well as take into consideration my areas of development, so I can grow as a novel researcher in my field. For example, during my time as a PhD student, I've completed my systematic review which explored immigrant parents' perceptions of autism; this was a huge task and I felt relieved once it was completed. I've also finished data collection for my first empirical study which looked into South Asian migrant parents' views of autism. By noting these achievements, it gave me a lot of motivation and excitement to continue with the PhD in relation to what I can find within my studies and how it could inform such an understudied population.

As a PhD student, I also experience a sense of gratitude in the work that I do, as my topic is exploring immigrant parents' views of autism primarily among the Pakistani and Bangladeshi community. Coming from this background, I thought it was essential to do research in this area to raise awareness of autism and how we can support those with ASD in this community, which adds to the gratitude of the work I am doing in my PhD.

Hurdles of the PhD

However, the PhD isn't all positive; of course, you feel a sense of achievement and satisfaction when completing chapters, but the development of these chapters comes with inklings of self-doubt, apprehension of submitting chapters and awaiting feedback from your supervisors to feel a sense of reassurance that you are on the right track during this turbulent yet enjoyable journey. 

When I started my first year of the PhD, I was not used to the different dynamics of the programme which included online workshops, independent research and bi-weekly supervisions as my qualifications were very taught focused and we were expected to attend university on set days. Progressing through the programme, it came to my attention that the PhD was very isolating as much of the work can be done at home with little contact with the university. Due to this realisation, I had to motivate myself and make a routine of slowly reading around my topic and developing chapters so that I can continue pushing myself to complete tasks slowly but effectively.  But was this sustainable? Would working all day with little to no time for myself going to help long term? These were questions that arose during the second year of my PhD.

Though I love reading around my topic and collecting data (as I am a geek for some qualitative findings), working on my PhD constantly was not sustainable nor healthy and something had to change, and that was recognising when to 'stop' and 'switch off' so I could enjoy the things that were outside of the realm of the PhD.  During my second year, I was able to find my feet in knowing when to focus on my chapters, teaching materials and having some time to myself without it having a detrimental effect on the overall quality of my work and, most importantly, my relationships with others.

Tips and tricks for managing a PhD

What I have learnt during my time as a PhD student has been valuable, not just within the realm of a student but also within my practice as an educator.  One of the key words that has been valuable to me is the word 'breathe'. You are probably thinking why breathe? We live in a dynamic and fast paced environment that pushes us to work constantly but since becoming a PhD student and lecturer, it has allowed me to break each task down while allowing myself to breathe and not work constantly, to enjoy the things I do with friends and family away from the laptop screen.

Therefore, the key takeaways during my PhD journey so far and, something for aspiring PhD students, are that you don't need to work every day on your project, take a step back and do something completely non-PhD related and come back to it from a clearer perspective. Going for a nice woodland walk, reading and also swimming were activities that I engaged with during my PhD journey, as these were things that allowed me to maintain the balance between work, studying and socialising.

Remind yourself why you chose to do a PhD. This reminder will keep you motivated during this process, and it will stop you from never looking back at the hurdles that made you question this decision. The last tip is to smile; we often find this a hard thing to do during this process, but I've learnt to celebrate the achievements during my psychology journey and it's kept me motivated to complete the last hurdle.

One thing I would like students who are considering a PhD to do is to always remember the quote below; it's something I've taken forward in my career in lecturing and as a PhD student and is also a good way to summarise my journey: 'The only time you look back is to see how far you have come'.

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