Working towards a PhD can be one of the most rewarding things you’ll ever do, but at times it can also be one of the most alienating things. While everyone’s PhD experience is different, you can be sure the general trials and tribulations of postgrad life have been well-documented online, offering everything from help to humour in a digestible blog format.
Here’s our pick of the best PhD blogs which will inspire you, make you laugh and keep you motivated.
Need a helping hand?
General life hacks for the PhD student.
The latest blogs cover issues around completing a PHD in a pandemic, academic networks and book recommendations for writing your thesis.
Join the The Thesis Whisperer, aka Professor Inger Mewburn, and other special guests on 17 June at the Postgraduate Researcher’s Conference.
Now handily coming in an English version, this popular blog muses on the process of researching and writing your thesis.
A blog run by Postgraduate students in the faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, highlighting the amazing research conducted here at the University of Manchester and present it in an engaging and jargon-free way.
Have a laugh
If you’ve never visited this site before, start with the 200 most popular comics; you’ll relate to at least 180.
Get some motivation
Patter is just really useful. Patter is Pat Thomson, Professor of Education in the School of Education, The University of Nottingham and her blog provides grammar and writing tips as well as useful general advice.
Empathise with me
The questions you think you should definitely know the answer to, the random things that prove the most difficult; you can bet other people have thought them. And then blogged about them.
Work/life balance
After constantly hearing that “academia eats at your soul, breaks you down, and does not let you have a life outside of work”, Tanya Golash-Boza worked at finding a work life balance and now shares her thoughts and tips for making the of your time and learning how to be an academic and have a life.
Relate to a fellow ‘UoM-er’ and hear from our own PhD bloggers
For something a little closer to home, check out what our past PhD student news bloggers Unéné, Frances and Rhodes have to say. At different stages of their journey, there’s lots of sharing of experiences – from starting a PhD to finishing one and everything in between.
University support
The Library also have their own researcher development programme, designed to support the development of researchers at all career stages. Topics covered include resources to use during the research process, dissemination of research and raising your research profile.