Natasha Joyce is a historian, researcher, and PhD candidate at La Trobe University in Bendigo. Her research focuses on accidental childhood fatalities during Victoria's gold rush era. Known as the 'Victorian Historian', she enjoys sharing her expertise with the public through storytelling and expert commentary. Natasha has appeared on national television shows, such as Who Do You Think You Are. With 25 years of experience in labour relations and capacity building, she integrates her historical k...
Mar 24, 2025•29 min
In this episode we explore the value of being brave and passionate in research. Cilla shares her own journey into research leadership and identifies the most important research skills to develop. We consider strategies for building research collaborations and Cilla shares advice on how to maintain authenticity while navigating the ideas of others. You can find out more about Cilla’s work here: NIHR ARC South London Applied Research Leadership Academy | ARC South London https://arc-sl.nihr.ac.uk/...
Mar 17, 2025•31 min
Cynthia Fasola is doctoral candidate at the University of Greenwich with a background as a research manager. Her Phd explores feedback practices and the barriers that people from ethnic minority backgrounds face within academia. In this episode we talk about building confidence and strong foundations in the PhD process. Cynthia shares advice on navigating the PhD application process. She reflects on the significance of the supervisory relationship and the importance of finding the right person f...
Mar 10, 2025•26 min
Kay Danes is an award-winning author, human rights advocate and humanitarian. In this episode Kay shares the transformative experience of reshaping her PhD research and provides insights for other PhD candidates facing similar obstacles. Kay posits the importance of recognising challenges as part of the academic process. She reflects on her own major shift of both subject and department within her doctoral study. Kay also offers a useful perspective on how to approach feedback and stay focused o...
Mar 03, 2025•27 min
Louise LePage was in her 30s when she did her MA in Drama and Performance (University College Dublin) and fell in love with academia and performance. Immediately afterwards she undertook a PhD at Royal Holloway, University of London, where she was also a Teaching Fellow. She has since held positions at University of Reading and University of York. In this episode we explore the challenges of navigating academia whilst managing a chronic illness like ME/CFS. Louise reflects honestly on her own li...
Feb 24, 2025•28 min
In this episode Gordon shares his reflections on his PhD experience - particularly the times when he wanted to give up! Gordon discusses the challenges of balancing full-time work and the PhD. He shares the strategies that he used to stay motivated and managing time - in particular the pomodoro method. We explore how to deal with doubts, overwhelm and exhaustion and the importance of the right kind of support. Gordon also offers some insights from his own experience of the viva and gives some va...
Feb 17, 2025•28 min
Charlotte Haines Lyon has a background in Youth and Community work. She worked in a variety of youth and community settings and moved on to Adult Education including working with Age Concern. She gained a Masters in Philosophy and Religion at Heythrop College (UCL) and a PhD at York St John University. She worked as a freelance writer for a variety of charities and more recently has been developing Democratic Methodologies in Educational Research. In this episode we look to demystify the annual ...
Feb 10, 2025•26 min
Alex Chapman is an AuDHD Music Psychologist based between the Royal Northern College of Music and Drake Music Scotland, funded through a Collaborative Doctoral Award from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK Research & Innovation). They focus on neurodivergent musicians and audiences’ experiences and challenges in live music settings, specifically auditory processing. They are well-versed in accessibility and reasonable adjustments, and are part of various networks relating to neurod...
Feb 03, 2025•27 min
Anne Wilson is an award-winning scriptwriter, journalist and careers counsellor. After doing an MSc and a PhD in social psychology at the LSE, and publishing a book on children’s identity, she became a freelance journalist, writing for publications such as Just Seventeen, Cosmopolitan, the New York Times, Good Housekeeping and the Guardian. Anne moved on to writing for screen media and has won numerous awards for her films in the corporate sector. She has also published two crime novels, featuri...
Jan 27, 2025•28 min
Nicole Patrie is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Public Safety and Justice Studies at MacEwan University, and a PhD student in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta, specializing in Adult Education. Nicole has been involved in prison education at all levels: as a teacher, administrator, and now researcher, for over 15 years. Her research focus is on the role of education and learning in the criminal justice system. In this episode Nicole shares her own journey as a fi...
May 13, 2024•22 min
Vicky Laina is a learning scientist with a focus on educational technologies in mathematics teaching and learning. She designs and studies learning experiences where the use of technology can support epistemic transparency and collaborative thinking amongst youth, with the goal of helping students reimagine what doing mathematics can look and feel like. Vicky has lived, worked and studied in 5 different countries and is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Johannes Kepler University in Lin...
May 06, 2024•25 min
Gina Holmes has worked both in industry and academia - with over two decades of experience in Higher Education. As well as her own research experience she has worked with dozens of doctoral candidates and hundreds (maybe more) of Master’s students, supporting them to complete theses they are proud of and which enable them to move on in their career. In this episode we discuss the relationship between the PhD researcher and the supervisor/supervisory team. We explore the issues that may arise and...
Apr 29, 2024•37 min
Wafaa Aldhfairi is a PhD candidate at UNMC, specializing in pharmaceutical sciences with a master's degree in the field. She's also the creator of the "Pharma Weekly Digest," a newsletter that shares the latest pharmaceutical news, making industry updates accessible to all. In this episode we discuss the PhD journey, research and how substack can contribute! Wafaa shares her experiences of how she has used substack both to inform and disseminate her PhD research. We talk about the challenges of ...
Apr 22, 2024•24 min
Naomi finished her PhD in 2006, worked part-time and then full-time in commercial research and then re-entered academia as a Research Fellow at University College Cork, Ireland. She gained permanency in 2010 at the University of Plymouth, UK, but then decided to leave academia (again!) and started her entrepreneurial journey in 2019. She now runs Research Your Way Ltd, which provides bespoke research, evaluation and impact services to social purpose organisations. In this episode we explore ‘alt...
Apr 15, 2024•25 min
Amal Abuzeinab, PhD is an architect, advisor, and academic at De Montfort University (DMU), School of Art, Design, and Architecture (ADA). Prior to joining academia, Amal practiced both in Sudan and UK.Amal is the Institute Head of Research Students – Institute of Architecture. Her leadership is guided and informed by the principles and practices of flourishing human from Positive Psychology. Amal supervises and examines Postgraduate researchers (PGRs) since 2016 focusing on Architecture, Built ...
Apr 08, 2024•28 min
If you are feeling paralysed by anxiety as to what your supervisor might think of your latest chapter or just doubting whether you are even capable of finishing the PhD at all then this is the episode for you! Mandy Lehto is a reknowned executive coach. After her doctorate she worked in investment banking and has also been a columnist for ‘Psychologies’ magazine as well as contributing to a number of other publications including ‘The Huffington Post and The Times. She now hosts “Enough the Podca...
Mar 25, 2024•26 min
Piangfan Naksukpaiboon is currently an Early Stage Researcher and doctoral candidate in Medicine focusing on cancer genomics at the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen's University Belfast on the SPaRK program which is a Horizon2020 funded Marie Skłodowska-Curie doctoral training programme. Her move to Norway was when she discovered that she has Asperger’s Syndrome. However, she never let it define who she is. In this episode Piangfun discusses her experiences as a neu...
Mar 18, 2024•30 min
Krysten Blackstone is a Lecturer in International and Military History at the University of Salford, where she has been since 2022. She is a social and military historian of Early America and her current work examines the morale of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, 1775-1783. As a PhD student she worked on and was chair of the blog Pubs and Publications: The PhD Experience where she wrote a number of blog posts on similar topics. She also works on the book reviews team for the J...
Mar 11, 2024•28 min
Arun Ulahannan is an Assistant Professor at Coventry University, where he leads a range of user research and UX projects on transport accessibility, future transport, and gender inclusivity. He is passionate about creating and sharing knowledge that can inform and inspire policy, practice, and education in the transport sector and beyond. He also co-hosts the How to PhD podcast, a show that helps PhD candidates with the practical and essential skills they need for their academic journey. In this...
Mar 04, 2024•27 min
Dr Elizabeth Yardley graduated from Aston Business School in 2007 with a PhD exploring young parent’s experiences of stigma. She has worked in UK universities since then, teaching and researching a range of social science subjects including sociology, social policy and criminology. In 2021, she set up Degree Doctor to help overwhelmed PhD students experiencing a range of issues including perfectionism and imposter syndrome. Her resources not only help students with the how-to elements of a PhD b...
Feb 26, 2024•26 min
Victoria has more than 10 years experience as a consultant medical herbalist and functional medicine practitioner and is also a trained wellness coach. In this episode Victoria reflects on her journey through her PhD and into her career as a research scientist where she struggled to manage a chronic health condition that left her in pain on a daily basis. She shares the changes she made that enabled her to improve her long term health and become pain free. We focus on the Solstice and seasonal p...
Dec 18, 2023•20 min
Allan Johnson is Associate Professor in English Literature & Associate Dean (Doctoral College), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Alongside this work he is also a mindfulness teacher and co-facilitator of The PhD Circle with Emma Brodzinski. In this episode Allan shares his own “fork in the road” experience that led hime into his research topic. Allan highlights the different phases within the doctorate and why some moments might feel more difficult than others. He discusses how Campbell’...
Dec 10, 2023•33 min
Dr Kathleen Vacek is an academic writing coach who researches lived experiences of doctoral writing and scholarly publishing. During the course of her PhD, she became a mother and left her full-time academic staff position. She was supported on this rocky journey by a doctoral writing group she formed with members of her program cohort. In this episode Kate shares how her group was formed and maintained and reflects on her experience of what worked and what was not so useful. She also offers som...
Dec 04, 2023•23 min
Amy Bonsall has completed her PhD at Leeds University. Her thesis was recognised as demonstrating exemplary research in the field of practice-led research in intercultural Shakespeare theatre performance. She is also the associate artistic director of Bilimankhwe arts and continues to direct professional, commercial theatre productions. Amy founded the Women in Academia Support Network #WIASN a group of 10,000 women academics from around the world. In this episode Amy shares the challenges that ...
Nov 27, 2023•33 min
Denise Venturi is Ph.D. Candidate in International Law at the Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium. Her research focuses on the concept of vulnerability with reference to LGBTIQ+ asylum-seekers and refugees. At present, she is a Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology (Halle-Saale, Germany). She has worked for UNHCR in various protection roles, with a focus on refugee status determination, capacity building, and law and policy analysis. She has been Asylum Liaison Officer wi...
Nov 20, 2023•29 min
Nicholas Dirks is President and CEO of the New York Academy of Sciences, one of the oldest scientific organizations in the United States. Previously, Nick served as Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley and Executive VP and Dean of the Faculty for Arts and Sciences at Columbia University. He is the author of eight books, including the forthcoming book, City of Intellect: The Uses and Abuses of the University. In this episode shares his own experience of the PhD and starting out on...
Nov 13, 2023•30 min
Jen Polk did her PhD in History from the University of Toronto and went on to launch from Ph.D. to Life, a career coaching and speaking business. She specialises in graduate education and careers for doctoral degree holders. She’s also a guest speaker on university campuses and academic and professional conferences throughout North America and beyond. In this episode we focus on life after completing a PhD and the transition from academia to the professional world. Jen emphasizes the importance ...
Nov 06, 2023•29 min
Dr. Kate Massey-Chase is an academic, facilitator, activist, performer and writer. She’s a Lecturer at Plymouth Marjon University, where she’s leading a new MA in Arts, Health and Wellbeing . As a creative arts practitioner, she has worked across a range of educational and community settings, including delivering theatre-based and creative writing projects with young migrants, recovering addicts, prisoners and mental health service users. In this episode Kate shares her remarkable journey throug...
Oct 30, 2023•37 min
Samir Morsli is a postdoctoral research associate in the Munoz-Espin lab at The University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the early stages of lung cancer initiation and progression, primarily involving zombie-like senescent cells. During his PhD Samir carried out an Internship and worked as part of the Public Engagement team at The Babraham Institute. In this episode Samir shares his experience of how he arranged and completed a mandatory internship during their PhD. He reflects on the va...
Oct 23, 2023•24 min
Laura Revilla is a PhD candidate in Heritage Studies at Brandenburg University of Technology (BTU) in Cottbus, Germany. Her research focuses on understanding diverse forms of heritage and security in Mexican communities through bottom-up practices and decolonial thinking. Through her journey, she aims to discover the uses and relevance of heritage in our everyday lives. In this episode Laura shares her PhD journey and how it has been shaped by her cat Chobi. Laura explains how Chobi has been bot...
Oct 16, 2023•23 min
