This is the podcast for you if you are currently doing a PhD; are working with PhD students; or just living with someone who is on a PhD journey. The PhD Life Raft focuses on sharing insights and experiences around common issues like anxiety, procrastination, imposter syndrome, and work-life balance. Host Dr Emma Brodzinski talks to students, supervisors and experts in the field of wellbeing and mental health who share actionable tips and additional resources. Doing a PhD is tough. The PhD L ...
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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 ye…
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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 …
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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…
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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 c…
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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 R…
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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 o…
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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 ‘Psycholo…
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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…
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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…
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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 c…
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How to Handle Procrastination: Managing the PhD One Deadline at a Time with Elizabeth Yardley
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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 …
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Revitalize your research journey: harnessing the solstice for PhD self-care with Victoria Wright
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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…
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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.…
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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 epi…
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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…
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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 …
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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 th…
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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 beyo…
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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 p…
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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 …
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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 …
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Dr Kaisa Pankakoski is a writer, researcher, translator, and multilingualism consultant. For her PhD at Cardiff University she looked at multilingual families’ language ideologies, strategies, and experiences in Finland and Wales. During the course of her PhD, she gained grants from eleven different funding bodies in her two home countries to compl…
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Rachel Campbell completed her PhD in visual culture, celebrity studies, and musicology. Her thesis, 'The image of musical celebrity in the Nineteenth Century' considers the way visual representations of musicians influenced how they were seen as celebrities through analysis of oil portraits, busts, prints and other ephemera. She also holds a Bachel…
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Professor Laurajane Smith completed her PhD part-time between 1990 and 1996 while working as a full time teaching and research academic at both Charles Sturt University and the University of New South Wales. She is currently Director of the Centre of Heritage and Museum Studies, Research School of Humanities and the Arts, the Australian National Un…
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Dr Chrissi McCarthy is the founder and Managing Director of Constructing Equality. Over the past decade and a half, she has formulated and implemented research-based methodologies to bolster equality within diverse organisations. Her client portfolio spans prestigious institutions including the National Health Service and Bristol City Council. Chri…
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Dr Rose Aslan was a tenured Professor of Religious Studies who found herself burnt out and, on a sabbatical in Istanbul, decided to step away from academia. From her current perspective, Rose explores what she would do differently if she were to do her PhD again. Rose acknowledges that, although there were some good moments, she didn’t really enjoy…
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Dr Eve Grubin is the author of Morning Prayer (Sheep Meadow Press), The House of Our First Loving (Rack Press) and Grief Dialogue (Rack Press). She is a lecturer at NYU in London and a tutor at the Poetry School. Eve received an AHRC / TECHNE scholarship to write her PhD thesis (Kingston University): ‘Boat of Letters and the Poetics of Reticence: A…
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Dr Inès Amami holds a PhD from Sorbonne Nouvelle University in French literature and civilization. Her research is about the representation of the West and the Muslim world in the Encyclopédie de Diderot (18th century). Ines is also a political activist in the field of women’s rights and fights against all kinds of violence. She is a single mother …
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It’s the 100th episode of The PhD Life Raft Podcast! Fleur Farish-Edwards - a gorgeous member of the PhD Life Raft community - is leading the celebrations with a reflection on the way in which the podcast has been party of her PhD journey. Fleur is an experienced counsellor and supervisor, and along with her wife, facilitates creative workshops as …
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Yulia Karpova is undertaking her second PhD! Yes, for her, once though the journey just wasn’t enough! In this week’s episode we talk about how things are different the second time around. Yulia is currently studying at the University of Southern Denmark. She also holds a PhD in History (2015) from Central European University. From 2016-18, she hel…
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Kate Henry is a productivity coach, independent scholar, and author who lives outside Boston, Massachusetts in the U.S. Kate received her MFA degree in Creative Writing and her Master's degree and Doctoral degree in Rhetoric and Composition from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In this episode, we focus on an upcoming event ‘A Month of Mond…
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David Mendes is the host of Papa PhD, a podcast that shares stories of post-PhD career journeys. He is also the co-founder of a media agency dedicated to serving the research community. In this episode David reflects on his own journey as, at the end of his PhD, he chose to look to for work beyond academia. We also talk about why the world needs Ph…
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Stella Duffy is completing a doctorate training in Existential Psychotherapy and her research is in the embodied experience of postmenopause. Alongside her therapy work, Stella is an award-winning writer of seventeen novels, over seventy short stories and fifteen plays and worked in theatre for over thirty-five years as an actor, director, facilita…
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Welcome to Season Eight of The PhD Life Raft Podcast!! We are kicking off with a fabulous interview that gives a wonderful overview of the PhD journey. Steven Segal is a psychologist and academic who also practices as a philosophical counsellor. His PhD was in the philosophy of Education and his work as Associate Dean of Higher Degrees Research, as…
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Welcome to the final episode of Season Eight of The PhD Life Raft Podcast! In this interview I am talking with Lucy Nevitt, a freelance professional proofreader who specialises in working with academic texts and doctoral theses in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences fields. Lucy did her PhD in Drama at Royal Holloway, then spent a decade worki…
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Lisa Woodruff is the founder & CEO of Organize 365®. She shares strategies for reducing the overwhelm, clearing the mental clutter, and living a productive and organized life. Lisa is the author of four books including, How ADHD Affects Home Organization and The Paper Solution and has recently started a PhD in psychology. In this episode Lisa share…
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Anna Clemens is an academic writing coach with a background in Chemistry and a experience as a science journalist. In this episode we talk about undertaking training to support your PhD journey. We talk about the unexpected learning that is part of the doctorate and how to identify your priorities. Anna advises on how to find courses that can suppo…
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Jen Harrison earned her PhD from the University of Wales, and has since worked in academia as a lecturer and researcher at a number of institutions worldwide. As well as publishing books and articles in her own field (children’s literature), she has served as an editor and reviewer for a number of peer-reviewed publications, as well as freelancing …
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Rebecca Suart has been a Social Researcher in the Civil Service since graduating from her PhD in Education at the University of Nottingham in 2022. She started her academic journey and onto a PhD in her 40s after taking a career break from Further Education. Alongside her PhD, Rebecca worked in a number of universities as a lecturer and researcher …
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Catherine Pope was awarded her PhD in the field of Victorian Literature by the University of Sussex in 2014. She then went on to publish that material as a monograph. In this episode Catherine draws on her experience as an author, publisher and coach to share advice on the options for publishing your work- either as a book, a chapter in an edited c…
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Elizabeth Pritchard is the Co-founder and Director of WALT Institute typically working with institutes, health services and universities. Elizabeth is also a research fellow in Public Health at Monash University. This episode recognises stress as a common experience on the PhD journey. Elizabeth differentiates between the different types of stress …
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Natasha is a researcher, facilitator, and theatre-maker. Her PhD research, specializing in applied theatre approaches to Relationships and Sex Education (RSE), was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. In this episode we discuss how Natasha has turned her research into a business. Natasha shares her journey into the PhD and how she dr…
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Graham Green is currently working towards his Ph.D. at the University of Southern Queensland. He has a background in the education, management and aviation sectors and holds a Masters Degree in Aviation Management from the University of New South Wales. He is an active member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators as well as a mem…
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Nathan Ryder runs skills training for PhD students with a signature course entitled ‘Viva Survivor’ and daily blog of viva prep help. In this episode Nathan talks about his new book ‘Keep Going ’which is full of advice for the PhD journey and we focus in particularly on preparing for the PhD viva. Nathan shares thoughts on how to fit in viva prepar…
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Dr Kate Mukungu is Chief Executive of Riverside Community Health Project in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. In September 2022 Kate completed her part time doctorate at Northumbria University researching women’s human rights activism relations in post conflict contexts. As well as being the source of great richness to Kate, the dual interest of workin…
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Milly Mulcahey is a second-year PhD student in the Center for Indigenous and Settler Colonial Studies at the University of Kent. Milly has worked actively with Indigenous educators since her undergraduate degree in Social Anthropology at the LSE and through a Master’s by Research at Durham University. She is a neurodivergent researcher passionate a…
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Iain Jackson is an architect and historian at the Liverpool School of Architecture. His research is mainly focused on 20thC architecture in ‘the tropics’. Iain is currently PI on a Leverhulme Trust funded project to research the buildings of the United Africa Company. He supervises 8 PhD students and has examined PhDs in Europe, Asia, and Australia…
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Katrina McChesney is a senior lecturer in education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Her research focuses on adult education, including doctoral education and supervision. She is currently co-leading the #DistanceDoctorates project which seeks to support, raise awareness of, and advocate for candidates who undertake doctoral research off-…
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Leanne Sobel is a Strategic Design Consultant and Researcher. She has a background in communication design and strategy and is passionate about the opportunities for design in business. Leanne is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of Technology Sydney, investigating the role of design in strategy. Leanne brings a wealth of experience to he…
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Dr LaNysha Adams draws on her background in research to support others to empower themselves. In this episode she shares reflections on her educational journey - including why she didn’t become an architect! We talk about the experience of her difficult PhD defense and what she did to support herself afterwards. LaNysha also outlines her idea of ‘M…
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