Speaking to the belonging problem

What happens when a doctoral researcher doesn’t feel able to talk about how difficult they’re finding their PhD?

In the decade or so that I’ve been working alongside them, I’ve seen that they retreat. And they start to internalise a belief that they aren’t good enough. Or that they haven’t got what it takes to complete their thesis.

A doctorate is an inherently difficult undertaking, even with the best institutional support. Throw in poor supervision, which is a sad reality for many, and the challenge can become an impossibility.

The difference between a doctoral journey that is challenging and one that is unbearable is often a simple intervention. We know that as researcher developers. We know that skills training, for example, can reduce a lot of the uncertainty researchers have about how to navigate.

Speaking to the skills problem doesn’t solve the problem though. We need to also speak to the belonging problem. We know from PRES that researchers don’t always feel part of a community. What may not always be so obvious is how many of them are struggling silently. How many don’t feel comfortable enough to admit that they sometimes feel out of their depth, or like an imposter, or are struggling to understand things they think they ought to. I’m looking at you, literature review.

I’ve noticed, both from working with researchers and from my own PhD, that when researchers don’t feel able to communicate the struggle, they start to think they’re the only one feeling the way they do. They forget that a doctorate is difficult, and instead start to think there’s something wrong with them.

Something shifts though when you ask a room full of doctoral researchers who feels like an imposter and 75% put their hands up. You can see the relief on their faces: “I’m not the only one”. The same happens when you ask who has thought they haven’t got what it takes, or who has thought about quitting. Seeing those commonalities chips away at the belief that they’re alone in feeling the way they do. And we know how huge that can be in boosting confidence and, in some cases, preventing attrition.

And the practical knots have to be untangled too. For many researchers, writing a PhD literature review is the chapter where the silent struggle bites hardest.

Creating that space is something we can all do, whatever the context. For those of you working inside institutions: what does that look like in practice? What’s working, and what isn’t? I’d genuinely like to know.