Mushroom Picking, Academic Free Diving and BookTok
Hitchhikers guide to PhD survival...
Hey everyone!
Welcome to another edition of the Postgraduate Research Hub Newsletter. This week we’re noticing just how diverse our member's interests are… With this in mind, we wanted to shake up some of the articles we’re throwing your way. Enjoy and hopefully, we all learn something new together!
Articles of the Week
PGRH member (and last week’s spotlight) Steph went mushroom picking with friends in Norway this week and funnily enough I’ve had friends in my own life talk about this activity recently. Has this always been a thing? Apparently…Here’s a piece on the ‘Fungi-Mad Ladies of Long-Ago’.
One of the best things about the PGRH community is the constant stream of content recommendations. Some of us watched Netflix’s documentary The Deepest Breath this week (anxiety-inducing as hell). The documentary follows the stories of a few different athletes in the free-diving community and what it takes to compete in this extreme sport. Anyone I know who’s watched it spent the whole time on the edge of their seats with one question on our minds - “how do people do this?”. Here’s an article exploring the psychological characteristics of free-diving athletes.
Finally, for a community that spends most of our time being forced to read heavy texts that we hate (ok and sometimes don’t find too repulsive), we sure do read a lot in our spare time! It’s always fun to see how diverse our reading tastes are. Lately, a lot of my ‘tbr’ (to be read) is coming from BookTok recommendations! TikTok isn’t for everyone (understandably) but my God, that is one POWERFUL algorithm, how does it affect communities? Toward a (Queer) Reading Community: BookTok, Teen Readers and the Rise of TikTok Literacies.
Community Spotlight
This week we shine our community spotlight on Gwen Walker (She/Her/They), or as we know her - gwenthewanderer!
Gwen Walker in an Australian PhD Candidate and multidisciplinary artist researching the experience of wandering and deliberately getting lost as artwork. Recognized mostly for her conceptual photography, but also ceramics, and fibre-based works, she's inspired by an enduring search for self. Gwen was notably chosen for an elite artist residency at SÍM in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2023.
This week we wanted to highlight our community member Gwen! Gwen joined us a while back and since then has injected the server with a serious creativity boost! Gwen is our go-to for creative arts convos and is always willing to share really valuable resources with our community (thank you for the Obsidian templates!) Thanks for being with us Gwen, we appreciate you!
Q.1 What part of your academic journey are you at?
I am currently in my last year of my PhD and hoping to move into academia; ideally supervising post-grad researchers.
Q.2 What made you join the PGRH and what do you get the most from the community?
I was invited by a friend who thought I might find a sense of belonging and community with the PGRH. I get quite a bit from the PGRH community. I am neurodivergent and they keep me on task, make me laugh, and it’s lovely to just have people who get it to just hang out with. I also love the co-working space to body-double with people.
Q.3 What is the most satisfying part of a creative project for you?
Often it is the doing, the making. Once I complete a project, I tend to care very little for it and rarely connect with or revisit my pieces once they are complete. This is what led me to my research topic … if the artwork in my practice isn’t in the final art object, then where is it?
Q4. If you could only recommend one book to people for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Really? Just one book? I mean. How about one narrative? If I just must pick one, it would be the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy trilogy in 5 parts (1979-92) by British author Douglas Adams. My personal copy of the anthology has travelled with me all over the world and has been repaired several times. I deeply connect with the chaotic adventures of the protagonists, and I often hide the number 42 in my art pieces.
You can find and connect with Gwen on Discord (gwenthewanderer) or on Instagram or on her website.
Latest from our Community
Here are some brief updates from across the PGRH network 👩💻
The Undergraduate Research Hub 🖥️
We’re trying to be more engaged with our new sister server (The Undergraduate Research Hub) before the anticipated influx of new members (we hope) in September. We’re running some coworking events over there just like the ones we run on our PGRH server.
If teaching workshops or tutorials is something you’d like to do on our Undergraduate Research Hub server, we’d love if you could pop in and introduce yourself over there at some stage.
If you know some undergrads who might benefit from a community like ours we’d love it if you would share it with them or through your social networks!
Weekly Goals ✅
A lot of our members use our Daily Goals channel as a means of accountability. It’s a great way not only to keep on top of things but to prioritise tasks. People usually throw their to-do lists in there and come back and tick items off as they go.
One of our members suggested adding a Weekly Goals channel too - same vibe but for those bigger, more challenging weekly goals, so that’s what we did. Enjoy!
Coworking Events 👩💻
Our two weekly coworking sessions will run as usual this week. Join us on Thursday (tomorrow) at 10 am GMT for people in timezone (A) or 3 pm GMT for people in timezone (B).
Don’t worry if you can’t make either of these sessions, our coworking room is always open and you can drop by anytime!
If you’re not a member of our Discord server, you can sign up here.
Research Resource
It seems as though the two most popular knowledge-management systems across our community are Obsidian and Notion. We’ve shared some Obsidian resources in the past so this week we wanted to hit Notion.
Check out this (free) PhD Workspace Template.
Bonus Bits
Book Recommendation: Write No Matter What by Joli Jensen is an extremely practical and motivational approach to writing for any postgrad. Unlike the very many preachy books on writing, Jensen’s advice is well-delivered and very actionable. If you pick it up let us know what you think, if you’ve already read it - we’d love to know what advice helped the most.
Movie Quiz: Ever find that you need a couple of minutes in front of your screen before you can really get going into the brain-heavy stuff? I know I do. I tend to lean on fast, daily quiz-type games to get my brain active and my body ready to work. Wordle is obviously great for this but Framed is kinda like Wordle for movie lovers! Give it a go here (no sign-up required).
See You Next Week
If you like this newsletter, or you’ve gotten some value here - please consider sharing us with a friend or colleague. Drink water, see you next Wednesday! Here’s a warm-up - guess the movie?
