Well-being and productivity: International PhD students’ academic journeys at Warwick
Well-being and productivity: International PhD students’ academic journeys at Warwick
Team leader: Meifang Zhuo (Applied Linguistics)
Team members:Siyu Wang (Applied Linguistics); Mehmet Onur Sahin (WMG); Peter To (Psychology)
For inquiries, feel free to contact us:
Meifang: meifang.zhuo@warwick.ac.uk (General Inquiries)
Siyu: dorothy.wang@warwick.ac.uk (Catering & Registration)
Peter: peter.to@warwick.ac.uk (Reimbursement)
Summary
A PhD is challenging. Doing it in another language makes it even more so. This project, focusing specifically on international doctoral students at Warwick, aims to map out the various challenges they face and work out possible coping strategies for them and many more to come. The overall purpose of this project is to enhance their well-being and productivity during their academic pursuits at Warwick.
This project consists of a one-day conference on the Warwick campus on 26 July and a paid life-story writing, specifically for international PhD students at Warwick.
1. A one-day conference
This one-day conference consists of morning activities, including networking (PhD speed networking activity) and mapping out PhD life at Warwick on wellbeing and productivity (Zine-making activity), and afternoon activities, including sharing zine stories, discussing challenges, and working out solutions, as well as well-being practices (mindfulness activity).
This conference will be inclusive, collaborative and interdisciplinary, with team members and participants from various cultural backgrounds, based in different departments at Warwick.
This conference will provide international PhD students at Warwick with the much-needed opportunities to connect with peers of the same identity, explore their challenges in a safe and supportive environment, and learn hands-on techniques for well-being and productivity. They will gain validation from other’s challenging PhD stories and understand that they are never alone. Most importantly, they will cooperate with each other to work out possible solutions to the common problems faced by international PhD students at Warwick, benefiting themselves and many others in the Warwick community. By the end of the conference, all the international PhD students involved in this event (including the four organizers) will be invited to 1) write up, or 2) make a video, sharing their PhD life stories, describing their difficulties, highlighting the solutions, and giving tips for those just starting their PhD journey at Warwick.
2. A paid writing opportunity
This will be a collection of life stories contributed by and for international PhD students about their academic journeys at Warwick. Each story will be around 600-1500 words, including challenges, solutions, lessons and an encouraging note. This collection will be immensely beneficial for international PhD students at Warwick to enhance their wellbeing and productivity during their academic journeys at Warwick. As a respect for contributors’ time, each accepted life story will be compensated with a 10 £ Amazon Voucher.
Therefore, this project will have the following three outputs:
(1) A collective of zines by conference participants, documenting their academic journey (focusing on productivity and wellbeing) at Warwick as international PhD students.
(2) A collection of written stories by volunteered participants (not limited to conference participants and open to all international PhD students at Warwick), sharing their unique life stories as international PhD students at Warwick.
(3) A report detailing the project, documenting the details of the conference (challenges, solutions, feedback) and the collecting of life stories (number and scope).
Registration
Registration has closed since the conference is fully booked.
Biographies
Meifang Zhuo
Meifang Zhuo, a 3rd year PhD student with Applied Linguistics, is interested in language teacher/learner related topics, and interdisciplinary research methods. She is leading this project to support other international PGRs at Warwick. Feel free to connect through Twitter@ZhuoMeifang ; LinkedIn: Meifang Zhuo.
Siyu Wang
Siyu Wang is a 2nd year PhD student with Applied linguistics. Her research interests include intercultural language teaching and learning, second/foreign language acquisition, and intercultural communication. She is undertaking this project to map out the challenges faced by international PhD students and to develop effective strategies to improve their academic well-being and productivity. For further discussion, please contact her at dorothy.wang@warwick.ac.uk.
Peter To
Peter To is a 2nd year PhD student in Psychology. His research lies in the relationships between physical activity, sleep and pain among chronic patients in the UK. As a member of well-being research cluster at the Department of Psychology, Peter would like to promote well-being among PGR students at Warwick. Contact: peter.to@warwick.ac.uk
Mehmet Onur Sahin
Mehmet Onur Sahin, a 2nd year PhD student with WMG, is interested in international defense collaboration by using insight from civilian sectors. He is doing this project to reach out to other international PGRs at Warwick. Feel free to contact him at mehmet-onur.sahin@warwick.ac.uk.