Building a PhD community – introducing PubhD Newcastle!

PubhD events are popping up all over the UK (& beyond!). I’ve set one up in Newcastle. Why not do the same in your area?

beers — Pints, PhDs & New Pals: via @aebenvenutto

Much like writing, doing a PhD can be a lonely experience. However, fantastic initiatives like Academic Writing Month & Shut Up and Write Tuesdays – plus blogs such as Thesis Whisperer, the edu flaneuse & Patter – make me feel less like a lone warrior and more like a welcome member of a fabulous, eclectic collective.

I wanted to bring this feeling to my local PhD community. Enter PubhD – where PhD students explain their work to an audience in a pub in exchange for a pint or two. PubhD was the brainchild of @kashfarooq and @MrRegars. The first Pubhd was held in Nottingham in 2014, but today there are events in Leicester, Manchester, Dublin, Brighton, Lisbon, Birmingham & UMinho. And now – Newcastle!

I was gutted when I couldn’t find a PubhD based in the North East. So I got straight onto PubhD Headquarters and asked if I could set one up. Straight away, I was welcomed into the fold and given absolutely loads of help – hints & tips, access to the PubhD Organisers’ Facebook page, and answers to all of my (often silly, or weird) questions.

I set up a twitter account and starting tweeting. I was overwhelmed by the response. Within 12 hours, my inbox was bulging at the seams with people wanting to know more, offering to speak or be part of the team. I now have a fantastic team of 4 amazing women – Rebecca, Rachel, Victoria and Tracy – helping to make PubhD Newcastle the best it can be.

Our first event was last week. Want to know more? Have a look at our website and read our write up. I was delighted so many people turned up and that everyone seemed to have such a great time. I wanted it to be a really fun, relaxed event, where everyone was behind the speakers and engaged with one another. It could not have gone better.

Building a research community, where we support each other (no matter which institution we’re affiliated to) is important. It’s what helps us succeed. If you don’t have a PubhD in your area, why not set one up?

One thought on “Building a PhD community – introducing PubhD Newcastle!”

March 2, 2016 at 8:21 pm
Kat says:

Great post, and pleased that things are going well in Newcastle! I’m involved in running PubhD Manchester, and we do get a bit of that collaboration feel, as we have three universities from which to source speakers. It’s also great to read other PubhD’s write-ups, to steal ideas…. I mean compare notes! And that’s a collaboration of sorts, in that we get to read an abridged version of someone else’s abridged thesis… Um.

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