This month Rebecca enters a temporary solo era and sits down to chat to Emma Francis & Hannah Franklin, two (newly minted!) PhD students who lead the national campaign to increase UKRI-funded PhD stipends…and won! In this second part of an ongoing discussion on how the cost of living crisis is affecting PhD students, Emma and Hannah share their inspiring experiences of organising the successful campaign in 2022 and update us with the facts and figures on where things stand now. They also tell us about all the work they’ve been doing to engage UK government representatives to ensure PhDs ar ..read more

This month Jodi’s broadcasting from her duvet and Rebecca’s got a thesis in the oven. We’re also joined by Sophie Langdon, Cancer Research UK PhD student, to chat about ‘The Cost of PhDing’. This is an honest, open conversation sharing experiences and discussing the challenges of financial stress and living on a PhD stipend during a cost of living crisis. Sophie also dishes the dirt on both sides of the academia/industry divide, sharing her perspective of returning to academia for a PhD. Sign the ‘Postgraduate Researchers Against Low Pay’ open letter to the UKRI. It takes 1 minute and is an ea ..read more

This month The Academinist contemplates all the odd places we’ve recorded episodes, and reflects on the end of another year. We’re also joined by Dr. Sam Terry, a cancer biologist at King’s College London, to discuss challenges and current barriers in academia which specifically affect mothers in STEM. Sam shares her experiences of going on maternity leave twice as an early career researcher, including post-natal depression, juggling childcare and successfully navigating the return to work.  Follow Sam for more on her work: @syaterry (Twitter) Check out Sam’s Lab: https://radlab.uk and @k ..read more

Ahh the million-dollar question (but only on International Women’s Day). Do men talk about gender equality when we’re not leading the discussion? What does male privilege look & feel like in STEM? How should men engage with gender equality discussions and why do so many find it so difficult? This month Jodi & Rebecca are joined by not one, not two but FOUR men to discuss all this and more, as well as some honest chat about lessons learned and experiences across different intersections.  International Men’s Day: https://internationalmensday.com/  Movember: https://uk.movember ..read more

This month Rebecca has a run in with a T-Rex and Jodi contemplates whether laughing is an acceptable response to ‘how are you’ towards the end of your PhD. We’re also joined by Dr. Srishti Baid, a microbiologist who shares her experiences of moving from India to the USA for her research career. Srishti shares helpful tips and insight on the unexpected challenges of making an international move for her career, plus how some of these obstacles intersect with being an Indian woman in STEM.  Connect with Srishti Twitter: @BaidSrishti LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/srishtibaid/  ‘I ..read more

Is something burning? This month Rebecca and Jodi unpack their experiences of burnout, both recent and current. We’re also joined by Megan Kwok, an incredible high school student, aspiring neuroscientist, youth mental health activist and co-founder of ‘Because Mental Health’: an education platform for mental health, psychology and psychiatry. Megan shares her experiences of being a young person in the activism space, how to be taken seriously by older generations and managing your mental health whilst working on causes you’re passionate about. We also chat about accessibility of research work ..read more

The Academinist is BACK! Settle down for story time as Rebecca and Jodi fill you in on all the juicy details of where they’ve been and what they’ve been up to. Plus we hop in our time machine and take a trip back to July 2022 to chat to Professor Emily Sena about ‘Integrity’. Emily shares her expertise on research integrity as a meta researcher and all-round champion of open science. She also chats about maintaining integrity as a researcher on a personal level in a system that doesn’t reward this. We know you’ve missed us so we’ve brought you an absolute treat from the archives!  Follow ..read more

This month the office plants are thriving more than the PhD students, and Rebecca and Jodi have been taking their own advice. We also chat to Mal Ahmed, a PhD researcher at Goldsmiths University working on neuropsychology . Mal shares with us her experiences as a practicing Muslim woman in STEM, busting some myths and misconceptions about Islam and also chatting to us about being both religious and a scientist.  Follow Mal: @__maliat (Twitter), @_phdpending (Instagram) Check out Mal’s platform, ‘PhD Pending’: https://linktr.ee/_phdpending Check out the Yaqueen Institute as a starting plac ..read more

This month Jodi’s broadcasting from her duvet and Rebecca’s got a thesis in the oven. We’re also joined by Sophie Langdon, Cancer Research UK PhD student, to chat about ‘The Cost of PhDing’. This is an honest, open conversation sharing experiences and discussing the challenges of financial stress and living on a PhD stipend during a cost of living crisis. Sophie also dishes the dirt on both sides of the academia/industry divide, sharing her perspective of returning to academia for a PhD. Sign the ‘Postgraduate Researchers Against Low Pay’ open letter to the UKRI. It takes 1 minute and is an ea ..read more

Welcome to the terrible two’s…it’s our birthday and we’ll cry if we want to. The Academinist is 2 years old! This month Rebecca & Jodi reflect on growing, learning and throw the podcasting equivalent of a party,  as we invite our friends from past episodes to join us. The road to  equality in STEM is long and slow, so to celebrate two years of episodes our present from us to you is an episode of hope and sharing what inspires us. Thanks to all of our incredible guests over the past two years, everyone who contributed to this episode and to all our listeners new and old who have s ..read more