The PhD challenge in the UK today seems so different from when I did my own more than 30 years ago. But while it seems like an occupational hazard for academics to lose touch with what it means to be a student today, the fundamental challenge ¨C and reward ¨C remains largely unaltered by the changes to process, technology and wider society that have unfolded since we trembled through our own vivas all those years ago.

Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic exaggerated the sense of social isolation that is often part of the doctoral experience, especially in the humanities and social science. Research plans had to be changed, and a ¡°Covid PhD¡±, as examiners talk about it now, had to be remote and desk-based. No wonder students sometimes looked so disengaged during supervision meetings over Zoom.

PhDs are awarded individually, but scholarship is very difficult to do alone. Students need people around them to share tips and hunches but also to support and console each other when their spirits are low. It has taken effort and time from staff and students to step out of the pandemic¡¯s long shadow and re-establish these necessary relationships within PhD communities. But doing so is actually quite simple. Often, it just means regular meetings, running seminars, inviting speakers or organising writing retreats.

Another underappreciated aspect of modern UK PhD life is how the ongoing cuts, industrial action and redundancies impact on students. I remember vividly students being reduced to tears in PhD seminars by the news that their supervisors were leaving, and I know that disputes between supervisors and their employers have resulted in students being left in limbo, their uncompleted exam entry forms leaving them unable to sit their vivas.

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In a situation of job scarcity, there is also pressure on PhD students to make themselves competitive in the market by rushing to get teaching experience, publish and raise their profile. A student came to see me recently, concerned that they¡¯d been told it was important to publish a ¡°systematic review¡± as soon as possible. The anxiety that such advice creates can cloud and clutter the mind. My answer was, ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that. For now, read for the joy of furnishing your imagination.¡±

While there are undoubtedly many new challenges for PhD students, however, some of their concerns seem perennial. Recently, I was involved in PhD workshop. As an icebreaker, I asked the students to paint a collective verbal portrait on Post-it notes of the world¡¯s worst PhD supervisor and student. It was just a bit of fun, but it was also revealing.

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The world¡¯s worst supervisor is angry/scary, pressurises you to publish, is bad at replying to emails, has no interest in your project, dismisses your ideas, speaks over you, doesn¡¯t listen and provides vague specific feedback ¨C or none at all. One student drew two stick figures alongside each other, one (the student) with strong outlines and the other (the supervisor) drawn in broken lines, as if they were not fully present or were vanishing. ?

The world¡¯s worst PhD student, meanwhile, is stubborn, procrastinating, unfocused, unprepared for meetings, poor at time management, distracted by other interests and priorities and either very needy or, at the other extreme, entirely unwilling to ask for help even when they really need it. My own contribution was a student who is likeable and a joy to be with but who talks their thesis rather than writes it.

Sound familiar? In fact, there is precious little that is new under the PhD sun, according to Fraser Robertson, co-author with Rosie Doyle of a new book entitled The PhD Handbook. Fraser has been leading PhD workshops for 12 years, during which time he has met over 20,000 PhD students, from astrophysicists to sociologists.

¡°The process of a PhD is the same as it ever was,¡± he told me, and the challenges are eternal: ¡°running out of time, lack of clarity of purpose or poor time management. Communication is at the heart of everything. Most problems in a PhD come back to communication between student and supervisors and all the other stakeholders involved.¡±

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For that reason, Robertson recommends creating, with PhD students, a diagram of all the people involved in their doctorate: supervisors, department, doctoral college, library and wider research community. This encourages students to think about the different roles and time pressures on each of those stakeholders and how best to communicate effectively with them.

How we as supervisors talk about PhD life matters too. Those of us who have completed our PhD often talk about it as an ordeal that has left hidden ¡°scars¡± and ¡°wounds¡±. I tend to describe myself as a ¡°recovering PhD student¡± when I speak to doctoral cohorts.

¡°But what about the joy of doing a PhD?¡± a student asked at our recent workshop. ¡°Could you talk about that?¡±

I could and should. For all its inherent difficulties, I told them, a PhD remains a unique opportunity to write your own curriculum on what you care about most, to find your own thoughts on that topic and to voice them.

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And, as a supervisor, watching that achievement unfold through successive supervision meetings never ceases to be a source of wonder and joy. ?

Les Back is the subject group lead in sociology at the University of Glasgow.

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