PhD life
PhD students at Marjon work very closely with the staff team, being challenged and challenging them in turn. The close PhD peer group brings together diverse insights and experience as they continuously inspire one another to do research that makes a difference.
Hello, I'm Marie Bradwell, a current PhD student at Marjon. I've created this page to give a flavour of PhD life at Marjon.
Read on to find out about the exceptional and personal support available as you journey toward your PhD.
Support
As PhD students at Marjon, we have regular meetings with supervisors, once per month for full-time students, and a timely response to your emails is also assured.
In addition, the Research and Knowledge Exchange (RKE) team are on hand. They are Professor Michelle Jones, Deputy Vice-Chancellor who leads our university-wide research and Jo Holford, RKE Support Officer. 100% of postgraduate research students here agree 'Other than my supervisor/s, I know who to approach if I am concerned about any aspect of my degree programme' compared to a 79% average across the sector (Postgraduate Research Experience Survey (PRES, 2020).
Mentors
You'll of course be supported by your supervisors but there is more. You'll be matched with a fellow PhD student as a mentor to help you settle in, assisting with things like finding your way around campus, getting familiar with the processes and technologies you'll be working with and introduce you to staff and fellow students. Having a mentor means having someone to talk to when you feel that you're not sure you're on the right track, and someone who understands and celebrates your accomplishments.
Connected community
PhD students at Marjon are a team and we have developed lots of ways to support one another. See our PhD student profiles to get a flavour of what everyone is studying.
'Offloaded' sessions are a safe space running every Friday evening, currently on MS Teams. It’s a drop-in session, bring a drink and informally discuss the ups and downs of study, home life and any other topics! We iron out the challenges of the week together so we are raring to go for the next one.
We also have a regular 'Procrastinators Anonymous' session. There are two parts to this, the first is a chat in MS Teams where we share useful info, and ask for direction or even a confidence boost. The second is a timed session. At the start of the session individuals specify what they want to work on during the session to progress their PhD, something they would like to accomplish by the end of the time. At the end there is a supportive discussion. These are usually in-person sessions, but temporarily running remotely on MS Teams due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
There is even a spacious house, called The Oaks, on campus which is reserved for PhD and postgraduate students. It provides high quality accommodation with a secluded private garden.
See PHD student profiles
Sharing knowledge
We have monthly research lunches called 'brown bags', because a free lunch is provided in a brown bag! These informal meetings see staff and fellow PhD students sharing the latest thinking in research. Recent topics have included 'Centralising children’s experiences in the research and design of meaningful PESSPA provision and practice', 'Co-production and Public Patient Involvement in my PhD research' and 'Structural violence - the under recognised theory'.
Continuing with our foodie theme we also have the 'coffee and cake' meeting, another informal meeting, this one termly, to share feedback, ideas and to talk about our professional development goals.