PhD researcher mental health matters – now more than ever

As undergraduates, we work on experiments – be it a titration, an ELISA, or synthesising paracetamol – with known outcomes. We are programmed to think that there is one correct answer, and anything else is failure.

Enter PhD research and the quest for the unknown. The bar has moved; it is impossible to be ‘right’ about something we do not yet know the answer to. On top of this major shift in how we define and measure success, researchers must quickly become accustomed to work-life balance struggles, fierce competition for academic positions, the shift from hard deadlines to long-term goals, feelings of isolation, and, all too often, bullying and harassment. They now also have the weight and uncertainty of a global pandemic on top of these difficulties. It’s no wonder that graduate mental health feels like a chemical reaction that is about to bubble over.