“Staying on Track during the Pandemic – Ideas and Strategies from an International Network”

International workshop series for PhD students on strengthening mental health in times of lockdown and contact restriction

By Sylvia Sprödhuber · 28.08.2021

Workshop series for doctoral students on “Mental Health in Times of Coronavirus”

Writing a doctoral thesis is in itself a challenging process, not least because it drives young researchers to their psychological limits. The often frustrating collection of data, and the task of putting the topic and the results into proper written form is often a long process for doctoral students, requiring immense stamina and resilience. Communication with colleagues at the department or with other researchers in workshops, at conferences, or during research stays is an essential element in completing a doctorate, helping to advance and improve one's own work.

However, for more than 15 months, COVID-19 has reduced personal contact to a minimum and cancelled conferences and research stays. Meetings with colleagues and supervisors can at best take place online, like the classes that young researchers have to hold as part of their teaching load. These professional, as well as private, conditions often take doctoral researchers beyond their limits. They even leave some in a psychological hole.

Consequently, the aim of the workshop series “Staying on Track during the Pandemic – Ideas and Strategies from an International Network” was to support PhD students in their mental health, and aimed not only at young scholars in Bayreuth but also at PhDs at partner universities connected via the organisers.

Organised and hosted by the three international offices in Bordeaux, Melbourne, and Shanghai, the Graduate School and the Bayreuth-Melbourne Colloid/Polymer Network of the University of Bayreuth, speakers from Australia, Germany, France, and China addressed different aspects of the topic “Mental Health in Times of Coronavirus” in the four workshops. They gave insights into the different strategies and pandemic responses in their countries, and shared their personal experience with the participants.

Identify your resources and what works for you

One week later, in the second workshop with Dr. habil. Helmut Strobl and Dr. Philipp Laemmert, participants enthusiastically collected over 100 ideas for coping strategies amid current and future challenges. The statements and strategies were grouped under the following headings:

· Work-Life-Harmony
· Motivation and Procrastination
· Constraints due to COVID 19
· Work Load
· External Appraisal

In the workshop, participants gained the realization that they are not alone, and that there are various coping strategies suited to the current situation, irrespective of their individual personalities.

In the run-up to the workshop, the participants had already formulated their three biggest personal challenges in the context of the promotion on menti.com, which the speakers implemented visually.

Discovering our adaptability as humans

Glacier researcher Dr. Lydie Lescarmontier fascinated participants in the third workshop with insights into the last of her three research stays in Antarctica, which she undertook as part of her doctorate. Unexpectedly and from one day to the next, she became stuck in pack ice for a total of 56 days, on a small research vessel, with a research team of twelve people and a crew of three. She captivated the audience not only with atmospheric photos, but also repeatedly drew references to the current coronavirus lockdown. In the process, the doctoral students shared in the strategies she developed to deal with this situation, and she gave the young researchers tips on how to cope with their current situation.

Dr. Lydie Lescarmontier was trapped in the pack ice on the research vessel „Astrolabe“ with her colleagues on their last research voyage – the subject of her talk.

Find your own rainbow

Yixin Qiu and Xin Huang, two Chinese PhD students, who are currently in London (UCL) and at the University of Bayreuth on a research stay, ended the series with the fourth workshop. As people affected themselves, they shared their personal experience on how to stay motivated and productive in their PhD work during the pandemic.

For example, Xin Huang, who is doing his doctorate in mathematics, felt there had been an overall positive balance in times of lockdown as he (of necessity) had had more time for personal research. Also remarkable was his approach, derived from the word “research”, that an essential aspect of research (“re-search”) is not to be demotivated by set-backs and negative factors, but to approach a problem again and again until one has found the solution.

RESEARCH = RE + SEARCH

For Yixin Qiu, who is doing her doctorate at the Strategic Management & Organisation research group at the University of Bayreuth, it is the image of the rainbow that always makes her look for and see the positives in times of crisis, both in research and in her private life. For example, she has experienced that in times of coronavirus, contact with high-ranking scientists is often easier online than at conferences, for example, where she would not have dared to address such luminaries.

And it doesn’t end there…

The central messages of the speakers reflect the positive momentum set by the workshop series. For the organising team, it was important not to leave the doctoral researchers alone during this difficult time, but to help them develop a positive attitude towards the current situation and break through their sense of isolation. The international dimension of the virtual exchange not only gave participants the opportunity to look at their situation from a different perspective, but also provided a nice opportunity to network across national borders with like-minded people they would not have met otherwise.

Dr. Alina Jahn

University of Bayreuth Graduate School

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