Maintaining a good work-life balance is crucial for life scientists if they want to stay healthy, focussed, productive and happy. We’ve put together a list of ten small changes you can make to improve your work-life balance and start enjoying life more, both inside and outside the lab!
Academic careers are often accompanied by pressure and stress, and as scientists it’s vital we learn to spot the signs of burnout long before we reach the point of crisis. In this valuable article, Dragonfly Mental Health offers essential advice on identifying and dealing with burnout in academia.
In the next in our Interviews with Scientists series we spoke to Jonas Teuwen of the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. He recently spoke openly about living with bipolar disorder and the impact this had on his PhD studies. We were moved by his honesty and wanted to find out more about his thoughts on the subject…
Many scientists struggle to maintain a healthy work-life balance and it can feel like a mission impossible. In this guest blog, Bregje Christiaenssen of the University of Antwerp shares some useful tips to help you maintain the right balance while having some fun along the way!
The pressure of a PhD can be all-consuming. As your thesis deadline looms, it’s easy to buckle under the strain of anxiety, imposter syndrome and outright exhaustion. Dr Noelia D Falcon, a senior research associate at the University of East Anglia, shares her experiences of coping with PhD pressure, and speaks openly about dealing with a period of grief during one of the most stressful times in her life.
Here are some resources that aim to support your mental health and wellbeing, wherever you are in your scientific career...
Feelings of inadequacy will affect most of us at some point in our lives, and the pressure of a PhD can trigger ‘imposter syndrome’ in even the most confident of researchers. Pearl Akazue, a PhD Fellow at the University of Ghana reflects on her first few days as a PhD student, and shares some valuable advice on overcoming negative feelings...
Most of us will face rejection at some stage in our careers, and while we can’t avoid it, we can choose how we cope with it. In our Life Scientist's Guide to Coping With Rejection, scientists from around the world share their experience of academic rejection, and how it ultimately shaped their careers...
Rejected manuscript, failed experiment, rejected grant application...How can we build resilience as researchers, and turn adversity into advantage? Here, Dr Abiola Isawumi gives practical valuable advice on managing situations routinely faced by researchers...
Next up in our Scientist Talks video series, we chatted to Heema Vyas. Heema is a fourth-year PhD student at the Illawarra Health and Medical Research Institute at the University of Wollongong in Australia. We spoke to Heema about her current research, her experience of managing her mental wellbeing during her PhD, and her advice for new PhD students when it comes to balancing mental health and wellbeing in the academic environment.
