There is a widely held belief that PhD students must be constantly working, with no time for a life outside of academia. If you’re considering embarking on a PhD you’re probably curious about what PhD life is really like.
Do PhD students have many opportunities to socialise? Can PhD students join societies? Are PhD students destined to work and live in isolation for the duration of their PhD?
I recently finished my PhD so I’m keen to share with you the realities of life as a PhD student. I’ll also include some of my own experiences of PhD students’ social lives.
Disclaimer – I completed my PhD just as COVID-19 was taking hold. Social events may be a little different for now but you should still have time away from work to be sociable! In this post I include examples and tips for how to stay sociable during lockdown.
Does PhD Life Leave Time To Socialise?
Let’s start by dispelling the belief that PhD students need to always be working and must live in a permanently anxious state that they’re not working enough.
I see tweets like this all the time:
PhD students should not be under any pressure to feel the need to work crazy (>8 hour/day) hours! If nothing else, working such long hours are unproductive and entirely unsustainable long term. Even if dedicating all of your waking hours to research was mentally sustainable, there is more to the PhD experience than just your project!
I feel strongly that if you treat your PhD like a normal full time job, i.e. around 40 hours a week you’ll be as productive as you would ever need to be.
Previously I shared how many hours I worked, and a calendar, during the second year as a PhD student to illustrate how I spent my time. Seeing and speaking to many other PhD students, I’d say the amount of hours I worked during the PhD was pretty normal.
Sidenotes: In case it’s of interest I’ve also shown that PhD students do take holidays, so again please don’t feel under pressure to not take extended breaks from your project! Oh and please also know that you don’t need lots of caffeine to survive a PhD!
This is basically a long way of saying that life as a PhD student should involve having a life outside of the lab! Taking time away from your work to socialise is great for so many reasons but not least is it fantastic for your mental health. Looking after yourself should be a priority far above academic achievements.
What If I’m Happy to Work Longer Hours on My Project?
As with any segment of society, PhD students represent a range of people with different priorities. There will be some PhD students who do spend all of their time working and aren’t interested in socialising. That’s completely fine but that should be a choice rather than a requirement.
Whilst I understand that some projects may require periods of long hours, it shouldn’t be the norm to regularly put yourself through unsustainably long working shifts. If a PhD student has no time away from research I would personally suggest that they are doing things wrong. If nothing else they’re missing out on other parts of the PhD student life experience!
Even if you love your project, there are loads of positives to taking time away from your work and making time for the other fun things you can do as a student which we’ll come on to in a second!
Two Perks to Your Social Life as a PhD Student
If they want to, PhD students absolutely can and do have a social life! Despite misconceptions, as we just covered a moment ago PhD students aren’t generally confined to living a life in the lab for the duration of their project!
The reality is that your social life as a PhD student doesn’t need to be any different from how it would be if you were working a regular job. Just like how university graduates who go on to have “normal” jobs still go out and have fun, so can PhD students. In fact I’d go as far as to say that PhD students are in a much better position to enjoy a rich social life than friends who go straight into a normal job.
This is because PhD students have a few aces up their sleeves when it comes to having fun and being sociable whilst being productive:
1. PhD students can still join societies and sports clubs through the students’ union
A lot of PhD students don’t realise that all of the opportunities to join student-run societies and sports clubs are still open to them as PhD students.
In my experience, even fewer PhD students actually make use of this opportunity.
I think that this a big oversight since student societies and sports clubs are a way to very easily meet like-minded individuals and a fantastic way to socialise and make other PhD friends.
Even if you don’t have any hobbies at the moment, these student-run clubs represent an incredible chance to try new things out. For example during my PhD I tried out gliding. I only went for one taster session but had an amazing time! I would never have usually gone out of my way to try gliding but at university opportunities like that are seamless and practically handed out on a plate.
Think of all the cool things you could try which would add to your PhD life. I do appreciate that things are a little different at the moment, but there are still things to get involved with and the restrictions won’t be with us forever.
If you don’t make the most of your chance to enjoy your time at the university you’re missing out!
2. You are in control of your time
By and large PhD supervisors give their students lots of freedom to manage their own time. As long as you get the work done, it doesn’t really matter when you do it. This means that you can fit your work around activities more easily than if you were in a structured working environment.
For example, in the UK Wednesday afternoons are the common time for university sports clubs to meet. I’ve known PhD students who take advantage of flexible working to take this time off and enjoy playing their favourite sports. Likewise I’ve had labmates who shuffled around their work to fit in orchestra practice and I’ve taken time out of my day to run events for student societies and volunteer.
Volunteering to provide free tutoring in a local sixth form, and going to an event organised by the Dutch Embassy in London about plastic pollution (before it was trendy!)
Having the flexibility to work whenever you want also means…
- being able to meet up with friends who are visiting
- finishing early if you’re travelling somewhere
- starting work late if you drank a bit too much the night before
- simply leaving to get an ice-cream with labmates!
Being in an environment with this flexibility and ownership of your time can be very handy to ensure that you are having a break from work and staying sociable.
Typical Opportunities to Make Friends and Socialise
Below are a few examples of the many ways PhD life gives you opportunities to socialise. None of these suggestions require that you know anyone in the place you’re studying.
All examples are from my own PhD experience.
Academic-related social events:
- Regular drinks with members of the research group. These have continued to take place virtually for a research group I was in.
- Research groups bi-annual socials. At Imperial there is a departmental allowance to fund two away days (or meals) every year. During my time we went bowling, did an escape room, played darts plus enjoyed several meals together as a research group.
- Public engagement events. Speaking to the public about research might not sound like time off from work and yes it can be tiring. Even so, I did it a few times during my PhD and enjoyed it so much more than I was expecting to! It convinced me that even for introverts like myself, speaking to loads of new people can be good every so often! It is also a great way to bond with your research team.
- PhD student-specific socials. One of the two departments I was affiliated with ran a few social events throughout the year specifically for PhD students in the department: free food and drink!
- Departmental parties at Christmas and the summer.
What about if your research group and/or department don’t organise any events? Well firstly, you can always try organising your own. Secondly, here are some other widely available events:
- Public lectures and seminars by visiting academics. Go along with friends or make friends at the event or at the free drinks receptions often held afterwards.
- Conferences. They’re a great way to socialise. I’m not massively extroverted but some of my favourite conferences have been when I’ve gone alone and put myself out there. Most conferences have loads of opportunities to socialise: coffee breaks, poster sessions, drinks receptions and often a conference dinner. Don’t worry, loads of people go to them alone. You’re going to an event where people work on similar research to yourself so usually you’ll have lots of common interests to talk about. If all else fails, start a conversation by asking people about their research: they’ll love it!
Non-academic social events:
In addition to academic settings, there are loads of other ways to make friends and stay sociable during your PhD. PhD life does not need to be a lonely experience and I’d be sad to hear of people working in small isolated research groups who are having a miserable time!
Here are a few examples of ways that I stayed sociable outside of an academic setting.
- Trying out new sports. If you have the chance, I really suggest making use of the opportunity to try out new sports. I’m not really sporty but took the opportunity to try out different cool things. During my PhD, in addition to gliding, I learned to scuba dive and surfing trips with the student-run clubs: including spending my birthday surfing in Morocco! I’m still on the mailing lists for some of these sports clubs and know that they’re still organising events, many of which are available virtually. I realise this isn’t quite the same but can provide a much needed way to socialise!
- Joining societies as a PhD student. Most universities have loads of student-run societies for everything from acapella to yoga, and loads in between. Here is the list from the Imperial students’ union. I personally got involved with the environmental society and ended up leading it as president for a year.
Having worked for a few years before starting my PhD I was initially apprehensive about joining clubs and societies, but I decided to get involved while I had the chance and I am so glad I did.
I can’t speak highly enough of the social benefits which come from either trying something new or bonding with fellow students who already love the same interests as you. If you do go on to do a PhD, make sure to make the most of all the opportunities!
- Volunteering. If you’re moving to a different city or country, I’ve found volunteering to be a great way to meet new people. For example I spent many Saturday mornings during my PhD growing vegetables with people in my local community outside of the university. In my book, socialising outdoors gets points for being twice as good!
PhD Life During Lockdown: How to Avoid Loneliness and Stay Sociable
If you’re working from home and are unable to go and enjoy in-person events, it is more important than ever to ensure you’re able to avoid loneliness and stay sociable in other ways! The most obvious and safe way to do so is to move them online.
Here are a few suggestions to ensure you’re able to stay sociable remotely during a PhD:
- Videocall a friend or family member. Not quite the same as seeing in real life, but much better than not speaking to them at all! The great thing with speaking virtually is that you’re not limited to only speaking to friends or family who are geographically close by.
- Join virtual events. Loads of student societies have moved to virtual events for their members, plus I have seen different virtual events organised by groups, departments and university-wide initiatives. If you’re anything like me and get intimidated by social events, you could start by finding passive events where the focus is on following a presentation, tutorial or video and there is less emphasis on needing to jump straight into talking to strangers. I do encourage you to put yourself out there though if you feel up to it. The handy thing with socialising virtually is if you’re not enjoying it you can easily leave, blaming it on a dodgy internet connection if necessary!
If there aren’t any virtual events for your research group, PhD cohort or department, consider organising one yourself. Not only are you helping yourself but it could be a lifeline for someone else too!
Since finishing my PhD I’m currently still working in research as a post-doc so fully appreciate the difficulties of balancing your time during a lockdown: here in the UK we’re in one right now! Working from home can certainly blur work and home life which makes it all the more important that you can differentiate the two by having fun and staying sociable!
Hopefully I’ve reassured you that PhD life doesn’t need to consist of work every hour of the day and that it is possible to still enjoy an active social life! If you have any comments or concerns, I’m happy to try and help if you want to reach out.
