Spotlight on the RDF: “Collegiality”

In one of our occasional series of “Spotlight on…” posts, we take a closer look at a specific descriptor from the RDF. Each one of the sixty-three descriptors in Vitae‘s Researcher Development Framework (RDF) is a characteristic of an excellent researcher, and we’ll be looking at how UoB PGRs can develop these characteristics.

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Research, and particularly postgraduate research, can be a lonely business. Each PGR is answering unique research questions. A lot of (if not all) day-to-day activity is carried out on an individual basis. So who are our colleagues? What should our relationship be with them? How might we develop that relationship? Does it even matter?

The RDF puts collegiality in domain D (engagement, influence and impact) and sub-domain D1 (working with others) and the phases for this descriptor are:

1. Shows consideration to others; Listens, gives and receives feedback and responds perceptively to others.
2. Is approachable, demonstrates interpersonal sensitivity; Ensures everyone has a shared understanding.
3. Keeps people informed of wider institutional issues; Promotes collegiality, regardless of status; Engages in supportive peer review with colleagues.
4. & 5. Exemplar for collegial behaviour in department/institution; Cascades knowledge; Solicits and attends to feedback from colleagues at all levels.

So far, so wishy-washy. The first couple of phases can be summed up by “don’t be a dick“, and then it sort of seems to say that you can be collegiate by being collegiate…

So I thought I might give you my interpretation of what it means to be collegiate as a PGR.

The single most important thing you can do as a PGR is to surround yourself with people. Support from others, in all its different forms, is going to make all the difference to you, through both your research and your wellbeing. But I think of collegiality as a specific part of this which has two key components. Firstly, it involves primarily that part of your network which surrounds you in your department or School. The people that might, in some contexts, be called “colleagues”. In the past, it might have been the people who share your office corridor, building or common room, but who may not seem immediately useful. Secondly, it is about reciprocity, so as much as you will benefit from having good working and social relationships with your colleagues, they will also benefit from you being an active part of their network. Collegiality is therefore part of creating and maintaining an effective, welcoming, and vibrant research culture and everyone can do their bit.

There are lots of ways that you can be collegiate in your area, including:

• Cultivate successful relationships with all the members of your supervisory team, including your mentor.
• Get involved in departmental activities, such as research seminars, and encourage others to do the same.
• If you can, spend time in your department on campus, working in a hot-desking room or shared PGR office.
• Meet up for coffee (virtually or in person) occasionally with the people around you and let the conversation go where it will. Take it as an opportunity to check in on someone’s wellbeing – ask twice.
• When you develop your skills, proactively think about how you can share your learning with others in your department.
• Look out for and participate in EDI initiatives such as the UoB LGBTQ Ally Scheme, or the Staff Networks, and again, share your learning within your department.

What does being collegiate mean to you? Who do you think of as your colleagues and how do you practice collegiality?

for (you in PhD): “self-taught code” to “professional code”

In this post, Seb Gilbert, a PGR in Mathematics, introduces us to the “We Don’t Byte” PGR coding club and talks about the value he has found in setting up and contributing to the club.

More and more often, coding is becoming an essential skill in academic research. Whether you are in a subject closely related to the language of logic (such as me in Mathematics) or having to analyse large datasets in the humanities; being able to code can enable you to process, compute and visualise data in a matter of minutes which previously would have taken months.

The problem is that, for many, coding is often a lonely self-taught experience. Even for the few subjects which touch upon coding during their undergraduate degrees, you only skim the surface of the vast technicalities. Teaching yourself how to code is a valuable experience in itself, yet, it can only take you so far.

Before beginning your endeavour with code, you might have had an image of multiple black monitor screens, running lines of luminescent green text and progress bars showing how long you have until you’ve hacked into the nation’s secret database… okay maybe not the last bit but that’s what you see on TV or in films. However, the reality for many involves writing line after line of carefully typed code to only be rewarded with the dreaded “Error” message. I know in the office I share with other PhD students, the comparison between expectation and reality is more like this…

With this in mind, and inspiration taken from BlueBEAR’s Coding Club, we thought to start a PGR coding club, calling it “We Don’t Byte”. The idea was to understand how as PGRs we could a) share solutions that help reduce our frustration, and b) bridge the gap between writing self-taught code and professional code. Specifically, how can PGRs early on in their coding journey pick up the essential tools needed to write reliable and reusable code.

We first invited our friends and soon their friends would come along too. Starting within one School and then expanding across the College, we now have members spanning all across the University.

The sessions so far have included talks presented by PGRs (in topics such as “Code Structure” and “Version control with Git”), peer feedback sessions (such as our “Advent of Code code review”) and an interactive workshop on data visualisation, with invited lecturer Dr. Ilija Rašović. The sessions are all decided and organised by the club’s members, so if you had something in mind, then please let us know!

This is now a rare way that PGRs can gather, irrespective of academic subject, to share their enthusiasm and share their ideas. Setting this up has truly been gratifying and not only through the improvement in my own coding but how the club has found a way for PGRs to help one another. Finally, as I am coming to the end of my PhD, I have the confidence to search for jobs that involve coding in their description, with the knowledge that my skills are to professional expectations.

At the very least, I know that my coding experience now includes less expletives than it did before.

Four top tips for better conversations

A little while ago, I put together some material for the Working effectively with your supervisor Canvas course on managing difficult conversations. The research I did clarified a few things in my mind, and the four key points that I ended up with are things I return to regularly, in all areas of my life, to help me get the most out of meetings and conversations, regardless of whether I expect them to be difficult or not.

I thought I’d share them with you.

3 lessons we can all take from 3MT

It’s nearly my favourite time of year! The University of Birmingham 3 Minute Thesis competition is coming up, and I really, really love it. It’s the point in the year where some of UoB’s brilliant PGRs share their research and their enthusiasm for it in three-minute presentations, and it always gets me how interesting and impactful all the research is and how engaging our PGRs are.

The UoB 3MT 2021 winner

If you want to participate in this year’s 3MT competition, there’s still time to sign up – the deadline for expressions of interest is Sunday 10 April. However, there are three key lessons I think all researchers can learn from 3MT, whether or not they participate.

Celebrating the Lunar New Year, connecting with the PGR Community

This 1^st February will be the Lunar New Year’s Day, a major festival that will be celebrated in most East Asian countries. In this post, Buxi Duan, an international PGR in the Department of English Literature and a Westmere Scholar, shares his recollections and expectations.

Speaking of the upcoming Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year, most of my friends are planning to celebrate it by having a good dinner and FaceTiming with their parents. Similar to Christmas, Lunar New Year also means family reunion. However, I’ve never thought that this would be my fourth Lunar New Year in the UK.

Lunar New Year decorations at the Arcadian Centre in Birmingham.
Photo credit: Tony Hisgett

First, recruit your team

When you’re at the very beginning of a research programme, it can feel like there’s an overwhelming amount of stuff that you are encouraged to engage with (including induction and Welcome) on top of getting started on your research.

Image credit: Montclair Film

My advice? Prioritise the activities that will help you build relationships with people. Yes, sometimes even over your research activity. It’s the people around you who can make all the difference to your PGR experience.

PhD Chats: (re)connecting with the PGR community

Faith Van Horne, a PGR in the Department of Theology and Religion and Diana Cruz de Oliveira, a PGR in Mechanical Engineering introduce PhD Chats, informal, guided conversations reconnecting PGRs.

When Faith started her PhD program, one of the first events she attended was a PhD Chat, an informal guided conversation to discuss some of the challenges associated with the often-lonely PGR journey. As Westmere Scholars, Diana and Faith are part of the team leading the current PhD Chat series. All of the sessions fit the theme of (Re)Connection. As pandemic restrictions lift, many of us are curious about how we will connect again with the PGR community (or for the first time, if we’ve had trouble establishing those connections already). Last week was the initial chat in the series. This was a very informal check-in, just to see how PGRs were doing, and their hopes and fears about (re)connecting with the larger community.

Diana (left) and Faith (right), Westmere Scholars

Caring for PGR carers

This week, 7-13 June 2021, is Carers Week. Carers look after a family member or friend who has a disability, mental or physical illness or who needs extra help as they grow older. Carers make a significant contribution to their families, communities and society, so it’s important to recognise the valuable work they do, and to make sure they receive the support they need. This is particularly true for PGRs who are carers and are juggling the dual challenges of research and caring.

I cannot claim to have first-hand experience of the challenges of caring, but here are some of my thoughts on the ways in which we, as members of the UoB PGR community, can support our PGR colleagues who are also carers. Although Carers Week focusses on caring for those with a disability, mental or physical illness, many of the suggested actions here apply equally to parents or guardians of young children.

Tips for First-Year PhD students

In this post, Chris Featherstone, a final year PhD student in the Department of Political Science and International Studies (POLSIS), shares his advice for new PGRs. For more, see Chris’s personal blog about being a PGR.

Everyone who starts a PhD comes into it with expectations; as is the way with expectations, some are correct, and some are way off. This post gives a few tips for people in their first year of the PhD, helping with work, and surviving the process. I am two weeks from submitting my own thesis, and so I thought this was a good point to pass on tips that I have picked up in the process.

Discovering the unknown unknowns

Whenever you start something new, whether that’s a new job or joining a membership society for the first time, there’s a lot of learning to do. What are the requirements? What are the expectations? Do I have the equipment and/or the skills that I need? Where can I find out all this stuff? Much of this learning is set out for you through formal channels, but often we learn some of the most valuable information informally, stumbling upon it while looking for something else, or while gossiping with a peer.

A research programme is no different (you probably saw where I was going with that!). And in 2020, there are new ways of working for us all.