Some reflections on home-working during the lockdown

We have had a couple of posts (1, 2) from distance learners sharing their existing expertise on working from home, but in this post we hear from Charles Goode, an on-campus full-time PGR in the School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, who has had to adapt.

Over the past months our daily lives, especially our working lives, have been completely transformed by the Coronavirus. To begin with, I found the lockdown really hard to adjust so thought that it would be a good opportunity to share some personal reflections on home-working. Note that I am currently in my final year, so I’m lucky that my data collection process has not been disrupted.

Adjusting to the ‘new’ normal regarding work

Charles in his new home office (in the shed)

One of the hardest things I found was separating work from home. I generally don’t work particularly well from home through being easily distracted (especially with the excellent weather)!

Being remotely productive

In this post, AlAnood Alshaikhsaad, a PGR from the Department of Theology and Religion, shares their advice on remote working from their experience as a distance learning PGR.

AlAnood’s home workstation

To me, remote working is all about time management and prioritizing your tasks. What people tend to miss after jumping from their on-ground non-stop jobs to remote working is the predictable tasking structure a corporate or institution provides. While the flexibility of remote work is one of its most appealing benefits, people are used to a certain routine, and routine can still exist within that flexibility. For example, waking up at a consistent time, getting dressed, fixing a pot of coffee, running through your to-do list, breaking for lunch at noon, scheduling virtual meetings in collaboration with fellow peers or supervisors. Once you define your routine more clearly, stick to it.

Tips for Working from Home

Building on our previous post on working from home, Rachel Sargeant, a full-time, distance-learning PhD student in the Film and Creative Writing Department, draws on her experience to give some advice.  An adapted version of this post also appears on her personal blog.

Although I only commenced my studies in January, I previously completed a distance-learning masters and have been working from home for over a year since I became a full-time author. This is what I’ve come to realise:

Working from home

This week Jonathan Ward, who is part of Liveable Cities team in Civil Engineering, shares his experience of working from home as a postgraduate researcher…

Doing my PhD from home has given me an opportunity to reflect on a few things which I’d like to share with you. It brings benefits, but also pitfalls.