Join Pubs and Publications!

By the Committee |

We are excited to announce that we are recruiting new committee members this summer. Pubs and Publications – AKA ‘Pubs and Pubs’ – is a blog run by and for PhD Students. We aim to cover the highs, lows, confusions, and lighter moments of life as a junior academic. We have published posts on a wide range of topics, including: conference etiquette; compiling your literature review; and planning fieldwork. Sometimes we even mention pubs. Blogging can be an important aspect of PhD life and benefit your career beyond. Below are some further reasons why you should consider joining our merry band.

Become part of a growing community

Since its inception in 2015, Pubs and Pubs has received more than 100,000 views from readers around the world. By joining Pubs and Pubs, you’d be become a member of an international community of PhD students and early career researchers. We are constantly striving to grow our audience and provide fresh insights and reflections on PhD Life.

Crafting a thesis can be a lonely existence. Being part of the Pubs and Pubs committee has given me an outlet from working on my research that, while still connected to academia, feels refreshingly different and writing and reading about topics unrelated to my research is a reviving  experience

Ian MacNeill, Publicity Editor

There is no ‘I’ in pub

Although we each have specific roles on the committee, we run things collectively. Everyone is encouraged to contribute new ideas and we tackle challenges as a group. As a new member you can grow in your role by receiving support from more experienced members, while also having a platform to develop your own ideas. Being able to demonstrate collaborative remote working is a valuable addition to your CV and is a common aspect of academic life.

Regular writing and editing has given me a far better insight into those processes than I could have gained by only working on my own thesis

Sam Grinsell, Deputy Chair

A chance to hone your writing skills

Writing is a big chunk of the PhD experience and can be one of the most difficult. By regularly editing other people’s posts, and writing your own, you will have the chance to gain vital practice at getting into the habit of writing and developing your copy editing and peer reviewing skills.

Writing about academia is doom and gloom; with Pubs and Pubs, I’ve loved working with people who can find the lighter side

Richard Parfitt, Topical Editor

Don’t underestimate the power of the lighter side

With the USS strikes and ongoing concerns about job security, the academic world can seem a dark and stressful place. While we at Pubs and Pubs look to engage with current issues in academe, we also see the value in drawing attention to the lighter aspects of academic life, and we would encourage our committee members to explore aspects of PhD life that go beyond the general trends found elsewhere.

Writing for Pubs and Publications keeps me in touch with students outside my field and how they cope with the stress

Drew Thomas, Technology Editor

Build a network beyond your own ivory tower

Joining Pubs and Pubs is a great way to make connections and build a network with other PhDs and ECRs beyond your own institution. While all PhD topics are different, many of the issues we face are the same – regardless of the discipline. You’d be amazed at how comforting it can be sharing your experiences with those from wildly different academic fields can be.

Where do I sign?

Any PhD student from any discipline can join Pubs and Pubs. If you are starting a PhD in the autumn, this includes you! We have a range of roles, but most of us are contributions editors or publicity editors and we aim to rotate positions regularly. If you are interested in joining us we’d like you to send us a 250-word abstract about you, your research, and why you’d like to join. We’d also like a proposal for a blog post – a one sentence description or a title is fine. Please send these to: pubsandpublications@gmail.com. Applications close on June 15, 2018.

Featured Image By Virgo Group [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], from Wikimedia Commons