Finally, to acknowledge my hypocrisy! There are dozens of times when I've put my work above my wellbeing or overstretched myself. I've learned these tips the hard way so this is definitely a case of "do as I say, and not as I do" until I learn to listen to my own advice 🧵11/11

Also, a big thank you to Alice Price, Georgina Wren, Teodor Nikolov, and Adelina-Mihaela Halchin who were my lovely co-panellists and shared some of these tips with the audience 🧵10/11

💡Attend seminar series, attend events run by your department, have an online presence and use it to maintain a connection with people you meet at conferences or training courses, reach out and connect with researchers whose work you've read 🧵9/11

3⃣ Cultivate your professional network. These are your potential collaborators or mentors, future colleagues or supervisors, and people you can develop grant applications or share skills and knowledge with. It is essential to connect with people who can help you progress. 🧵8/11

💡3 questions to ask yourself about any opportunity:

❓Do I think I'll enjoy doing it?

❓Is it likely to fill a gap in my skillset or on my CV?

❓Is it a time commitment that I can comfortably make?

Ideally, the answer should be yes to all 3! 🧵7/11

(also, you have a minimum of 3 years. It'll go by very quickly, but it really is a long time to do all those extra things beyond your research you might want to try. Just pace yourself.) 🧵6/11

2⃣ Be selective with what you say yes to. Reviewing papers, joining committees, or organising events can all help you to develop useful skills and will look good on a CV. But progressing your research without overstretching and burning yourself out has to be your focus 🧵5/11

💡Take your annual leave, protect your weekends, make time for your friends and family, have a hobby or activities you like doing to give yourself time to decompress and help yourself feel like a person beyond your PhD 🧵4/11

1⃣ Your wellbeing comes above everything else. It's as simple as that. 🧵3/11

It was a great discussion that I hope was useful, and I wanted to share the 3⃣ tips we spoke about that I feel are most important as well as some practical advice💡 that you can try to implement 🧵2/11

That's so kind, thank you 🥹