The Messy Coach: Research manifesto: Rewriting PhD Myths

This workshop aims to redress common myths about doctoral research. Participants will be encouraged to raise and discuss common limiting beliefs that they frequently encounter in their PhD journey, or which they have come to internalise as true and inevitable.

Participants will be led to deconstruct these myths, identify how and why they are inaccurate and untrue, and formulate new perspectives and practices to help them move forward in their research.

The session will begin with participants writing down a list of 10-12 anxieties, concerns or challenges they are currently facing. Following discussions about how to reframe common anxieties and myths in the PhD journey, each participant will then exchange their list with another. Participants will rewrite each other’s ‘negative’ statements into a more positive/neutral, practical or productive affirmation – altogether, the rewritten statements form a bespoke research ‘manifesto’ for each individual.

This practice is about helping PGRs learn how to reframe the way they approach their research by drawing upon more affirmative and productive motivations. By rewriting someone else’s statements, participants offer each other different perspectives, while also learning how they can reframe their own negative stories and limiting beliefs.