The Mindful Researcher

I first had the idea for this blog last September whilst teaching a new course called The Mindful Researcher . I wanted to offer research students a course that would bring the principles of mindfulness into conversation with the research process. Based on my previous experience as a PhD student and observations drawn from my current work as a Postgraduate Learning Advisor, I could see common themes and problems emerging around the experience of doing research. Doctoral research is challenging in and of itself - the sheer volume of reading and writing, designing and carrying out experiments or fieldwork, and the pressure to publish, present at conferences, gain work experience and develop networks. But an aspect of this task that often gets overlooked is the mundane, everyday experience of sitting with one's work and oneself. This can sometimes be the hardest part of a research degree. A colleague of mine recently pointed out that a 3-4 year PhD is roughly 1100-1400 days s