PGR Internships: Should I take one on?
Adam Gordon is studying for a DFA in Creative Writing. His doctoral work explores queer histories of Glasgow, and the effect of contemporary theories of ecology on the form and structure of the novel. He is the current Researcher Development PGR Communications Intern.
Emily Hay is currently studying for her PhD in Scottish Literature. Her work focusses on the self-presentation of Mary Queen of Scots in poetry and correspondence and how this contrasted with the way other people wrote about her during her lifetime. She is the current Researcher Development PGR Events Intern.
It’s the last few weeks of my time as the PGR Communications Intern for Researcher Development. Which is a strange sentence to write, because it means I’m almost a full year into my doctorate and that year has flown. Emily, PGR Events Intern, is also coming to the end of her time with the team, and it seemed like a good time to reflect on the internship and what we’ve learned - or at least should have learned! If you’re considering taking on an internship or similar role with UofG or an external partner, we hope this gives you some food for thought. Each of these roles will present unique challenges and opportunities, but we’ve tried to home in on the things that might be common to most of them.
Adam
There are lost of good reasons to take on an internship: you might be looking to develop certain skills; it might help position you for your later career; and additional income is always helpful. There’s a careful equation to work out - we’ve only so much time and energy! - but there have been definite benefits to taking on this role in my first year.
The internship has formalised a lot of informal skills I picked up in previous jobs, especially in running a theatre company. When we started out we were flying by the seat of our pants, and learned what we needed as we went a long. No one ever taught me how to budget or come up with a social media strategy, we just figured it out as necessary. So coming out of the arts into academia and office work, I couldn’t easily prove to anyone that I knew how to do these things. The internship has been a good bridge between worlds: now I have a proven track record when I’m applying for other jobs.
Taking on a new role should open up new thoughts and possibilities. The best aspects of my own internship have been the unexpected ones. I discovered that I wasn’t bad at web design, and now I’m thinking about learning to code. I rediscovered the pleasure of meeting new folks in person whilst running the weekly PGR Walk. I enjoy talking and facilitating conversation between different groups. I also doubled down on my love of gardening when I discovered Viewfield Lane and got the PGR Gardening group going again. None of this was strictly what I signed up for, but it’s made the whole thing worthwhile. The internship also made the idea of being in an ‘academia-adjacent’ job quite attractive. I see the value in the vast support structure that allows the university to function, and I have a better grasp of the needs of each of the stakeholders involved. Academic research can be quite a lonely place, and I have enjoyed working in a coherent and supportive team.
Finally, the internship has been a good reminder that, as important as they are, there’s more to life than my studies. I’ve reorganised my finances so that I don’t need to keep a job in my second year, and I can focus completely on my research and on writing. However, I will work hard to keep the balance that having other work commitments demanded, and to keep meeting and connecting other PGRs so that I don’t fall back into the habit of solitude. With careful planning and a bit of foresight, an internship or similar role can be an excellent complement to your studies.
Emily
When you’re already busy with your research and all of the side dishes accompanying it (like submitting abstracts for conferences or attending reading groups), it can seem counterintuitive to add yet another commitment to your plate. However, the saying that ‘work expands to fill the time you have’ really rings true here, and having something meaningful to turn to when you’re not in the academic headspace can be enormously helpful for your sense of self. Do not, by any means, normalise overstretching yourself – burnout is very real and very tricky to recover from. But having something ‘else’ to do every week can be a useful exercise in not allowing your identity as a researcher to swallow you whole. You are more than just your doctorate, and formal roles like internships can help to solidify that both to yourself and to those around you.
Expanding your day-to-day circle of contacts can be really beneficial for your approach to your research, too. Not only if you’re working in an internship which relates directly to your research topic: my work managing events has very little relevance to my research into 16th century poetry. No matter what you’re doing the people you meet can help open your eyes to new ways of working that will ultimately influence your own process, and your attitude towards your research. For me, it’s been really useful to discover the ways that the people I work with think about their PhDs with the benefit of hindsight, and what they learned along the way. It’s always helpful to re-discover that there is light on the other side of the tunnel.
I’m not going to beat around the bush, sometimes the time commitment of an internship alongside a full-time doctorate can be draining. At times it feels like there are a lot of people expecting things of you in certain time frames, and that can be daunting to deal with. However, I do think ultimately my internship has really developed my ability to set boundaries for myself. I’ve always struggled with saying no to opportunities out of a fear that I only have one chance to do things that excite me. With the added pressure of my internship on my time, I’ve gotten much better at being honest with myself and others about how much I can achieve in any given week. I can’t take on that extra task, because then this much more important one won’t get done on time. Working in the professional world makes you realise that new ideas and opportunities can come flying at you every week, and it’s physically impossible to take them all on. When the next week rolls around with even more possibilities, you realise that there is always the option of picking something up at a less busy time. That’s an important skill to develop in both your professional and research lives, and future you will be thankful you did.
Photo by Jason Goodman on Unsplash
