Karen Gordon is a 3rd year PhD student and the outgoing PGR Events Intern for 22-23. Here she reflects with Rachel Eager in a double blog extravaganza on her time in this role over the last year; detailing the peaks and troughs she has experienced.

As my Internship within the Research Services Directorate comes to an end, I am finding myself in a reflective space thinking over the last year.

I began as the PGR Events Intern in September 2022 and am finishing my contract next month. Being a part of this team for the last 14-months has been a large part of my life; and has shaped my doctoral journey immensely. Through some quite significant life changes, an ongoing mixed-methods thesis and multiple other part-time employment contracts; this internship has been a place of stability throughout.

Below, I reflect on my experiences over the last year. On some things I have found more challenging, but also some really beautiful and positive experiences. I hope by the end of this you may consider taking on an internship yourself at some point – I promise, it is totally worth it!

Peaks

I have a whole host of peaks and troughs from undertaking an internship beyond what’s written on the CV, so here’s some of them: 

Working Within The Wider Team  

This has been an absolute joy and pleasure. I have gotten to know the ins and outs of the Research Services Directorate team beyond their job roles and have had the pleasure of being incorporated into this wonderful team professionally and personally. I genuinely love who I work with – the amount of care, support and collegiality the team bring both to their jobs and to share with their colleagues has been a pleasure to be surrounded by. I am so sad to leave them but hope to keep bothering them for cake and coffee here and there!

Stability

Both financially and personally, having a set contract within this internship has provided a huge amount of stability. This has positively impacted my overall wellbeing aside from being more logistically beneficial as a self-funding PGR. Having a regular source of income has taken a huge amount of pressure of my shoulders. Whilst also personally, has provided a team dynamic in which I know I will be checking in with every week – providing levels of collegiality, social and peer support which have been genuinely amazing over the last year.

Fun Events! 

An Away Day at The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow has been a total highlight for me over the past year. Being able to meet colleagues face-to-face, chat over lunch but also wander around such a beautiful and historic building was such fun.

Also events such as Christmas Markets, team dinners and drinks to name a few – you will certainly have time to engage in fun as part of the team!

The social side of the role has been an absolute dream to be a part of, and in no way have I ever felt like “just an intern”. I have been so well integrated into the wider team and really looked forward to events like these to blow off some steam, have fun and get to know people better.

Transferable Skills

The number of transferable skills I have acquired within this role cannot be understated – or at times, even explained! Tasks such as:

What do you do when you need to source pizza for 200+ PGRs at a few weeks’ notice?

And more importantly….how do we get it there?!

Questions such as these are ones which require multiple elements of problem solving, creativity, outreach work (no, you cannot carry pizza for 200+ PGRs alone, however hard you try!), and organisation. These are skills which you will be able to use for so many future roles – and the confidence you gain by figuring it out and delivering a successful event for our PGR community is a wonderful boost.

Professional Development

The Research Services Directorate really do get behind what they say – they want to see you develop and progress and are invested in your future.

With this in mind I have personally been supported to attend conferences, speak on panels, collaborated on discussion panels and abstracts, supported with blog pieces which feed into industry-wide Higher Education discussions, to name just a few.

My professional development has been prioritised by not just line-management, but the team as a whole throughout my internship. Meaning that not only have I developed my skills and experiences but also have plans for future engagement and writing pieces.

The team care. But also show this by supporting you into actionable next steps for career development. It has been a pleasure to work with researchers and professionals that I admire and learn from them in this way – it really has been invaluable.

Troughs 

Reflecting on the Internship honestly with myself has been an important part of understanding my experiences so far. Like any role, there are ups and downs and I aim to detail the challenges a little bit more below.

Time Management 

Like the majority of academic and professional staff at the university, within an internship we have been faced with the same dilemmas of more work than hours available in the day to complete tasks. This has meant a huge development in our personal skillsets in relation to “saying no”. Being able to identify when we have been at capacity, ask for help in these situations when needed and prioritise time has been very difficult. But we have learnt HOW to ask for help effectively and been inundated with support when we have. It’s been a really important learning experience and one that will be amazingly helpful in our future careers. 

Life Events 

Life doesn’t stop! Either around PhD work or within a professional role. Being able to navigate everything whilst managing our own lives at the same time can be tricky. In this vein we would encourage future Interns to take their entitled annual leave. The wider team WILL support you while you are away, and there is nothing so urgent that is worth compromising your health for or not being present at home during important moments. Take the time away you need – your direct team and the wider team will do nothing but encourage this.  

Although at times difficult, the skills, experience, professional development and community involved within my Internship in the Research Services Directorate has been amazing. What I can take away from this and into my future career cannot be understated.

I am going to miss working with both my direct and wider team so much. But (much to my supervisors delight I can imagine), it’s time to return full-time to my own research…

Karen Gordon is a 3rd year PhD Candidate in Psychology based in the School of Education. Her work explores types of stress expression within the PGR community. She is the outgoing PGR Events Intern for 22-23.