In Part 1 of this post I set out the incredible value that I have earned from a small group of my peers, individually and collectively, along my pathway to PhD that continues into my post-PhD life. For me, this value may be itemised in a number of categories including (in alphabetical order), belonging, community, knowledge sharing, peer support, social capital and well-being. I have reflected on many of these categories throughout the pages of this blog, my learning portfolio, and when I look at the WordPress analytics I can see that readers from all over the world have landed on a variety of posts with all sorts of content (I hope that some found my musings useful!).
From time to time at our Tuesday get-togethers, we have chatted about a collaborative paper on the role that our group played in navigating our PhD pathways. Now that we have all graduated, it is our hope that we can share these experiences in an appropriate format that may benefit other doctoral scholars.
But where and how to start?
I am a fan of the #LTHEchat movement and now that it has fully transitioned to Bluesky, I try to attend for the weekly Wednesday evening hour. Sometimes I contribute responses to one or more of the six questions posed. Other times when I am not familiar with the topic (even though I have read the blog post) I just lurk and learn. It seems to me (thanks Satchie for the idea) that the format of posing questions for discussion amongst our group might lead us to a focus for our paper. If we follow the #LTHEchat format, then perhaps we could each write a blog post (500-700 words) on a category or theme (from the list above or beyond) and pose 5-6 questions that the rest of the group would respond to?
I have reflected previously on my early experiences of co-authoring a paper and the lessons I learned to get across the finish line. For now, let’s see if we can get to the starting line…
Until next time, Sandra
Featured image courtesy of Bitmoji
Sandra Flynn 