{"id":67249,"date":"2023-02-22T00:02:31","date_gmt":"2023-02-22T05:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=67249"},"modified":"2023-02-22T00:02:31","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T05:02:31","slug":"the-power-of-reaching-out-and-replying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/the-power-of-reaching-out-and-replying\/","title":{"rendered":"The power of reaching out \u2013 and replying!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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This post is the result of an email, which later\u00a0inspired a blog post<\/a>, and ultimately improved the lives of a small band of Early Career Researchers (ECR). It is a story of how reaching out can make a difference in our professional and personal lives \u2013 and just how far a little care from more experienced researchers goes!<\/p>\n

My doctoral research journey was \u2013 to put it lightly \u2013 a lonely one. I pursued my PhD as an external student of an Australian university while also living and working on a Chinese university campus. During the pandemic years, semester-long lockdowns trapped me on campus, and strict internet censorship made it difficult to communicate with the outside world. I was a prisoner in all but name.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I lived in a sea of chaos as university and government regulations shifted rapidly, sometimes overnight. One never knew with certainty if tomorrow\u2019s classes would be online, offline, or cancelled for a mass nucleic acid test. As someone who seeks organisation and certainty in everything I do \u2013 this was my personal hell.<\/p>\n

However, I was not alone. My local colleagues, or my \u201cfellow-sufferers\u201d to borrow Schopenhauer\u2019s term, faced similar personal and research difficulties despite our cultural differences. Paying attention to my colleagues\u2019 struggles led me to wonder if we could somehow support each other through the COVID storm. That\u2019s when I resolved to form a peer support group \u2013 but I didn\u2019t know where to start.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I reached out. I contacted Tseen Khoo, who I\u2019d talked to once before through a common acquaintance, and posed my question. The very next day, she generously offered her time and not only provided comprehensive advice on options for peer support, as well as pitfalls to avoid, she also linked a series of resources to serve as a start point for my investigations. I was, and still am, deeply grateful.<\/p>\n

With Tseen\u2019s roadmap of advice and resources in hand, I investigated my options. Organising a peer support group is challenging at the best of times \u2013 and the midst of the world\u2019s strictest COVID lockdowns is not the best of times. Carefully weighing the needs of my colleagues and the limitations of our situation, I settled on the idea of a \u201cMastermind group\u201d.<\/p>\n

A Mastermind group is \u201ca small group of peers who provide mentoring to one another within a confidential and supportive atmosphere<\/a>\u201d. It is problem-solving and goal-oriented with the aim of helping each member achieve their academic targets. Group meetings often involve sharing personal struggles in the spirit of seeking ways forward.<\/p>\n

I worked with a Chinese colleague and together we gathered a small band of ECRs eager to reinvigorate their research lives. We distilled the mastermind concept into a simple, fortnightly meeting schema. At each meeting, group members speak to three questions before inviting others to comment. The questions are:<\/p>\n