Recently, I got asked to fill a questionnaire about my experience during COVID lockdown. I feel that my answers may be of interest to a general public an so decided to publish it here.
·
What’s
been the most challenging part of PhD life for you in 2020 and why?
Clearly, the April lockdown was the
toughest part. Thankfully, I had it easier than my experimentalist colleagues.
I’m a numerical scientist, so I was able to continue working from home.
Nonetheless, the absence of habitual relaxes, like, socializing via club, pubs,
boarding games, absence of travel, and sport activities seriously affected my
wellbeing during lockdown.
·
How
did you manage your time differently during lockdown?
Since I don’t need a lab my work
routine didn’t change greatly. Working became even more comfortable; cause now
I could work at home in peace without the risk of being disturbed by colleagues
or friends. Nonetheless, with the loss of the office it became much more
difficult to support the working regime. Having designated workplace and
keeping home for leisure made it easier for me to maintain the same regime day
to day. In more details, it provided me with context which helps doing the
stuff I planned: working or relaxing. Being locked to the same location, I felt
it very tempting to either work or relax longer, to go to sleep and wake up
later by thus decreasing the productivity of all my activities. As more minor
change, I had to
replace my leisure. I started spending more time chatting with friends online
and practicing volleyball with wall near my home.
Looking for a new work-life balance in April 2020
·
Have
you discovered any new ways of working that you intend to continue using in the
future?
I really enjoyed that online work
meetings became more acceptable for the community. During the lockdown, I worked
in a collaboration with scientists from UK, Germany, and Portugal which went really smooth because of
regular online meetings. I have a feeling that, before the lockdown, people
were not so eager to online format of the discussion. However, now it is much
easier.
Another favorite point is the rise
of online conferences. Despite obvious problems with discussing the research and
networking, I highly praise increased accessibility of many conferences, i.e. the
ability to access them without the need for expensive and timely travel and decreased
participation fees. The ability to be exposed to a lot of new knowledge via
these conferences greatly benefited me as a PhD student.
·
What
are your top tips for staying motivated and/or working effectively from home?
I
started doing meditation to deal with the stress and, unexpectedly, found it
to be a highly efficient coping strategy. Just 10 minutes of mindfullness before starting the work indeed help me to bee much more concentrated during the study.
·
What
are you looking forward to as we move into 2021 and why?
First, I wish the soonest end to all
enormous COVID-induced suffering in the world. Daily lots of people lose their lives,
health, close ones, livelihoods, sanity and hope. I’m quite lucky that I have
it easy. However, going back to my personal experience, I wait the most for the
reopening of the world. Despite lockdowns opened some brand-new opportunities
for me as a PhD, they cut me out from the very important part of my PhD experience
- meeting new interesting people and visiting new interesting places. The ability
to learning new about the world in general was one of the motivations for me to
do a scientific career.
