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As someone who has recently started their PhD, this chapter focuses on the history that led the author to this point. Specifically, she explores how her background and experience as a Black teenager growing up in a predominantly White city in the south west impacted her educational journey and decision to enter academia. Throughout the chapter, the author discusses how ethnicity and mental health intersected in her journey, with racism negatively impacting her mental health and leading to significant struggles during her secondary education. She reflects on how she overcame predictions that she might not make it to university to end up undertaking a PhD. She also discusses her experience of the PhD application process, including how her prior educational experiences influenced decisions when choosing a supervisor, an institution, and pursuing funding. Here she highlights the importance of research experience prior to applying for PhD programmes and the positive impact a supportive mentor had on her decision to pursue academic research. The chapter outlines how it feels to navigate education as a Black person in a sea of White students and encourages individuals and institutions to start considering ways in which they can support and champion Black students.
This chapter focuses on academic, pastoral and family support. The author explores how academic support opened up new avenues in her education and allowed her to progress to doctoral studies. She details how, despite not having an extensive background in natural sciences, a lecturer recognised her academic potential and this encouraged her to pursue a master’s in Cognitive Neuroscience and eventually a PhD in the field. The author explains how access to further education and academic support provided her with not just the tools, but also the confidence to progress in scientific fields that she had not not originally trained in. The author also contextualises her financial difficulties and the isolation she experienced while studying. She argues that these issues are faced by many Black students. The chapter outlines that positive support was a major factor in her deciding to undertake a PhD with a supervisor she trusted. The author highlights how a supportive supervisor can positively impact the journey of a Black scholar at multiple stages of their journey.
This unique book charts the journeys of Black doctoral students through UK higher education.
Using powerful firsthand accounts, the book details the experiences of Black PhD students. From application through to graduation and beyond, the book offers key insights into the workings of higher education, highlighting the structural barriers that impede progress. Challenges and recommendations are issued for the sector and wider community. This text is a witness to the tenacity and brilliance of Black students to achieve against the odds.
A game changer for the sector. Essential reading for anyone interested in equity and inclusion in higher education.
In this chapter the author explores the factors that have influenced her sense of belonging at different points of her educational journey. She contrasts her positive experience as a Black Caribbean woman in a diverse Birmingham grammar school to microaggressions, dwindling numbers of Black people, and increasing isolation in her higher education studies in Geophysics. At a turning point of her journey, the author details how participating in the viral #BlackInTheIvory hashtag started a healing process for the years of racial trauma she had endured and buried deep within. She further reflects on how this empowerment enabled her to initiate new movements pushing for equity for Black people in the geosciences.
This chapter provides an insight into the difficulties of being accepted onto a PhD course. The author acknowledges that, despite having a clear vision for their future and fulfilling the required selection criteria, acceptance to study for a PhD is still not guaranteed. Difficulties in academic progression from master’s to PhD soon became apparent. In this chapter, the theme of resilience comes through strongly, with the author applying to a host of different projects (nearly 50) and bouncing back to apply again after being rejected without explanation or feedback on how to improve. This cycle continued until finally getting accepted three years later. The author provides a glimpse of starting a PhD during the pandemic and experiencing imposter syndrome. She further outlines the benefits of work experience and the importance of not comparing your PhD journey to others, as it does not always go to plan. Sometimes scuppered plans lead to better opportunities. She highlights too the importance of a good environment and being adaptable to adjust to new settings and moving away from home upon acceptance to a PhD programme. The author ends by celebrating the support system, including supervisors, friends, family and her ‘tribe’.
In the concluding chapter the editors draw on the key themes emanating from the book to make recommendations for the sector. Commencing with admissions, it is argued that the system is opaque, lacks transparency and so provides ground for discrimination, to the detriment of Black and other minoritised groups. We call for equitable, transparent entry requirements for entry into doctoral study and clear guidance on the funding available and how and when to apply for it. The chapter makes similar recommendations at all levels of the process, from entry through to support and on to completion. We argue that what is required is an approach to learning that places the Black student and their needs at the centre of the educational process. For this to happen change is not only required at the level of the student experience, but also institutionally and structurally. Removing barriers to entry and promoting progression will only occur if the lived experiences of Black students are valued, not only at the doctoral level but beyond. The editors then conclude with a fictionalisation and a message to their community.
This chapter takes a more direct approach to fighting back against discrimination that takes place within institutional walls. The author talks about the initial excitement in beginning doctoral studies, the hope of being intellectually stimulated and challenged, and how this quickly faded upon being in the environment and observing difficult working environments, intimidation and systematic bullying. The author speaks about the treatment of international students who were denied services and how this treatment, while disgusting, paled in comparison to the treatment of those who flagged questionable university practices and faced serious reprisals. The author further recounts how a group of PhD students at this institution decided to start organising together to demand change, despite this oppressive environment.
