jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • Recruiters
  • Your Account

  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

career-advice.jobs.ac.uk

Secondary Sidebar

jobs.ac.uk Career Advice

  • CV and Cover Letter Advice
    • CV Tips
    • Free CV Templates
    • Cover Letters
    • Personal Profiles
    • CV Resources
  • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
    • Jobseeking Tips
    • Academic Interviews
    • Professional Interviews
    • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
  • Career Development
    • Academic Careers
    • Research Careers
    • Professional Careers
    • Working in Industry
    • Career Development Resources
    • Global Careers
    • Working From Home
  • Women in Higher Education
  • Resources
    • Academic Case Studies
    • Professional Case Studies
    • Interview questions tool
    • Job Profiles
      • Health and Medical
      • Engineering and Technology
      • Computer Science
    • Blog
    • Vlogs
  • Webinars
  • Country Profiles
    • Africa
      • Egypt
      • Ghana
      • Kenya
      • Nigeria
      • South
    • Americas
      • Canada
      • United States of America
    • Asia
      • Bahrain
      • Brunei
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Japan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Malaysia
      • Qatar
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore
      • South Korea
      • Turkey
      • United Arab Emirates
    • Europe
      • Belgium
      • Denmark
      • Finland
      • France
      • Germany
      • Ireland
      • Italy
      • Netherlands
      • Norway
      • Russia
      • Spain
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • United Kingdom
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
  • Studentship Advice
    • PhD
    • Studentship Resources
    • Vlogs
  • Sections
    • CV and Cover Letter Advice
      • CV Tips
      • CV Templates
      • Cover Letters
      • Personal Profiles
      • CV Resources
    • Jobseeking and Interview Tips
      • Jobseeking Tips
      • Academic Interviews
      • Professional Interviews
      • Jobseeking and Interview Resources
    • Career Development
      • Academic Careers
      • Research Careers
      • Professional Careers
      • Working in Industry
      • Career Development Resources
      • Global Careers
    • Resources
      • Academic Case Studies
      • Professional Case Studies
      • Interview questions tool
      • Blog
      • Vlogs
    • Country Profiles
      • Africa
        • Egypt Country Profile
        • Ghana Country Profile
        • Kenya Country Profile
        • Nigeria Country Profile
        • South Africa Country Profile
      • Americas
        • Canada Country Profile
        • United States of America Country Profile
      • Asia
        • Bahrain Country Profile
        • Brunei Country Profile
        • China Country Profile
        • Hong Kong Country Profile
        • India Country Profile
        • Japan Country Profile
        • Kazakhstan Country Profile
        • Malaysia Country Profile
        • Qatar Country Profile
        • Saudi Arabia Country Profile
        • Singapore Country Profile
        • South Korea Country Profile
        • Turkey Country Profile
        • United Arab Emirates Country Profile
      • Europe
        • Belgium Country Profile
        • Denmark Country Profile
        • Finland Country Profile
        • France Country Profile
        • Germany Country Profile
        • Ireland Country Profile
        • Italy Country Profile
        • Netherlands Country Profile
        • Norway Country Profile
        • Russia Country Profile
        • Spain Country Profile
        • Sweden Country Profile
        • Switzerland Country Profile
        • United Kingdom Country Profile
      • Oceania
        • Australia Country profile
        • New Zealand Country Profile
    • Studentship Advice
      • PhD
      • Studentship Resources
      • Vlogs

Working from home on your PhD

working from home on your PhD

Seven tips for staying motivated when working from home on your PhD

During COVID-19 we all pivoted to working from home, almost overnight. As we are nearing the 1,5-year mark of this global pandemic, we know that the nature of work has changed. Many companies will adopt a hybrid model, allowing employees to work some days from home and some days from the office.

PhD candidates may find that they will shift to working more from home to avoid long commutes. For other PhD candidates, ongoing COVID-19 restrictions mean that work from home will remain the norm for more months ahead. And, those PhD candidates who work on a part-time schedule, may find that working from home on their research is something they can combine better with their day job.

Regardless of the reason why you are working from home on your PhD, the solitude that comes with working away from friends and colleagues is real. You may feel that it is harder to remain motivated. In today’s post, I give you seven tips on how you can work productively on your research from home.

1.      Communicate clearly with your supervisor

When your supervisor doesn’t see you in the lab or in your office, they may be wondering if you are still making progress on your research. The key here is to make sure you maintain good communication with your supervisor. Set regular meetings: either weekly or biweekly to discuss your progress. If you are working from home and caring for others at the same time, understand that your time is more limited than before, and let your supervisor know about your situation. Work on setting clear expectations with your supervisor: discuss how you will meet, how you will collaborate, and set targets and goals together. You can find an example template for productive meetings with your supervisor here.

2.      Roll with the punches

If you are working from home as a result of a university closure, then develop realistic plans. Change your research plan so that you can take into account lab closures, cancelled field visits, delayed conferences, and summer schools that did not happen. Take stock of the situation, and return to your research question. How far are you? How large is the impact on your work? Where can you pivot in your research? Which opportunities are there? Make sure to discuss this with your supervisor as well.

3.      Beat procrastination

It may be hard to work productively when you are all by yourself. You may be tempted by the distractions of the TV or your smartphone. You may find yourself going down rabbit holes online, or randomly clicking between email messages without answering or getting anything done. If that’s the case, it’s time to beat procrastination.

There is a myriad of productivity technique out there for you to try. You can try out the Pomodoro technique, in which you focus on a single task for 25 minutes and then take a five-minute break. You can timeblock your day, focusing on one task at a time for a certain period (i.e. your time block). You can set word count goals to achieve within two hours. You can gamify your pending tasks. Make sure you plan your days and weeks, so that you know what you should be working on. Then, be very specific about what you want to achieve. Compare “I am going to work on my paper for 2 hours” to “I will write a paragraph about my experimental setup for my paper and will develop the figures to illustrate this paragraph. I will finish this work in two hours.”

4.      Plan rewards

To keep yourself going, day after day, it is important to plan rewards. What do you really enjoy? How can you celebrate a day that went well? This strategy requires you think about two things: when you will end your day, and what you will do after your workday. Just like you would be going for a social activity after work, find things that you can look forward to at the end of the day – this strategy helps you avoid that work bleeds into the evening and weekends when you work from home and there are no physical boundaries anymore. Decide in advance for yourself how you want to celebrate: a nice home-cooked meal shared with your family, a walk to the ice cream parlour, or maybe a long soak in a hot bath?

5.      Stay in touch with colleagues

Working from home means that you are physically distanced from your colleagues, but it doesn’t need to mean that you are isolated from them. If you are on a hybrid schedule between working from home and working from the office, make sure you use your time in the office or lab to hang out with your colleagues. It may be tempting to just use your bench time as efficiently as possible, but put in the time and effort to maintain the relationships with your colleagues as well.

If you work exclusively from home, try to find ways to keep in touch with your colleagues. Take advantage of all the online networking tools. You can set up a recurring coffee meeting, or you can be more adventurous and try out playing a game together online, joining a virtual yoga class together and meeting for virtual tea afterwards, or cook something “together” in the comfort of your own house.

6.      Connect to your “why”

When your motivation is sinking, connect back to your original motivation for doing your PhD in the first place. Remind yourself of your “why”, even when the “how” is different than you had originally envisioned. Write down your reasons for doing the PhD, and read them frequently. If you are going through a rough patch, check in to see how you could strengthen your main motivation. For example, if your “why” is strongly related to the cause that your research serves (for example, potential applications to find a cure for cancer), find ways to connect more directly to this cause (for example, showing your work to a group of oncologists and getting their practical feedback, or connecting online with others who are working on finding a cure).

7.      Take care of yourself

You can’t work productively if you are not taking proper care of yourself. It may be easy to drift away from regular habits and schedules when our work routines have been uprooted. I would encourage you, though, to put self-care front and centre in your days. Working from home is not easy, and it requires that you treat yourself well: by getting enough sleep, by putting in the time to go outside and get some fresh air, by consciously scheduling time for exercise, and by making sure you eat nourishing and balanced meals. By the same token, make sure you can work comfortably from home – if necessary, get the right furniture and gear to be able to work in an ergonomic manner.

In summary

Working from home can be a challenge, and it may be difficult to keep going when you are not seeing your lab mates and supervisor. However, with the seven tips outlined in this article, you should be able to find a schedule that works for you, and that helps you keep your research moving forward while remaining healthy and balanced.


Share this article

Dr Eva Lantsoght

Dr. Eva Lantsoght is a Full Professor in Civil Engineering in Ecuador and tenured assistant professor in the Netherlands. Her blog PhD Talk addresses the mechanics of doing research, PhD life, and general academic matters. Find her @evalantsoght or at evalantsoght.com.

Reader Interactions

You may also like:

What is the difference between a Teaching Fellow and Research Fellow?
Different types of student support jobs
How to find your first graduate job

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Follow us

Latest Jobs

  • Research Fellow in Health and Care Economics

    Care Policy and Evaluation Centre (CPEC), London School of Economics and Political Science

    Location(s): London

    Salary: From £46,100 to £53,295 pa inclusive with potential to progress to £59,354 pa inclusive of London allowance


  • Fully Funded EPSRC DTP PhD Scholarship: Visualisation of Temporal Networks Through Interactions with the Space-Time Cube

    Computer Science, Swansea University

    Location(s): Swansea

    Salary: £17,668 annual stipend


  • Professor of Marine Science

    School of Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Oceans & Natural Sciences (SAGEONS), University of the South Pacific

    Location(s): Suva

    Salary: £56,938.37 - £61,555.32 per annum


  • Assistant Professor (Teaching & Scholarship) in Computer Science

    Experiential Digital Global Education (EDGE); Innovation Unit (London), Northeastern University London

    Location(s): London, Work from home

    Salary: £38,000 - £45,000


  • Postdoctoral Research Assistant

    University of Dundee

    Location(s): Dundee

    Salary: £34,308 - £42,155


  • Research Associate (Fixed Term)

    Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge

    Location(s): Cambridge

    Salary: £34,308 - £42,155


Footer

jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people
  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Career Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility Statement

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2022

  • Find a Job
  • Find PhDs
  • Careers Advice
  • Jobs by Email
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Terms of use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookie Policy
  • Accessibility
jobs.ac.uk - Great jobs for bright people

Copyright © jobs.ac.uk 1998 - 2022