Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Open Research Europe logoLink to Open Research Europe
. 2022 Oct 13;2:119. [Version 1] doi: 10.12688/openreseurope.15083.1

Humanizing science: seven actions for PhD students to become next generation, future-proof scientists

Ingrid Valks 1,a, Dara Satrio 1,b, Angelica Reitsma 1, Katja Wolthers 1, Kris Dierickx 2, Kim Benschop 3, Dasja Pajkrt 1; OrganoVIR
PMCID: PMC10611947  PMID: 37900618

Abstract

PhD students, also referred to as the early stage researchers (ESRs), that are participating in the European Union’s Horizon 2020 consortium, OrganoVIR, have the ambition to become top scientists in virology with innovative, animal-free, research models; organoids. To achieve this ambition, developing more self-confidence and resilience was used to strengthen personal leadership needed in such professional role. Towards this purpose, seven actions have been selected that guide the ESRs through their PhD journey and help them elevate their career perspectives and employability in the international labor market. In this essay, we share the seven personal development actions that have been carried out by the ESRs in the OrganoVIR H2020 Innovative Training Network (ITN) project, with the goal of demonstrating how training human skills can contribute to innovation and collaboration in European research. This article is an effort by OrganoVIR’s Training and Education Committee to provide views on personal growth and leadership awareness.

Keywords: Personal Development, Early Stage Researchers, Next Generation Scientists, Innovative Training Network

Plain language summary

This article highlights the importance of including a personal development program in a research training program, particularly, one that employs PhD students. A survey conducted by Nature (2019) shows that PhD students work for over 40 hours every week and that they ranked their work–life balance as a main concern throughout their PhD project. Additionally, academic pressure, uncertainty, and the amount of workload also play a role in mental health problems amongst PhD students. PhD students struggling with mental health problems are reluctant to seek treatment. This is caused by the fear of stigma or the fear of potential negative impact it might have on their future careers.

Supervised skill-building programs have shown to improve the lives of university students and to boost their professional influence ( Conley et al., 2015). These programs have helped minimize mental health problems such as anxiety and depression and can improve social and emotional skills. Within the OrganoVIR Personal Development Plan, OrganoVIR’s PhD students, also known as early stage researchers (ESRs), are guided through seven actions to help them become the next generation of scientists. These actions include taking care of their personal well-being, achieving a better understanding of their purpose in life, discovering their own identity, having an excellent understanding of how values and beliefs impact internal and external communication, boost emotional competences, integrating insights in personal and professional life as well as experimenting with new leadership behavior, and recognizing and leading ethical dilemmas.

Introduction

OrganoVIR is an EU Horizon 2020 Innovative Training Network (ITN) under the EU Horizon 2020 research program, coordinated by Dr. Katja Wolthers and Prof. Dasja Pajkrt. OrganoVIR’s training program trains PhD students or early stage researchers (ESRs) in the field of human organoids for virus research. When the OrganoVIR project was created, Wolthers and Pajkrt recognized that it is important for the next generation of scientists to develop their human skills (or personal skills) alongside their scientific skills. Therefore, at the start of the OrganoVIR project, three-skills sets were defined: 1) technical skills and academic skills to become an academic researcher in virus research with organoids through the scientific training program; 2) managerial skills through the newly developed and tailored pre-MBA; and, most importantly, 3) human skills through the BeyondU Personal Development Plan. Human skills, also called life skills or soft skills, are personal-oriented skills that require a mind–body–heart connection. These are skills that enable a person to think clearly, to collaborate harmoniously in teams and to lead people with compassion.

In this essay, we use the term “human skills” instead of “soft skills” as we believe that it provides a broad umbrella definition to describe a wide subset of characteristics to regulate emotions, act and react mindfully and be self-aware. The Power of Time Off is a consultancy firm for sustainable employability and conscious leadership. With the guidance of an experienced Personal Development coach from the Power of Time Off, the OrganoVIR Personal Development Plan (PDP) has been implemented to develop human skills of the ESRs. By doing so, they will increase their career perspectives and employability as well as ensure a balanced and healthy life.

The new generation of scientists

A survey conducted by Nature (2019) reported that 76% of PhD students worked more than 40 hours per week and that 79% PhD students ranked their work–life balance as a main concern throughout their studies. Aside from their work–life balance, there are other factors that affect the mental health of PhD students. These include the pressure to publish, a strain in relationships with their advisors, uncertainty and financial insecurity, the competitive academic job market, and workload ( Levecque et al., 2017; Mackie & Bates, 2019; Wyatt & Oswalt, 2013). The Nature survey also revealed that out of 6,320 PhD students only 36% of these students sought treatment for mental problems such as anxiety and depression. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2015), the reluctance to seek help for mental problems amongst PhD students is caused by the fear of stigma or the negative impact on their future career.

Although technical skills are important to have in today’s labor market, having “human skills” such as empathy, adaptability, and critical thinking is what helps employees stand out. A study by Conley et al. (2015) have shown that skill-building interventions such as personal development programs can improve the lives of university students. In fact, Conley et al. (2015) proved that skill-building programs that include supervised practice are more successful in reducing anxiety, stress, depression, and in improving social and emotional skills. Taking all this into account, OrganoVIR provides the Personal Development Plan to all ESRs to help achieve a better performance, increase their professional influence by growing personal competences, and provide them with greater peace of mind.

During the intake, we used Google Forms to ask OrganoVIR’s 14 ESRs, who represent 13 nationalities, about their motivation to join OrganoVIR in an open question. As a result, we observed that there were three key factors that motivated these ESRs to join OrganoVIR: intellectual development and the opportunity to collaborate with an international team in academics and business, the opportunity to be mentored by experts from across Europe, and the training program that pays attention to self-development.

Future-ready scientists go beyond science with the BeyondU PDP

The BeyondU PDP is a program that is fully committed to developing human skills, personal competences and practicing well-being as foundation skills for future-ready leaders in business and science. The program is based on the logical levels of Bateson and Dilts, an analysis and change model that provides insight into the different levels of communication, change and functioning and describes a systematic approach to change. Based on the hierarchy in the processes of learning, change, and communication formulated by Bateson (1972), Dilts (1996) defined six logical levels; purpose, identity, values and beliefs, emotional capabilities, behavior, and environment. The PhD students of OrganoVIR follow the modules in the PDP in the specific order recommended by Bateson and Dilts’ model.

Within the PDP, a seventh action is added: practicing well-being as a foundation skill to take leadership of our own mental well-being and vitality. Due to the typical 21st-century challenges such as a desire for finding meaning in life, rapid changes, overload of work and information, time pressure and the uncertainty of our role as humans with the rise of technology, we also need to take leadership of our own (mental) well-being and vitality ( Hougaard & Carter, 2018; Harari, 2019). The well-being modules align with the theory of both Scharmer (2009) and Judith (1987), who identify that humans need to connect on different intelligence levels such as physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.

The PDP includes live, online and off-grid educational experiences or action learning. Action learning is learning from experience or harmonization of thinking and doing. Learning is an ongoing process that includes an open and curious mind, the ability to listen, ask questions and explore ideas. Action learning involves taking steps to learn through experience. Action learning has proven very effective in developing leadership and problem-solving methods and skills in practice. It has therefore become a regular part of the leadership development program of organizations.

Together with the coach of the Power of Time Off, we explored the seven actions in the BeyondU personal development plan which includes the following: 1) taking care of your personal well-being; 2) achieving a better understanding of your purpose in life; 3) discovering your own identity; 4) having an excellent understanding of how values and beliefs impact communication; 5) boost emotional competences; 6) integrating insights in personal and professional life as well as experimenting with new leadership behavior; and 7) recognizing and leading ethical dilemmas. These actions are described in more detail below.

Action 1: practice well-being as a foundation skill

Practicing well-being as a foundation skill is key to improving personal resilience. Next-generation scientists must be physically, emotionally and mentally fit to overcome challenges, stress, anxiety and sometimes, loneliness in their way. Within the program, well-being modules are offered in the form of live masterclasses and virtual masterclasses (monthly e-vitality courses). The holistic approach of the well-being modules includes nature connection, meditation and breathing, nutrition, stress-relief and learning to relax. The ESRs state that the drive to participate in the wellbeing course is driven by the desire to release stress, to learn how to deal with anxiety, and to be more focused. After attending well-being courses, the ESRs self-reported an overall improvement in their mental wellbeing, happiness, concentration and focus, sleep pattern, and work relationships.

Action 2: discover your purpose in life

Within the program, ESRs identified and explored their purpose and passion in life. Realizing their purpose can guide OrganoVIR’s ESRs through tough decisions and tough times and inspire them to move forward. By understanding their purpose, the ESRs will be able to identify situations that are not beneficial to them or that does not contribute to their purpose, and to avoid these situations or delegate tasks where possible. Furthermore, when ESRs realize their personal purpose is aligned with the purpose of OrganoVIR, it helps OrganoVIR’s ESRs not fall into burnout. This became apparent in times of uncertainties during the COVID-19 outbreak when many of the ESRs had limited access to their laboratories.

Action 3: share your identity with the outside world

During the PDP, the ESRs learn to connect with their inner-voice and to master their physical voice. By speaking more concisely and clearly, the ESRs will be able to influence their audience more effectively; to convince them, to gain their attention during a presentation and to be recognized as an opinion leader. Personal coaching by an experienced personal development coach helps ESRs to turn weaknesses into strengths, showing them factors that hinder their growth and development. With this new skill, ESRs will be able to connect with themselves and have more impactful communication.

Action 4: understand the impact of cross-cultural values and beliefs

It is important to understand, respond, and deal with how different people have different values on a macro and micro level, especially in an environment that harbors different cultures such as the OrganoVIR consortium. This fourth action minimizes communication gaps caused by cultural differences through increasing the ESR’s awareness of cultural values and the impact of behavior and intercultural communication in an international work environment.

OrganoVIR’s ESRs are also being guided to create awareness about their first interaction system, namely their family. More specifically, awareness is increased on behavior patterns that are occurred due to an individual’s upbringing. Having awareness on behavior patterns that are not accommodating to personal growth helps individuals to develop new, functional, and more productive patterns to communicate with others.

Action 5: boost your emotional competences

Emotional competences, the ability to understand personal emotional reactions in work and life situations, is an essential factor of an individual’s personal and professional life. Having high emotional competences helps individuals the understanding of how emotions can impact productivity, work, and communication in specific scenarios. Individuals who have ambitions to have a professional influence and a healthy, happy work life will benefit from having emotional competences.

Emotional competences are one of the defining characteristics of success in the workplace. To boost emotional competences, one must first begin with consciousness. Being aware of the present with a calm, focused, and clear mind will have a positive impact on the ESR’s physiology, psychology, and work performance. Second, one must have compassion for themselves and for others. Having compassion means the act or capacity for having sympathy for the suffering of yourself or others together with the wish to alleviate it. Third, one must have the ability to create meaningful connections including with their own selves. Creating meaningful connections will help to be good listeners and be more attentive, which will ultimately improve our self-esteem, happiness, and well-being.

Action 6: work and lead from your future-self

To become a 21 st-century leader in science, ESRs will need to embrace the challenges they face in today’s world. New, more human-focused, leadership starts with embodying well-being, developing personal competences, and leading from the future. During this module in the personal development plan, the ESRs reflect on their insights and learnings throughout their PDP journey. Sharing answers to questions such as “What have I already integrated in life and at work” and “What did I let go, what behavior am I experimenting with?”. Furthermore, the ESR’s behavior is the vehicle that takes them to what they would like to achieve in life. Since they are the driver of their behavior the ESRs are guided, during this PDP module, through a process in which they see themselves with a new perspective.

Action 7: recognize moral dilemmas and demonstrate moral courage

OrganoVIR’s ESRs are encouraged to focus on their personal and professional environment. Within these environments, dilemmas will arise, and decisions must be made. To make a suitable decision, a good moral compass and moral courage is required. Therefore, ESRs are trained to identify and to lead conversations about ethical dilemmas in a seven-step-approach. To demonstrate moral courage, ESRs learn to bridge the gap between thinking and doing.

Conclusion

Understanding people and creating connections, including with ourselves, is one of the most important aspects for PhD students to become a human and a future-proof scientist. PhD students who are well developed in their personal competences and who practice well-being as a foundation skill can take leadership of their personal and professional life. With its goal to develop the next generation of scientists to become the innovative leaders of tomorrow, OrganoVIR understands the need for a personal development program and has therefore incorporated the BeyondU Personal Development Plan into its training program. In a world of constant change, we must navigate our scientists to be ready for 21 st century challenges by providing a program that advances their human skills. Only then, when scientists have developed their human skills, will we be able to humanize science.

Ethics and consent

Ethical approval and consent were not required.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all ESRs of the ITN project OrganoVIR for their trust and engagement in the BeyondU program and for sharing their insights and lessons learned: Emilia Barreto Durán, Asli Aybike Doğan, Igor Lopes Coqueiro, Georgios Stroulios, Louisa Wallace, Laurensius Kevin Lie, Inés García Rodríguez, Giulia Moreni, Thuc Nguyen Dan Do, Fatma Masmoudi, Andrew Barnhart, Ciro Esposito, Nânci Ferreira and Louise Bondeelle.

Funding Statement

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 812673.

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

[version 1; peer review: 4 approved with reservations]

Data availability

No data are associated with this article.

References

  1. Bateson G: Steps to an ecology of mind.Ballantine, New York.1972. Reference Source [Google Scholar]
  2. Hougaard R, Carter J: The Mind of the Leader: How to Lead Yourself, Your People, and Your Organization for Extraordinary Results.Harvard Business Review Press,2018. Reference Source [Google Scholar]
  3. Conley CS, Durlak JA, Kirsch AC: A Meta-analysis of Universal Mental Health Prevention Programs for Higher Education Students. Prev Sci. 2015;16(4):487–507. 10.1007/s11121-015-0543-1 [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dilts R: Visionary Leadership Skills.Capitola, CA: Meta Publications.1996. Reference Source [Google Scholar]
  5. Harari YN: 21 Lessons for the 21st Century.Harvard Business School Publishing - Harvard Business Review Press,2019;29–30. [Google Scholar]
  6. Judith A: Wheels of life.Llewellyn Publications.1987. Reference Source [Google Scholar]
  7. Lauchlan E: Shift Learning Nature PhD Survey 2019. Nature. 2019;2. Reference Source [Google Scholar]
  8. Levecque K, Anseel F, De Beuckelaer A, et al. : Work organization and mental health problems in PhD students. Research Policy. 2017;46(4):868–879. 10.1016/j.respol.2017.02.008 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  9. Mackie SA, Bates GW: Contribution of the doctoral education environment to PhD candidates’ mental health problems: A scoping review. Higher Education Research & Development. 2019;38(3):565–578. 10.1080/07294360.2018.1556620 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  10. OECD: Fit Mind, Fit Job: From Evidence to Practice in Mental Health at Work.Mental Health at Work. OECD Publishing,2015. 10.1787/9789264228283-3-en [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  11. Scharmer CO: Theory U: Leading from the Future as It Emerges.Berrett-Koehler Publishers,2009;1(2). 10.1177/194675670900100213 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  12. Wyatt T, Oswalt SB: Comparing mental health issues among undergraduate and graduate students. Am J Health Educ. 2013;44(2):96–107. 10.1080/19325037.2013.764248 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
Open Res Eur. 2023 Jun 19. doi: 10.21956/openreseurope.16311.r32326

Reviewer response for version 1

Kim Brown 2, Rachel Spronken-Smith 1

  1. This article could do more to clearly establish why, within the field of doctoral science study, it is beneficial to include a personal development program. The program sounds very interesting, but as noted by previous reviewers, more literature is available to robustly ground the assertions made in the article. Please cite Lauchlan (2019) as the author of the Nature survey report.

  2. I agree that the term ‘human skills’ feels somewhat disconnected to the aims suggested. While the company that delivers the program uses the term ‘human skills’, within the field of doctoral research, ‘transferable skills’ is more commonly used. In this case, the particular subset of transferable skills being discussed are personal competencies and wellbeing skills. The research of Senekal, Munnik and Frantz (2022) 1 provides some guidance on personal resourcefulness as part of expected doctoral attributes, and is worth considering.

  3. It is not clear in the article whether authors are justifying their decision to include a personal development programme (which I applaud on a personal level), or whether they are arguing that such a program should be part of doctoral education for scientists in the 21 st century, for which they do not present sufficient evidence. The reporting of the program switches verb tense between Action 2 and Action 3, suggesting that perhaps the program was underway but not complete at the time of writing? Related to this, it is unclear how actions 2, 4 and 5 are actually developed – what are the activities? Some clarity on the argument would help readers decide on whether sufficient evidence has been provided for the claims made in the conclusion.

  4. The article certainly has potential to contribute to the cultural and social understanding of the field of personal development and wellbeing during doctoral study within the particular historical context that we find ourselves, pre- and post-pandemic. Inclusion of a greater range of data (participants’ quotes as suggested) would enhance the contribution this essay can make. If the authors have the capacity to do so, a longitudinal study of the cohort would be particularly helpful to the field of doctoral academic development.

Is the argument persuasive and supported by appropriate evidence?

Partly

Is the work clearly and cogently presented?

Partly

Is the topic of the essay discussed accurately in the context of the current literature?

Partly

Does the essay contribute to the cultural, historical, social understanding of the field?

Partly

Reviewer Expertise:

Doctoral education; transferable skills; inclusion.

We confirm that we have read this submission and believe that we have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however we have significant reservations, as outlined above.

References

  • 1. : A systematic review of doctoral graduate attributes: Domains and definitions. Frontiers in Education .2022;7: 10.3389/feduc.2022.1009106 10.3389/feduc.2022.1009106 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
Open Res Eur. 2023 Jun 13. doi: 10.21956/openreseurope.16311.r32325

Reviewer response for version 1

Basil Cahusac de Caux 1

This essay is a welcome attempt at raising awareness of the needs of doctoral candidates beyond the hard skills they develop through (multi)disciplinary research and supervision. However, it would benefit from a number of amendments:

1. The work should be more concretely grounded in the literature on doctoral candidates. There are numerous papers, monographs, and edited books that deal specifically with the kinds of skills that doctoral candidates should develop, ways to develop such skills, and the necessity of fostering these skills in the first instance.

2. Reconsider your use of the term 'human skills', as it is too broad and has no real precedent in the literature. I recommend substituting it with the term 'transferable skills', as it represents practically the same set of skills you describe in your essay.

3. Given the small sample size (14 ESRs), it would be nice if you dedicated some space to the voices of your cohort. This would not only provide the reader with qualitative insights, but would also be good use of data that you have probably already generated. Doing this would lend more weight to the claims you make regarding 'self-reported [...] improvement in their mental wellbeing, happiness, concentration', etc.

4. While you hint at the impact of the pandemic, due to the wholesale closure of labs and research facilities, it would be remiss of you not to mention the impact of the pandemic on 'the new generation of scientists'. There is plenty of literature on this. You can consult journals such as The International Journal of Doctoral Studies and edited books published by Springer (e.g. Research and Teaching in a Pandemic World).

In addition to the above, there are a number of minor points that can be addressed. For instance, mention the year of publication immediately after the Bateson and Dilts citations (page 3). Add a visual representation of the Bateson (1972) and Dilts (1996) models to page 4. I also recommend adding a reference/ citation upon first mention of Action learning. Action 5 reads like a textbook description of mindfulness...is it? If so, cite one or two sources in the literature on mindfulness and doctoral candidates. Please also expand on Action 7, as it is too short in its current form. Please also use terminology consistently throughout your essay. For instance, you refer to your cohort as ESRs (early stage researchers) in most sections of the essay, but in the Conclusion you switch to PhD students. I would unify these two terms (as ESRs or PhD students -- the choice is yours).

Lastly, there are some grammatical and stylistic issues that can be easily addressed by proofreading the essay.

Is the argument persuasive and supported by appropriate evidence?

Partly

Is the work clearly and cogently presented?

Partly

Is the topic of the essay discussed accurately in the context of the current literature?

Partly

Does the essay contribute to the cultural, historical, social understanding of the field?

Partly

Reviewer Expertise:

Sociology of Higher Education, Sociology of Language, Doctoral Studies

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

Open Res Eur. 2023 Jun 1. doi: 10.21956/openreseurope.16311.r31480

Reviewer response for version 1

Liezel Frick 1

The article presented here is timely and relevant to the researcher careers and development community at large. The comments provided are aimed at helping the authors develop this work towards a more defendable contribution.

  1. There is a growing body of literature that could support the argument which seems to have not been consulted - see for example the work of LERU working reports and the Wellcome Trust within grey literature, and the work of Kirsi Pyhalto and colleagues on researcher careers in STEM areas, as well as that of Karri Holley. 

  2. The notion of 'action learning' is currently under-theorised, while there is a wealth of literature emanating from both the managements sciences and education on the topic. 

  3. In order to make sense of the findings, readers would benefit from more detail on how the data was construed and interpreted in order to get to the seven actions presented here. This would make the study more defendable and rigorous. 

  4. How does the BeyondU PDP programme compare/differ to other similar programmes? What are the shortcomings of the programme? What are possible implications for policy, practice and future research?

Is the argument persuasive and supported by appropriate evidence?

Partly

Is the work clearly and cogently presented?

Partly

Is the topic of the essay discussed accurately in the context of the current literature?

Partly

Does the essay contribute to the cultural, historical, social understanding of the field?

Partly

Reviewer Expertise:

Doctoral education

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

Open Res Eur. 2023 May 22. doi: 10.21956/openreseurope.16311.r31477

Reviewer response for version 1

Sara Cotterall 1

This essay addresses a critical issue that affects large numbers of PhD candidates and Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) worldwide: a marked increase in the levels of anxiety, stress and other mental health issues they experience. Given the high stakes nature of doctoral research, however, this issue is not always adequately acknowledged or addressed by research institutions. Consequently, research into ways of supporting the personal development of doctoral researchers together with their existing research skills training is essential.

However, personal development training of the type reported in this essay is not the only means of providing support. Other approaches include encouraging ESRs to establish and participate in (online) support groups (Panayidou & Priest, 2021 1 ; Elliot & Makara, 2021 2 ; Pretorious et. al., 2019 3 ), enhancing the supervisory relationship (Wollast et al., 2023 4 ), and using writing networks to build confidence, boost motivation and support identity building (Aitchison & Guerin, 2014 5 ). It would have been good to locate the approach adopted in this study in the context of other well-researched approaches.

The account provided of the intervention delivered in this study raises a doubt about the extent to which the training was aligned with the particularities of the doctoral researchers’ contexts. First, the analysis and change model (Bateson, 1972; Dilts, 1996) around which the intervention was organised did not appear to relate specifically to the specialised word of academia. The stress experienced by many doctoral candidates (and junior members of academic research teams) is triggered by factors such as the pressure to publish, funding issues, crises of personal confidence, power dynamics in supervision or research teams, time management problems, intercultural communication concerns, personal financial issues and family roles and responsibilities. Many of these stressors are peculiar to the academic research environment, and to the identity-related aspects of becoming a scholar. Consequently, they warrant particular attention.

Second, it is difficult to determine the precise nature of the intervention because few details are provided. Instead, the bulk of the essay is devoted to reporting the content of the programme, detailing the seven very broad Actions (e.g., Discover your purpose in life) recommended in the Personal Development Plan. It would have been helpful to see an example of how one of these Actions had been presented, explored and trialled (?) in the participating ESRs’ respective research contexts.

This paper would be more valuable for early stage researchers, their supervisors and more senior colleagues and researchers in the field of doctoral education if it were developed along the following lines:

  1. Provide examples of the online learning tasks that formed part of the PDP intervention;

  2. Include details of the action learning projects that participants were invited to complete;

  3. Present sample materials from the wellbeing modules.

  4. Incorporate feedback from some/all of the ESRs who completed the programme.

In relation to the final point above, I was left wondering what the 14 Early Stage Researchers thought about the intervention. In other accounts of interventions to support ESRs’ wellbeing, the PhD candidates’ voices are often allocated as much space as the authors’ description of the intervention itself. In the absence of participant evaluations, in this case it is difficult to judge the extent to which the programme met the interpersonal needs of the participants.

Is the argument persuasive and supported by appropriate evidence?

Partly

Is the work clearly and cogently presented?

Yes

Is the topic of the essay discussed accurately in the context of the current literature?

Partly

Does the essay contribute to the cultural, historical, social understanding of the field?

Partly

Reviewer Expertise:

Doctoral education, Higher education, Language teacher education, Language learner autonomy, Language learning strategies

I confirm that I have read this submission and believe that I have an appropriate level of expertise to confirm that it is of an acceptable scientific standard, however I have significant reservations, as outlined above.

References

  • 1. : Enhancing postgraduate researcher wellbeing through support groups. Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education .2021;12(1) : 10.1108/SGPE-06-2020-0038 42-57 10.1108/SGPE-06-2020-0038 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 2. : An online community of international scholars: Enabling spaces for reciprocal academic and psychological support. Innovations in Education and Teaching International .2021;58(6) : 10.1080/14703297.2021.1991424 693-703 10.1080/14703297.2021.1991424 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 3. : Wellbeing in Doctoral Education: Insights and Guidance from the Student Experience. Springer Singapore .2019; 10.1007/978-981-13-9302-0 10.1007/978-981-13-9302-0 [DOI]
  • 4. : Facing the dropout crisis among PhD candidates: the role of supervisor support in emotional well-being and intended doctoral persistence among men and women. Studies in Higher Education .2023; 10.1080/03075079.2023.2172151 1-16 10.1080/03075079.2023.2172151 [DOI] [Google Scholar]
  • 5. : Writing Groups for Doctoral Education and Beyond: Innovations in practice and theory. Routledge .2014;

Associated Data

    This section collects any data citations, data availability statements, or supplementary materials included in this article.

    Data Availability Statement

    No data are associated with this article.

    Articles from Open Research Europe are provided here courtesy of European Commission, Directorate General for Research and Innovation

    RESOURCES