PGR VOICES: About the PGR Society 2024-2025

by Marylene Wamukoya, Shukanto Das, Xuan Zhou and Areej Almutairi | 2024-2025 PGR Society team members

Our PGR team of representatives have put together a series of initiatives centred around building community among the PGRs and developing a culture of excellence in research. In addition to these, we provide support and resources and spaces for social activities outside of the PhD life.

What we do

This monthly lunch club is held on the last Thursday of every month in Usher Connect and is ‘bring-your-own-lunch’. It allows us to celebrate our achievements with each other and also provides a safe space to whinge about the ‘failures-to-launch’ with individuals who are walking the same journey as you. As such, you find yourself in a community that fully appreciates the celebration of the little things that may not seem that important to others and that contains a wealth of guidance and resources for those times when things have not gone quite right.

Usher PGR lunchtime meet-ups

Held monthly, these informal lunch gatherings offer a relaxed space for PGRs to connect, share experiences, and support one another. Whether celebrating small wins or venting about research roadblocks, these meet-ups are about building community and finding solidarity with others on similar journeys.

USP (Usher Service to Profession) Workshops

Our bi-monthly workshops create opportunities for PGRs to both learn and contribute to the wider Usher community. These sessions cover a range of academic, professional, and practical topics—often led by fellow PGRs or invited speakers. The goal is to promote skill-sharing, peer learning, and a culture of giving back to the profession.

Socials

We organise seasonal social events throughout the year, offering a chance to unwind, have fun, and connect with fellow researchers outside of academic settings. These gatherings strengthen our community and celebrate the diverse people who make up the Usher PGR cohort.

PGR Voices

Our newsletter PGR Voices  highlights the diverse voices of postgraduate researchers (PGRs) across all stages of their PhD journey. It offers a space to reflect on both academic and personal experiences - celebrating milestones, sharing challenges, and recognising cultural moments within our community. PGR Voices helps build connection and visibility across the PGR cohort by making room for the stories that often go untold.

The PGR Degree Committe (PGRDC) is led by Chris Weir, and a convenient contact point for all PGRs is Sarah Golightly who is generally located in the Student Support Hub on Mondays and in the Professional Services neighbourhood on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The PGRDC is also available for both MS Teams and in-person conversations, in the event that there are confidential issues that you would like to share with the committee. In such a case, please email Sarah (sarah.golightly@ed.ac.uk) to arrange a mutually convenient time.

For those PGRs who are based in the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society (CBSS) and in the Edinburgh Clinical Trials Unit (ECTU), your postgraduate advisor is housed within the Usher PhD programme in which you are registered (Centre for Population Health Sciences, Centre for Medical Informatics or Centre for Global Health).

Thank you

We would like to thank all PGRs, PGR Reps, PGR Support Officers, Postgraduate Advisors, Directors of Postgraduate Research and the Usher Community who have gone before us at Usher. We are truly standing on the shoulders of giants from whom we have inherited a great legacy and we will bequeath a greater legacy to all others coming after us!