ACRC Seminar with Dr Mengxing Joshi

What drew you to attend this event? 

My PhD journey – though it often feels more like an epic voyage given its ebbs and flows – focuses on the digital healthcare experiences of ageing people of African descent. Working in academia, particularly in the Scottish context, around the narratives of members of ageing ethnic minorities felt quite isolating at the beginning. I met Mengxing for the first time in fall 2024, during the relaunch of the British Society of Gerontology’s Scottish chapter, when I was still finding my feet as a newly minted committee member. Meeting another person who is just as passionate about working with ageing ethnic minorities as I am became a breath of fresh air for me. She later became a colleague on the BSG–Scotland committee, and I’ve since supported her event exploring the experiences of ECRs working with ethnic minority older adults. Her latest venture, the Network for Ethnicity, Migration, and Ageing (please see the link below), is still in its early days, but I’m excited to connect with others through her drive to bring together researchers who care deeply about these communities. So naturally, I wasn’t going to miss an event so perfectly aligned with my own interests.

How was your experience attending the event? What were the highlights and key moments?

In under an hour, Mengxing walked us through her academic journey — from her Bachelor’s degree to the present — whilst also sharing key findings from her PhD on loneliness among ageing ethnic minority communities. The quote above, taken directly from her slides, captures the breadth of systemic forces shaping these experiences. Her findings draw on a rich mix of methods, including a scoping review, quantitative analysis of EVENS survey data, and qualitative interviews. Mengxing’s comprehensive PhD highlights the unmistakable necessity of interdisciplinary approaches for fully understanding and addressing the complex experiences of ageing ethnic minority communities.

As insightful as her research overview was, the highlight for me was her honesty about her experience navigating academia. We often only hear about the accolades individuals achieve. What we don’t hear is how common rejection is, how many drafts never make it into our “ideal” journals, or how many stumbles early-career researchers face as they try to carve out a place in the field. Her vulnerability when outlining the pathway she took to achieve her goals came at a time of my own frustrations in my PhD. Hearing her journey reminded me that even during moments of “failure”, we can still find new ways to open other doors to the future we desire.

She also shared the practical steps she took to position herself for an academic career after her PhD. Mengxing highlighted the importance of firmly taking hold of the reins of her life and guiding herself through relevant certifications, training, and experiences, such as tutoring. With only a limited amount of time left in my own PhD, and only recently gaining clarity about what I want to do next, her talk encouraged me to be more intentional about the choices I make from now until the day I walk across the stage in McEwan Hall. Each step, as she showed us, can be part of building the career we want.

Kayla would like to thank Academy student Emilie McSwiggan for her central role in bringing Mengxing Joshi to speak at the Unviersity of Edinburgh.

If you wish to learn more about Dr Menxing Joshi, please see the following links: