Doing a PhD is damn hard at the best of times as relentless and isolating as it can be stimulating and satisfying.

Mental health suffers and existential angst becomes amplified as the clock ticks down to D(eadline) Day.

But the COVID-19 pandemic has now put many PhD students on an even more precarious path.

Labs are locked down, experiments stopped, crucial field trips cancelled, part-time jobs terminated, international students stranded, and there is no end to the pandemic in sight anytime soon.

How are graduate students coping, and what are their options?

How are universities responding?

And, with university revenues likely to take a big hit from a diminished overseas student market, graduate students are wondering what their employment and research funding prospects will be like after this.

Part 3 in our Science Interrupted series bringing you poignant, personal stories from a pandemic. Hear Part 1 and Part 2

Guests:Romana-Rea Begicevic (@CAPAPresident)National President, Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations PhD candidate Biosciences and Metabolic HealthSchool of Health Sciences Curtin University, WA

Hericka Bruna Figueiredo GalvaoPhD candidate Physiology Anatomy & Microbiology School of Life Sciences La Trobe University, Victoria Madison (Maddy) Hoffman (@maddy_hoff)PhD candidateCentre for Marine Ecosystems Research School of Science Edith Cowan University, Western Australia Haylo Roberts (@aqueerscientist)PhD candidateAnimal Plant & Soil Sciences School of Life Sciences La Trobe University, Victoria Professor Brian Schmidt(@cosmicpinot)Nobel Prize-winning astronomer Vice ChancellorAustralian National University, Canberra

Further information: Council of Australian Postgraduate Associations Federal Department of Education, Skills and Employment - Information sheet about COVID-19 ABCs Coronacast podcast hosted by Dr Norman Swan and Tegan Taylor

Presenter: Natasha Mitchell Producers: Natasha Mitchell and Jane Lee Sound engineer: Brendan ONeill

See the article here:
The Big PhD Pause - postgraduate students, COVID-19, and the next brain drain? (Science Interrupted Part 3) - ABC Science Online