Dr Anindita Samsu, School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University

A slow day of writing. A failed experiment. A rejected manuscript. An unsuccessful job application. Our day-to-day research activities are punctuated by challenges which can knock us off our feet. Fortunately, we can rely on our resilience to lift us back up, and sooner or later we dust ourselves off and soldier on. But what does resilience really mean, and what do we need to do to maintain it?

Psychologists define resilience as a measure of how well we adapt when faced with “adversity, trauma, tragedy, threats, or significant sources of stress.” Psychology research shows that we need to address six domains to foster resilience: 

1. Vision: Our sense of purpose
2. Composure: Our ability to reflect before reacting
3. Reasoning: Our inner creativity and problem-solving
4. Health: Wellness and a sense of balance in our lives
5. Tenacity: Persistence and the ability to learn from mistakes
6. Collaboration: Having networks of mutually supportive connections

Cultivating these domains means that we can maintain elasticity in our work lives, so that we can bend a bit further under higher loads without reaching our breaking point. Through my experiences and those of my colleagues, I learned that external support plays a vital role in boosting our resilience, especially in developing our research vision and collaborative networks. This support goes beyond training programs on developing inner resilience and transferable skills. Below I highlight some ways in which our institutions, supervisors, and colleagues can provide support tailored to the individual researcher, to bust the myth that resilience is something that we must attain and maintain on our own.

Vision. I had always known intuitively what my values, interests, and talents were. However, being an early career researcher, I had little understanding of how I could leverage these personal traits in the professional world of research. Without a clear sense of purpose, I was anxious about being time-poor (I had just recently become a mother) and not working on ‘the right things’ that will generate the most impact or secure me a permanent position – things which were largely outside of my control. My outlook shifted this year, when I started working one-on-one with a career coach, funded through an internal professional development grant. We dug deep to identify the aspects of my work which lit my fire and develop specific targets and actions that I needed to prioritise in order to sustain that fire. Though I realise that coaching is not accessible to everyone, I feel compelled to share that seeking out the support I needed in that moment from my university transformed my research experience and put me back in control of shaping my career.

Collaboration. During the months of COVID lockdown, some of my friends struggled to make progress on their PhD research. One of their biggest mental challenges was being disconnected from supervisors and colleagues. To overcome feelings of isolation in research, we need a network of people at work who we trust, including: 1) peers to bounce around ideas with; 2) more experienced colleagues to help us with technical issues; 3) supervisors who show genuine interest in our research progress and provide their own time and expertise when it is slow; 4) and mentors who open our eyes to opportunities we had not fully seen before. Our institutions and supervisors can provide support on all of these levels, which include: 1) organising regular, informal departmental gatherings with a view to build trust and rapport between researchers; 2) actively encouraging researchers, within and across teams, to work together to achieve more impactful research outcomes; 3) not simply cutting PhD and early career researchers some slack when they are stuck in a rut, but sitting down and actively mapping out an exit strategy with them; and 4) implementing a structured, one-on-one mentoring program between junior and more senior researchers.

The stressors in our research lives can seem monumental when amplified by job insecurity and the stresses associated with a global pandemic. We can feel left behind when colleagues appear to be churning out papers, scoring grants, nailing media interviews, and gaining an impressive social media following. We can, however, opt out of the comparison game and be (mostly) content with who we are as researchers when we have a strong and compelling sense of why we do what we do and are supported by people who will go the extra mile to see us succeed. This means that we need to stop seeing resilience as simply our ability to stay strong and take care of ourselves. Instead, we need to work together with our employers to proactively design a system of support that will help us, as individuals, stoke the fire within us when the days turn cold.

Image above: PhD researcher Fatemeh Amirpoorsaeed (right) setting up a ‘sandbox’ model of basin and mountain-building processes in the Geodynamic Modelling Laboratory (Monash University). Collaborating with her is one of the most fun and fulfilling aspects of my current research. Credit: Dr. Robin Armit

Images above: PhD researchers from the School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment (Monash University) participated on a weekend retreat to Warburton (VIC) in 2018. The retreat was designed to promote a sense of community and peer support within the PhD cohort. Credit: Dr. Marianne Richter