Introducing the Sussex Research Hive Scholars 2022/2023!

The Research Hive is a dedicated space within the University of Sussex Library, created especially for PhD Researchers and research staff.

SAGE Publications has kindly given funding to support both the Research Hive and the Sussex Research Hive Scholar programme, allowing researchers to engage with other members of the community at Sussex.

Each year three doctoral researchers are selected to be Research Hive Scholars, to support the space as well as providing additional support to the community through events, activities, and communication.

This year, the Sussex Research Hive Scholars are Georgia, dyuti and Andrea! Below there is a quick introduction to get to know them a bit better followed by some of the events, blogs and activities they have organised so far!

georgia wetherall

Georgia is a second year PhD researcher in the School of Media, Arts and Humanities. Her research focuses on the body in Russian literature of the 1930s and 40s, embalming and death practices, and the treatment of the body after death. Her main aim as a Hive Scholar is to ‘open-up’ and de-mystify higher education and the years that follow, making the whole process seem a lot less daunting! She wants to ensure that anyone struggling to balance a PhD alongside other commitments (such as work, childcare, care work, etc) finds the support they need.

dyuti a

dyuti a is entering her final year as a PhD Researcher at the Department of Anthropology at the school of Global Studies. Her current research explores the imagination of ‘verbing the state’ by exploring the ways in which state is (re) produced, articulated, and experienced in the ‘space of appearance’ through the everyday interactions between ordinary Indian and ordinary Kashmiri. As a Hive Scholar she strives to make the Hive a welcoming and critical space for the research community across differences of race, gender, sexuality, class, disability, and PhD status. Her vision is to hold spaces for PhD scholars to write, interact across the divisions of school, departments and share pedagogical practices. She writes her name with small d because Hindi doesn’t have capital alphabets. In her head she is a comic, till you give her an audience then she is rather quiet!

andrea pérez porres

Andrea is a second year PhD Researcher at the Science and Policy Research unit. Her research focuses on social movements in the UK and how they are re-thinking innovation beyond economic growth for sustainability transitions. Her focus as a Hive Scholar is to represent international students that are self-funded and have to work part-time to support themselves along with researchers that are also part of the LGBTQ+ community. She wants to organise more inclusive events for all Sussex researchers, as well as allow for more spaces for researchers to meet each other, form communities and support bubbles. Andrea is originally from Spain and has lived in the UK for the last 5 years. She loves trying new vegan food and would travel anywhere if needed –no matter how far it is. She is also into weightlifting, making to-do-lists and she is trying to read over 35 books (not PhD related) this year.

This year, Hive Research Scholars have launched a new Blog series called PhD How’s to in which they focus on different How’s of the PhD life that do not really get answered. So far, they have written on how to survive as a self-funded PhD Student in the UK and How to take guilt-free breaks while doing research.

They have organised several social events from Pub Quizzes to Games Night as well as writing sessions. Their main focus is to bring back the PhD community after years of isolation due to the Pandemic.

Moreover, to celebrate Black History Month in October, they published a blog post with personal book recommendations from black authors.

The Research Hive is an inclusive space for all LGBTQIA+ researchers and everyone from all sociocultural backgrounds, along with researchers with disabilities or any additional requirements. The Hive Scholars want the Hive to be an inclusive and accessible space where all PhD researchers feel welcomed.