PGR Well-Beeing Project

In this episode PGRs at the University of Manchester, Sam Knox and Aleksandra Besevic, talk about ways that giving to others has had a positive impact on their wellbeing.

You can access the podcast here.

In the podcast Aleksandra talks about the ‘Plant and Hope’ initiative that she founded during her time as a PGR, which is coming up to its tenth event! For more information about the initiative, you can go to the Facebook page here: www.facebook.com/PlantAndHope/.

In this episode we spoke to Nicole Gipson, a second year PGR at the University of Manchester, who shared some tips for ‘teching down’ and taking notice. Nicole presents her ideas in an innovative way – through using different noises to trigger ASMR. ‘Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response’ – more commonly referred to as ASMR – is the name given to a tingling sensation on the skin (typically on the scalp, neck, or back) that some people report feeling in response to certain visual or auditory stimuli, more information can be found here: www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/asmr.

You can access the podcast here.

*Info for current PGRs at the University of Manchester*

In the podcast we refer to various activities and opportunities for PGRs at the University of Manchester to get involved in the PGR Well Bee-ing Project – links can be found below.

In the intro, Ella mentions the ‘MUSE headbands’. Muse is a wearable headband which measures brain activity via its app. More info on how to access MUSE can be found here: www.counsellingservice.manchester.ac.uk/works…=3957.

Nicole refers to a TED talk around mindfulness which can be found here: www.ted.com/talks/andy_puddicom…minutes?language=en.

Peer support networks: www.staffnet.manchester.ac.uk/rbe/rdrd/p…vironment/

SALC PGR advisors: sites.manchester.ac.uk/alc-grad-scho…-update-2019/

International society: internationalsociety.org.uk/

PGR wellbeing survey: apps.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/surveys//Tak…ID=96KHnm61H

IMPORTANT NOTE – participation in the PGR wellbeing survey is completely voluntary, the full participant information sheet can be found on the first page of the survey.

For this episode we spoke to Jason Chu and Nikki Tomlinson about how being active is beneficial for their wellbeing. Jason is a second year PGR in the Faculty of Biology, Medicine, and Health, and Nikki is a final year PGR in the Faculty of Humanities.

You can access the podcast here.

Nikki and Jason spoke about their involvement in…

Run wild: manchesterstudentsunion.com/groups/run-wild 
Park run: www.parkrun.org.uk/
Sporticipate: www.sport.manchester.ac.uk/sport/sporticipate/
Research Hive: manchesterresearchhive.wordpress.com/

In this episode we spoke to Donna Littlewood, a Postdoctoral Researcher who recently achieved her PhD from the University of Manchester, and Amish Sarpotdar a current PGR in the School of Environment, Education and Development, about how being healthy is important for supporting wellbeing for PGRs.

You can listen to the podcast here.

Donna and Amish spoke with Rebecca about maintaining habits for feeling healthy, such as: good sleep hygiene, eating healthily, and getting out in the fresh air. They touched on other ways to wellbeing, and how being healthy can help us make better connections as well if we’re feeling well rested and better company!

A few things that we spoke about that might be useful for listeners:
www.nhs.uk/live-well/sleep-and…ow-to-get-to-sleep/
www.ted.com/talks/guy_winch_the…up-next?language=en

For the final episode of the series we spoke to Ana Akulich and Georgia Vesma about how learning and discovering new things is beneficial for their wellbeing. Ana and Georgia are both second year Postgraduate Researchers in the Faculty of Humanities.

You can listen to the Podcast here 

Ana and Georgia spoke about creating their own Podcast series ‘Not Safe For Publication’ :twitter.com/NSFPPodcast and shared what they’ve learnt along the way!