To authentically make progress on your PhD, you need protected time away from work, family and other important responsibilities in your country of residence. The aim of the 3-month PhD Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Programme at Nottingham Trent University (NTU), was to provide Makerere University (Mak) PhD scholars with protected time in a conducive environment for the fast-track progress of their studies. As part of the programme, faculty from both universities mentored the students and prepared them for the impending PhD tasks.
The mentorship varied depending on PhD scholar’s stage of progress right from PhD concept to the thesis writeup. Mentoring was done both individually (one to one) as well as in groups depending on the area of study at the host department. The responsible host faculty reviewed, advised and gave comments to the students to enable them to complete and submit their manuscripts to journals. The programme also gave Mak PhD scholars access to library facilities, short courses and interactive meetings between faculty and students for the sole purpose of progressing their studies. Indeed, the NTU scholarly environment provided the confidence and skills PhD scholars needed to accomplish their tasks.
This great journey of 10 PhD scholars studying in different colleges and schools at Mak started on 8th October 2022 to the 9th January 2023. From the College of Health Sciences, there were 5 students and in the School of Public Health to be specific, there were 3 scholars (Mr. Aloysius Mutebi, Ms. Roselline Achola and Mr. Celestine Banamwana) all in the final stages of their PhD programme.
During our first week in Nottingham, we experienced a warm welcome and orientation including a guided tour of the state-of-the-art NTU City campus library. We were also guided at the Clifton campus by a team of professors and other scholars who briefed us on the university graduate programmes and additionally offered us wise counsel to prepare us for the stay. We had the opportunity to enrich our studies by accessing free books and articles from open access journals, access to printers, technical support and all other academic guidance from both the library and the graduate training leadership. After the guided tour, our host, Prof. Linda Gibson treated us to a British cuisine.
In the following days and weeks, we embarked on a serious academic programme, where we participated in different activities as follows:
- Attended ongoing NTU PhD modules and lectures where we met fellow scholars and faculty to assist us on our PhD journey.
- Making presentations about our projects to enable the NTU academic team to appreciate and offer support. As each one made presentations, we all participated in critiquing to give each other courage and support to shape their project.
- Attended library short courses on research methods and data analysis including the use of data analysis software like SPSS and Nvivo.
- Participated in several workshops on academic writing including how to construct literature, how to cite and reference properly and how to write a critical discussion among others.
- Participated in weekly academic writing where all the 10 PhD candidates convened every Monday for scholarly writing as a means for peer support. We must say that this activity was a good approach that nurtured a culture of peer support. It also built confidence and provided emotional support that we were not alone on our PhD journey but instead had the whole team ready to support us throughout the journey.
- We attended the annual PhD conference that was held on 12th December 2022 at Clifton Campus. This was aimed at increasing visibility and showcasing the PhD training and research programs. The conference gave us the opportunity to share our work with a panel of experts, who gave us comments to improve our respective PhD projects.
Some of the achievements from this exchange programme were: the submission of manuscripts to peer review journals; receiving support on thesis writing from the NTU academic team; benefiting from the short library courses that built our capacity in research; benefiting from continuous input and feedback from peers; and benefited from weekly presentations and discussions by other PhD students.
“The programme was of great help and support to PhD students. It offered protected time, reading resources and support staff at all times. It is indeed highly recommended for other PhD students for the purpose of making fast progress with their work. Although three months may not be enough to complete the writing of all manuscripts and the thesis, we think at least five months should be ample time for students to be able to accomplish most all the tasks.” – said Aloysius
Our special appreciation goes to the leadership of the two universities: Makerere University and Nottingham Trent University for giving us the opportunity to be part of this great exchange programme that provided us with protected time to be able to pull through our doctoral studies. Special thanks go to Prof Linda Gibson and Dr David Musoke and their teams. We are highly indebted to you and the entire programme.
Complied by Roselline Achola & Aloysius Mutebi
PhD Students at Makerere University School of Public Health
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