Update Petition – more than 1000 signatures for PhD mental health

On June 13th Prout launched, together with UPP, a petition for psychological support for PhDs to be implemented at UU.

By mid-September we reached more than 700 signatures, from all across UU, including PhDs but also Professors, Assistant and Associate Professors, other research and support staff, and some ex-PhDs and alumni. Here are some statistics from September 18th (731 signatures). Update: by September 27th we have more than 900 signatures. Update 2: The petition closed on October 3rd, with more than 1000 signatures. An update with final statistics will follow.

More than half of the people have shared why they signed the petition. Many PhDs mentioned that they signed the petition because of personal experience. Others explain how it is in the interest of the university to support the mental health of its employees. Here are some of those comments.

“Because I think psychological support specifically for PhD students would be very welcome and needed. Ultimately the financial benefits may also be substantial for Utrecht University if this support will help prevent PhD students to fall ill, get a burnout etc.”  –  Martin Junginger, Professor, Geosciences

“It is alarming how many burnout and stress signs I see among friends who did or are still doing a PhD, and my own wasn’t a stroll. Psychological support should be widely publicised and made easily accessible to PhD students without referrals, and ideally presented in such a way that they would be prompted to reach out early on.” – Anonymous, Former PhD Candidate, Science

“I believe that low threshold mental healthcare is very important for PhD students. Especially since a large amount of the PhD’s are from abroad, which makes it harder for them to find the right care in the Dutch system. Further, it’s a special group of people with comparable challenges, so group sessions can be very effective.” – Eelke Bontekoe, Junior Researcher, Geosciences

“The PhD process can be difficult. Perhaps you don’t want to jeopardise the relation you have with your supervisors by telling them that you struggle with issues which are not directly related to the content of your thesis. For example, that you are struggling with stress or the feeling that you must succeed or other things like this. I have noticed that lots of PhD students are struggling with these feelings – especially PhD students who just have started like me. I think it would be helpful if there would be psychological support besides the substantive support of your supervisors to discuss or get help with topics like this.” – Anonymous, PhD Candidate, Law, Economics and Governance

“There’s a lot of stress in academia, people should receive more psychological support in general – so this is surely the case also for PhD students.” –  Mara Baudena, Assistant Professor, Geosciences

“Psychological wellbeing is of prime importance to a healthy working/living situation for everybody and should always be made available to employees by any employer who takes the lives of his/her workers seriously. Especially during a PhD project, for which it is well-know (yet a kind of public secret) that apart from fighting your own demons, candidates can get caught up in wider already existing power structures and struggles that can have tremendous impact on wellbeing. Support is super necessary!” – Elke Linders, PhD Candidate, Social and Behavioural Sciences

“This is an important issue, and one that is only going to become more urgent in our neoliberal universities. As someone who has, and still does struggle with their own mental health difficulties, I was shocked by the lack of explicit, institutional support available at Utrecht University.” –  Richard Lane, Post-Doc, Geosciences

“A lot of PhDs are dealing with stress, job pressure and mental health issues accordingly. There is support (free or for a small fee) for students, but not for PhDs (!). If PhDs need help/support they have to pay it themselves (which is often too expensive and they CAN NOT do it). Also, courses to prevent larger problems such as depression and burnout are very expensive for PhDs (or it will be paid off their research budget what is also not a solution, because they need that money to perform their job!!!), so they also CAN NOT do that. Attention and help is needed!!” – Ilona Domen, PhD Candidate, Social and Behavioural Sciences

“In my view, even more than an intellectual challenge, a PhD is a mental challenge. It is logical that scientists or peers do not necessarily have the expertise to support PhDs in this regard. There is a clear role for a dedicated professional on this issue.” – Wouter Schram, PhD Candidate, Geosciences

“Doing a PhD is challenging. Apart from the high quality work you are expected to do, you also often work your own, you are solely responsible for your own project and time management, while most people have not had much previous work experience. For the internationals, there is the extra challenge of adapting to a new environment and finding a support system. I know I’ve had some of these struggles myself as a PhD student. Therefore, I believe it is important that the University provides psychological support for PhDs. Apart from improving their quality of life, I think there’s also a good chance that this support would increase success rate and decrease the amount of delays.” – Narcisa Nechita-Banda, Post-Doc, Science

“When I read about your claims and troubles (depression, burnout, unhappiness, anxiety and high levels of stress), for a moment I thought you were talking about all staff members and not only PhD candidates ;-) I support your initiative and I consider that, sometime in the future, it should be extended to UU members in general.” – Anonymous, Assistant Professor, Science

“The kind of work a PhD student is expected to do is impossible without a healthy mind. It is the responsibility of the university to ensure its employees are fit for work and to give its employees the tools to manage themselves; mental health is no longer seen as an individual’s responsibility, but rather as something that should be cared for by the community.” – Nina Kopacz, PhD Candidate, Geosciences

“It’s NOT about bashing the UU administration! These are trying times for young people in the early stages of their (academic) careers. I believe academia in general and UU in particular could and should take up its societal responsibility and set an example in being supportive of healthy professional and personal development.” – Arjan Sieverink, Support Staff,  University Corporate Office

“It’s time. We need to understand the research process and how to make it work efficiently. No PhD student wants to pass through serious health issues, neither their professors and family. And research doesn’t need it either. It’s time we realize it, openly discuss it. Every profession has its picks and throws. The throws of research are still tabu. To improve productivity in research and resiliently pass through its throws, to break the chain of inefficient research habits/issues passing from generation to generation of scholars, to form healthy and productive scholars/professionals, it’s time we deeply understand the implications and risks during the initiating research process, and accordingly support PhD students passing and learning through it.” – Teresa Farinha, PhD Candidate, Geosciences

You can sign and read more about the petition  here .

If you would also like your comment to be published here (with your name, or anonymously) contact Ana: ana@prout.nl.

The petition is open for signatures until the end of September 2018.