The PhD journey can be both exciting and stressful. The experience of doing a PhD is just like enjoying a mountain climb. For me, as a first-year PhD student at Queen's, I feel it is more valuable at this moment to follow a pace that suits me and make steady progress than to look far to the top of the mountain – the ultimate goal of PhD study.

As such, setting feasible weekly plans and implementing them are two important tasks facing me in my first-year PhD journey. 

Why study a PhD at Queen's?

Striking a balance

Different from previous study experience, doing a PhD features greater flexibility because there are neither required classes nor assignments ahead of us. Nevertheless, intriguing as it is, the research project that we work on seems also daunting, which urges us to get trained in terms of our research insights and skills.

How to plan our training on a daily or weekly basis; and in particular, how to strike a balance between our study and life, remains a big question. In tackling this difficulty, I find it exceptionally helpful and efficient to utilise the extensive and accessible resources offered by the Centre for Translation and Interpreting (CTI) and the School of Arts, English and Languages (AEL).

CTI's study visit to Leuven, Belgium in March 2024

Taking my personal weekly schedule as an example, I would like to introduce some interesting and inspiring parts that regularly fit into my PhD study and life.

CTI Research Seminar Series (Monday)

The CTI Research Seminar Series usually takes place every Monday afternoon and lasts for one or two hours. The guest speakers, consisting of scholars and researchers who have been deeply engaged in translation and interpreting studies, always give in-person speeches that introduce the most brilliant research output and industry insights.

We have the opportunity to communicate with those presenters and get inspired by their pioneering research projects. As all MA students, PhD students and visiting scholars are welcome to attend, the seminar series is one of my must-attend activities every week.

Seminar organised by Queen's

MA Translation and Interpreting Classes Auditing (Monday & Tuesday)

PhD students at Queen's are lucky because we are allowed to audit any of the MA classes arranged by CTI. Some of the courses are helpful for our specific research projects, such as the Literary Translation class, Audiovisual Translation class, and Translation for Performance class.

The tutors from CTI usually send us the class timetable before the start of each semester and advise us to request and be enrolled as auditors so that we can regularly attend the course that interests us. This is another opportunity for us to talk with experienced tutors, reflect on our research ideas, and revise the research orientation. For me, it takes me three to four hours per week to audit and learn from the classes.

PhD students have the opportunity to audit MA classes

Language-specific workshops (Wednesday)

The CTI arranges two hours per week for students to get involved in language-specific workshops. Although the workshop is mainly designed for MA students, PhD students can still benefit from this because it brings teaching opportunities. Based on this two-hour workshop, PhD students can have direct contact with MA students, exchange ideas about translation or interpreting observations, and produce some translations of high quality.

APTIS conference co-organised by CTI in November 2023

AEL Student Research Network (from Tuesday to Friday)

Networking should also be a top concern for PhD study, because none of us wishes to pursue a lonely study journey. This is what Student Research Networks offer us – the chances to socialise with each other, increase learning efficiency, and get relaxation.

To name some of the events that interest me: Writing Retreat (which usually takes place on Friday to get us concentrated on academic writing), Coffee Catch-up (which offers PhD students a place to communicate with each other); and Book Club (which is scheduled for Thursday for us to look for a cosy, playful, and uplifting read). These events help decorate our PhD life.

Make sure to get involved in networking events regularly

Regular Supervisory Meetings

The most important thing for us is definitely the output of our research projects. Thus, regular communication with supervisors is significant to ensure that everything is right on track. The frequency of the meetings depends, and personally I believe once every two weeks is the best pace for me.

Apart from all the above-mentioned, there are still some other resources for PhD students to access study and training opportunities, such as some conferences and study visits on the topic of translation and interpreting arranged by CTI and AEL.

Even for our leisure time, the AEL helps arrange some relaxing events, such as Pilates (which usually lasts for one hour per week), and outdoor activities (such as a visit to Belfast City Hall). These activities, although not always organised on a weekly basis, enrich our life experience during our spare time and fulfil our PhD life to great extent. Thanks to all these events, my weekly timetable is not only fulfilled, but also colorful (for example, see below):

Find out more

PhD opportunities at Queen's

Queen's Centre for Translation and Interpreting

Chinese students at Queen's: Admission information

Luyao Yan PhD Translation | Postgraduate Student | China Hi there, I’m Luyao from China. I’ve been engaged in translation studies since I first attended my undergraduate courses, and currently I’m a first-year translation PhD student at Queen’s. Being here with friends of similar academic pursuits is wonderful, and more luckily, I find myself interested in discovering those serendipitous and surprising moments in my daily life here. A pretty good start of exploration, isn’t it?