8: Supporting PGR Wellbeing: Policy and Practice

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8: Supporting PGR Wellbeing: Policy and Practice

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In this episode, Dr John Turnpenny discusses his latest research on postgraduate researcher (PGR) wellbeing, focusing on policy implementation and practice. He highlights the Courage Project at the University of East Anglia, funded by the UK's Catalyst Fund, which aimed to support PGR wellbeing through various interventions. John introduces the policy capacity framework, which examines political, operational, and governance capacities at individual, organizational, and systemic levels. He notes many of the challenges to policy implementation, such as organizational marginalization, low political capacity, and fragmented governance. John also indicates how future research could explore analytical capacity and co-creation processes to improve PGR wellbeing interventions.

What motivated research into PGR wellbeing?

Identified significant challenges faced by postgraduate researchers
Recognized a lack of focused support compared to undergraduate students
Aimed to explore political and organizational dimensions of wellbeing interventions

What are the main challenges for PGR wellbeing?

Ambiguous status (neither staff nor student)
Organizational marginalization
Low political and operational capacity within institutions
Fragmented governance and limited resource

What framework was used to analyze PGR wellbeing?

Policy capacity framework examining:
- Political capacity
- Operational capacity
- Governance across individual, organizational, and systemic levels

What are the future research directions?

Updating policy capacity framework
Comparing international PGR support models
Exploring analytical capacity in intervention design
Investigating co-creation processes

Links

Turnpenny, J. (2025). A critical political analysis of wellbeing support for postgraduate researchers in higher education. Policy & Politics (published online ahead of print 2025). https://doi.org/10.1332/03055736Y2024D000000056
Catalyst fund: Supporting mental health and wellbeing for postgraduate research students - Office for Students

Credits
Music by Matthew Sillence

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