Author: Bethany Warwick // Editor: Vicky McIntyre

I recently attended a Webinar for exploring career options after completing a PhD. It was a very informative session; however, it left me with one question; ‘is my experience that different from other people’s coming into/getting into academia?’. 

This particular session was centred around ‘Careers in Policy’, and during the Webinar, the panel shared some fascinating tips on connecting with potential employers and gaining experience that would be relevant for future roles. However, the tips were focused on voluntary roles and spending free time contacting potential employers to set up meetings to discuss their roles and possible vacancies. Whilst I can see the benefit of doing voluntary roles to gain experience and networking in free time to build professional connections, I can also see how working-class students may struggle to find the time to do this if they work alongside their studies. There is also a huge financial barrier to opportunities such as this for so many working-class students who don’t have the financial backing to pursue them and need paid roles. Therefore, wealthier students access these roles and gain the extra experience/knowledge required to succeed in their careers. This, in turn, impacts the level of diversity within these roles as working-class individuals aren’t represented, which also hinders social mobility. 

Ever since the Sixth form, I have worked part-time. This is something that continued throughout both my undergraduate and master’s degrees. Below are some of the things I had to do alongside this to survive financially:

1. I opted to study for my master’s degree part-time because even with the maximum postgraduate loan, once tuition fees were paid, this wasn’t enough to live on.
2. I chose my master’s course based on tuition fees and which course was more affordable.
3. I applied to the university’s hardship fund twice in 2 years because I just couldn’t make ends meet.
4. I considered permanently dropping out a number of times to get a full-time job in anything that would mean I had more money.
5. I gave up a voluntary role that I really enjoyed and that would have given me vital experience for my future career.

This is an experience that has followed me throughout my time in higher education and I’m sure many other students reading this will somehow relate to this! Perhaps the only saving grace here is that I can’t imagine how much harder things would be if I were studying for my undergraduate and master’s degrees now during the cost-of-living crisis. I do find myself wondering whether I would be where I am today and quite honestly, I don’t feel I would be.

Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom! After a number of years working in various retail and care work roles, I secured my first position in the NHS as a Research Assistant, something which at the time I really couldn’t believe was happening. I had applied for numerous roles with no success prior to this so it really was a shock to be offered it. Following this, I then secured my previous position as a Research Assistant on the D-PACT (Dementia PersonAlised Care Team) project at Manchester, something that again I couldn’t believe was happening at the time (cue frequent imposter syndrome!) and this role is something I will always be incredibly grateful for. 

On reflection, the experience I gained in retail and care roles was invaluable in a way as I learned skills that I have used and continue to use in my research career, and I do feel these have helped me in moving on to my PhD journey. However, I feel that I may have gained different experience, and my journey into research/academia may have been shorter if I could have afforded to do more voluntary roles, unpaid internships and so on instead of feeling financially disadvantaged. Being totally honest, it has felt like a battle to get anywhere but thankfully it is finally paying off. I feel incredibly fortunate to be doing my PhD now and working with supervisors and other researchers passionate about their work. It feels like a dream to research and write for a living at the moment, I recently saw this post on X about a student feeling this exact same way.

I guess the ‘message’ from this post (if you can call it that) is to acknowledge the struggles of working-class students as they navigate gaining experience in their chosen area of study whilst trying to make enough money to stay afloat which is incredibly difficult. I would also like some attention brought to this issue as I feel it’s held me back from progressing more over the years and I know it affects many other students too. Despite there being more support available for students from lower-income backgrounds, there still seems to be a real lack of representation of working-class individuals within academia.

One of my good friends once said to me, ‘You don’t know what it’s like to be poor unless you have been poor’ and that has resonated with me ever since. And I know my situation hasn’t been as bad as a lot of other people, so I can only imagine how hard things are for other people. The other message I would like people to take from this post is to be proud of your achievements and journey if you are working class like me and have experienced similar struggles or continue to experience them. Also, for any of you wondering how I am affording my PhD, please take a look at the ‘About Me’ section I have included below, which will surely answer your question! And thank you for reading if you have! Let’s hope we can get more representation of working-class people in academia and various career paths as a result!

About Me!
I am a current PhD student at the University of Manchester in the division of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work. I am very fortunate to be on a funded studentship from NIHR SSCR to research mental health crisis care and the role of social care services and the police within this. My research interests in general are adult mental health, children and young people’s mental health, dementia care and health inequalities, specifically around access to care due to finances and personal circumstances.
I worked as a Research Assistant on the D-PACT (Dementia PersonAlised Care Team) study which was a collaboration between the University of Plymouth and the University of Manchester. I have also worked in the NHS as a Research Assistant within Health Psychology and MSK services, analysing patient data and producing audits and reports for service evaluation and improvement. My experience prior to this was mostly in Healthcare Assistant and Home Care Assistant roles along with customer service roles in various retail settings alongside studying for my degrees. I also spent some time working as a chef in between these roles as I have a catering qualification which can come in very useful sometimes! 
You can find my research profile at Bethany Warwick — Research Explorer The University of Manchester