PGR Spa

PGR Spa is an off-shoot of Abundant Academy, especially dedicated to PhD Life. It runs as a membership, rather like PhD Book Club.

Just as ‘Spas’ in Roman times were places where people came together for ‘health through water’ (Salus per Aquam), PGR Spa is a space for you to find refreshment and the opportunity to decompress with fellow doctoral travellers. Doing a Doctorate is a more solo enterprise than most Undergraduate and Masters studies, and can become isolating and correspondingly anxious-making. At PGR Spa sessions, you receive group-coaching for good PhD-health. We look after the body, soul and relational network, as well as the mind. You will feel revitalised, grow your confidence, and be resourced spiritually, emotionally, bodily, socially and mentally as you navigate your PhD years.

The Spa gatherings and coaching do not encroach upon or duplicate the work you do with your Supervisors; the academic and technical expertise that they bring. PGR Spa sessions complement your doctoral supervisions, and support you in the various adaptations life asks of you when doing a PhD, including:

• Adapting to solo working 
• Being part of research teams or collaborations
• Knowing and sustaining your vision and purpose for your PhD
• Keeping agile in body and mind
• Moving with flow between creativity and focus
• Handling procrastination and recovering momentum
• Making your inner critic and imposter syndrome work for you rather than against you
• Calming perfectionism
• Saying ‘No’ so that you can ‘Yes’ to what you find most important and meaningful
• Finding and sustaining networks of support
• Showing up as you most want to at conferences, in giving presentations, etc
• Starting/supporting a family, and sustaining relationships over distance
• Discerning the next iteration of your career or vocation

PGR Spa, Semester 1, 2024/25

PGR Spa begins in October 2024. Early registration is recommended. All sessions are in-person.* 

• Four x 90-minutes sessions, 2.30-4pm, fortnightly, alternate Thursdays:
• 17 Oct, 31 Oct, 14 Nov, 28, Nov 
• Meeting Room 1, Chaplaincy Centre , 1 Bristo Square

PGR Spa is designed and facilitated by Dr Harriet Harris,  a licensed Coach and Trainer with One of Many® the fastest-growing network of women leaders in the UK. Harriet is also a Trainer with Student Minds, an Embodiment Coach, and a Licensed Time-To-Think Facilitator. A former Lecturer, she continues to publish academically, and has thirty years’ experience of supervising and examining PhDs. She is lead University Chaplain to the University of Edinburgh, where she has grown what is widely regarded as the ‘flagship’ Chaplaincy in the UK, and out of which she runs PhD Book Club and Abundant Academy. She was awarded an MBE in 2017 for Services to Multi-Faith Education and Community Cohesion, and elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 2022 for her innovative work in universities.

We currently have 25 spaces, open to all PGRs at the University of Edinburgh who are able to attend in-person.* To Register, email Harriet at h.harris@ed.ac.uk, stating:

• Your name
• Your School 
• Why you would like to join PGR Spa

*If you would like group online-coaching, consider joining the Abundant Academy, which is an online Personal and Leadership development programme open to PGRs.