We are Manon, Marie, Michelle, and Mishka: four PhD students within the large international EU PAL-COPD consortium. Having different backgrounds in clinical orthopedagogy, biomedical sciences, and experimental psychology and being affiliated with three different universities enrich our collaboration. Besides, we span more than a decade in age, which adds a valuable mix of experience, perspectives and ideas. This diversity determined our research topics. Manon will focus on the process implementation and evaluation, Marie is interested in indicators of hospital (re)admissions, Michelle will discover family caregivers’ perspectives and communication between clinicians, while Mishka will enrichen knowledge about the existential and spiritual domain in palliative care.
Despite the variety between us, we share one common goal (and the letter of our first name): obtaining our PhD within this project. To do so, we collaborate on ethical committee applications, coordinating and monitoring tasks, data collection with patients and family caregivers, and maintaining contact with the hospitals. We carry out these tasks in close coordination with our supervisors, the consortium, and with each other.
One unifying thread brought us together in this project: collaboration. We highly value the international partnerships within the consortium, meaningful communication with patients and family caregivers, exchanging ideas with hospital clinicians, attending conferences (we always coordinate who goes where), and exploring cultural differences in healthcare contexts. It’s no coincidence that we are part of a project where communication and collaboration are central. To keep in touch, we have a Teams group where we could easily reach out. Sharing the same language (despite four totally different accents) makes it easy to share experiences of this learning journey.
For all four of us, there will be a lot of “firsts” within this project. Our first data collection with COPD-patients and family caregivers, our first interviews with respiratory clinicians, our first paper as a first author, or our first conference presentation. However, the focus is not on these outcomes, but on the process towards these.
We aim for ongoing collaboration among us and within the broader consortium. We hope to continue supporting each other within this project, but also within our more individual trajectories of our PhD. And one final note: be cautious when asking a PhD about plans after the PhD. To be honest, we have no idea yet, and we enjoy the position we are currently in!
