Dear fellow PhDs,
As the nights draw in, we must find some more creative ways of keeping ourselves sane and warding off the black dog of depression through the long winter months. Skiing is all very well, but what about something you can do indoors, staying warm whilst drinking coffee – and even better, meeting new friends? I think it is high time that PhDs from different faculties and departments got to meet each other and have some fun, and luckily Dion has agreed to support two new initiatives:
1.     Randomised Coffee Trials (RCTs): a regular opportunity to meet someone new from among NTNU’s PhD, postdoc and temporary researcher community over a cup of steaming coffee –with the first one paid for by DION! People need people, it’s as simple as that, and this is a social and professional ‘matchmaking’ service which was started by researchers in the UK (https://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/institutionalising-serendipity-via-productive-coffee-breaks/) and has since been responsible for facilitating exciting projects and enjoyable conversations, sparking new friendships, giving people a chance to share their experiences of researcher life – and much more. Every other week you are allocated a random name and email address from amongst the pool of people who sign up. You then have 2 weeks to get in touch with each other and arrange to have a coffee/tea/waffle/lunch at a mutually agreeable time and place. You will then be given another name – and so on and so on. Who knows what might happen? To join this exciting and oh-so-simple initiative and find out more about the people in your researcher community, all you have to do is leave your name, email address and department on the Google form.
You can use this event on Facebook as a platform for communicating with the organizer and with those who are interested.
2.     Singing is for Everyone: ever wanted to join a choir? Or test your vocal chords outside of the shower? Studies have shown that singing can relieve stress and anxiety and provide us with mood-boosting endorphins… and it’s also a great antidote to sitting in front of a computer or being trapped in a lab! Now there is an opportunity for you to feel good and get healthy indoors during the Norwegian winter by getting together with some like-minded people to sing for a couple of hours every week or two. No performances involved, and no talent or ability required – just bags of enthusiasm 🙂 If you are interested in joining this PhD ‘choir’ please register your interest on the form (name, email address, department and any previous singing experience /ability to read music. If you also have experience of helping to run a choir or are able to sight-read at the piano, we would love to hear from you!).
You can use this event on Facebook as a platform for communicating with the organizer and with those who are interested.
Contact person: Lucy Chamberlin, lucy.chamberlin@ntnu.no
Author: 