What students need to complete gruelling PhD journey in Kenya

University of Nairobi Chancellor Dr Vijoo Ratansi (second right) confers an Embu University College (EUC) PhD Degree to Mutiga Mariciano Iguna during the EUC's first graduation ceremony in 2016. [File, Standard]

Only a dismal 13 per cent of doctoral students in Kenya end up graduating with PhDs. This is according to a 2020 paper co-authored by Hyrine Mueni Matheka of the Kenyan Commission for University Education. The question that arises is, exactly what support do students require to successfully complete their PhD programmes?

Four years into my PhD programme, or five depending on whether you count from the year I joined the project or the university, I have a different outlook on what it takes to succeed at this level. My advice has nothing to do with working hard, being driven, and having grit; simply because I believe most students have these characteristics at the onset. Instead, through experience, I have identified at least three other underrated factors to be very important in completing a PhD in Kenya.

The first has to do with a supportive community. Having a network of fellow PhD scholars is important for various reasons including reviving waning enthusiasm and assisting in analytical challenges. As time goes by, the enthusiasm for your PhD fluctuates; and the immediate reaction might be to shame yourself for such 'unsettling feelings not befitting a once enthusiastic candidate'.

The first time this happened to me was during my master's. I was completely uninspired waking up to my manuscript day in and day out. So, I called a good friend and explained the situation. The friend reassured me that the feeling was extremely normal and advised me in moments such as this, I take a break to pursue unrelated rejuvenating activities. Similarly, in my doctoral studies, it was validating to hear from a fellow colleague that they couldn't stand their manuscript, a feeling I was familiar with.

Your community serves as an important resource during technical aspects of your research. From a social science perspective, econometric modelling can sometimes be a source of great distress!

I have found that consulting fellow colleagues has yielded useful and unexpected solutions: Drop some variables, create new ones or simply abandon the model altogether in favour of a proposed new one. Besides, sometimes it is just therapeutic to lament about supervisors and confirm that your problem is common.

A second aspect necessary to succeeding in your PhD programme is maintaining a full life. "Self-abandonment, contrary to its glorification, is not a driver of PhD completion." If anything, neglecting 'non-related' aspects of your PhD is a sure ticket to being resentful and despondent. Following tedious sessions of repeated proposal revisions, navigating unexpected project outcomes, and working on a manuscript whose methodology was not straightforward, I found myself extremely apathetic in the third year of my doctoral studies.

I sought a life coach and we managed to settle on a restorative formula. We curated a routine consisting of exercise, scheduled hours devoted to the PhD, rest, and a hobby. During this time, I also started switching my phone off at 7pm and restricting emails to between 9am and 5pm. It is important to understand that there is no trophy for sending and responding to emails at ungodly hours, in the name of demonstrating 'responsiveness'.

I dedicated the weekends to personal hobbies, family, rest, and self-reward. Gradually, I found a renewed enthusiasm for my work that could sustain me to the finish line. A PhD is a marathon, not a sprint; hence the importance of curating a life that provides the fuel to endure.

Finally, I find Brene Brown's take on worthiness, in her book Daring Greatly, to be critical for doctoral candidates. Essentially, '...worthiness...doesn't have prerequisites'. It is important to understand that worth is inherent and not based on a metric such as publication, for example. It may happen that some colleagues publish before others, that some publish in top-tier journals or that some churn out paper after paper at record speed.

All these can be sources of great pressure for doctoral candidates and used as a basis for comparison and unfortunately worth assessment. It is important to understand that neither your worth nor identity is tied to publication. Paradoxically, it is this understanding that will help you keep things in perspective and reach publication goals.

"This perspective was important for me as I experienced challenges in my research. I collected data for my last two objectives a month before the end of my student contract, hence it was impossible to publish during my student tenure."

Regarding my first objective, I struggled a lot with the methodology, and it was only after the end of my contract that I was fortunate to be nominated for a training that addressed my frustrations (and confirmed that my challenges concerning the methodology were valid). Ultimately, publishing during my student contract was not possible. So, what did I do in the meantime? I clapped for others, knowing that my day would come and that my worth was intact regardless.

To meaningfully support PhD completion in Kenya, we must look beyond traditional methods and consider that the PhD student is, after all, human with holistic needs and concerns.

The writer is a PhD candidate at the University of Nairobi and a 2021 Mawazo Fellow.