Santander Universities to the rescue!
Siobhan Dooley, MA 2013, is currently working towards submitting her PhD thesis at the University of St Andrews. She applied for and won one of the ten £1000 grants that Santander offered to help students combat the cost of living crisis. Here, she describes the difference this has made.
As a PhD student at St Andrews, I know that I’m more fortunate than many: I have benefited from a generous scholarship and was able to save on rent, utilities and other living costs during the pandemic by living at my parents’ home. There are, however, still many days that I worry about money (or the lack of it).
That’s why I responded to Santander’s offer of support and applied for one of their £1000 Scholarship Studies grants.
I was over the moon when I was chosen to receive the award – not least because now that I’m approaching the end of my degree, my savings are dwindling and I need to find paid work as soon as possible. At the same time, I want to pursue a career in academia and all my focus needs to be on my PhD in these final stages.
I have so much to think about just now:
Do I seek out full-time work straight away, and juggle applications for post-docs during my spare time?
Is this actually possible when so many of my friends and colleagues tell me that applying to post-docs is a job in its own right?
Can I afford to make ends meet with only a part-time job?
Although I don’t have all the answers to these questions, the Santander Scholarship Studies grant has given me the time and space to enable me to focus on my PhD and possibly apply for the next academic opportunity between submission and the viva – and that’s invaluable.