Thread by @maggie_ross95

So happy to be involved in the #PandemicMethodologies conference, sharing some reflections on how sixteen months of working from home have impacted graduate student communities and our research processes #CdnHist @CndHistAssoc

We write our dissertations alone, but it takes a community to think through historical questions. How have isolation and WFH changed our graduate student experience and our research? Why are online forums inadequate replacements for in-person communities? #PandemicMethodologies

Before COVID, I worked in a group office, socialized with other students, and connected with archivists as I researched. It was easy to run questions by my peers, check material in archives, or meet scholars at events. The pandemic has changed grad school #PandemicMethodologies

Grad degrees involve group thinking to work through problems and expand (or narrow down) the questions we ask about our topics. Online meetings limit spontaneous conversation, and I miss how easy it was to chat in hallways and during department events #PandemicMethodologies

I rely on advice from upper year students in my degree, from applying for funding and choosing courses, to editing my writing and suggesting books for comps lists. Did incoming students in 2020 have similar opportunities to meet and learn from upper years? #PandemicMethodologies

For some students, graduate isolation is compounded by the additional burden of providing care for children or family, without dedicated space and quiet for work. Student parents and carers need support. I’m lucky I have a workspace and few responsibilities #PandemicMethodologies

It feels wrong to mourn the celebrations I missed in a year marked by suffering. But celebrating the end of comps and proposal defences with friends and profs could have marked milestones and the passing of time in a long degree with few formal stages #PandemicMethodologies

Without these rewards, our downtime feels less restful, and it’s difficult to escape the monotony of working mainly alone. My motivation to write and keep pace suffers when the end of one stage feels the same as the start of another #PandemicMethodologies

Celebrations, impromptu discussions, and excitement at finding traces of sex work history in archives made grad school fun. I had more enthusiasm for my degree when these moments were easier to access and felt more meaningful/present #PandemicMethodologies

I’m grateful for how we’ve stayed connected—the @QueensSexuality reading group, #PandemicMethodologies, the dedication of the @queensarchives to open for researchers this year, re-focusing more of my sex work research on Kingston where I live, and appreciating the local

But I’m hopeful that grad student isolation will end when we’re vaccinated, and campuses reopen. I look forward to lunches, lectures, celebrations, archive visits, real books, sharing ideas with my cohort, and valuing the tools we learned in lockdown #PandemicMethodologies

Thanks for reading—I’d love to hear your thoughts on grad student isolation and your research process this year. I've included some resources for coping with isolation: camh.ca/en/health-info… #PandemicMethodologies