Building empowering research communities

The experience of a PhD student can be challenging and particularly stressful as it can feel very isolating at times. We argue that the most important issue is to have a supportive and empowering research community. However, having such a community is not a given at each institution. Drawing on the social-psychological literature, we argue that the sense of belonging and having a supportive community are effective tools to improve one's well-being and simultaneously reduce the so-called impostor syndrome. We discuss how Early Career Researchers (ECRs) can create communities and build enriching relationships. We present three personal examples of (1) forming inclusive support networks with regular check-ins; creating a discussion group, (2) reaching out to connected labs, and (3) joining lab meetings virtually beyond one’s academic institution. We want to encourage fellow PhD students to actively enact leadership and set the norms they want to see in often rigid academic workplaces by creating communities themselves.