PubHD offers students in Sheffield an opportunity to try their hands at public engagement by explaining their PhDs in 10-15 minutes and facing questions from a varied and diverse audience.

There's no boring PowerPoints here, just words and a flipchart. We're back in person in the Old Queen's Head down by the train station. So come and join us at 7 pm on the 25th May 2022. We recommend bringing some change to buy a round or 2 for the speakers and some friends to get the conversation flowing.

We have 2 exciting talks lined up...

James R Turner (University of Sheffield) - What's Depression All About?

Depression has numerous effects on our behaviour: it makes us work less, engage in fewer social activities, and even stops us doing the kinds of hobbies we’d normally enjoy. But how could such a directionless, objectless feeling have an effect on our behaviour? My proposal is that depression is not just a mere feeling. Instead, it is an informational mental state—it “tells” us something about the world. What does it tell us? That the probability of us making gains (things such as gathering food, climbing social hierarchies, or fulfilling personal artistic goals) is lower than normal. In other words, it tells us that there is no point in trying to do anything, because there’s simply not enough chance our efforts will succeed to make it worth it.

Manel Lemmouchi (University of Sheffield) - Loneliness: am I the only one? A narrative inquiry into students' experiences of loneliness at university.

You go to university thinking it will be the best time of your life, you think you will at least have one friend but it's lonely, today, tomorrow, every day, every week then you get used to it but you never actually do, you still feel lonely. Why? you don't know as well. This research listens to varied experiences of loneliness told by students from different backgrounds: domestic and international, and different ethnicities all singing a similar tone: loneliness. The shared stories show how burden, groupings, discrimination, and university as an institution create different spheres for loneliness to counter the famous narrative of "student experience".