The PhD Life Coach

About The PhD Life Coach

Whether you're a PhD student or an experienced academic, life in a university can be tough. If you're feeling overwhelmed, undervalued, or out of your depth, the PhD Life Coach can help. We talk about issues that affect all academics and how we can feel better now, without having to be perfect productivity machines. We usually do this career because we love it, so let's remember what that feels like! I'm your host, Dr Vikki Wright. Join my newsletter at www.thephdlifecoach.com.

Publisher

Vikki Wright

Category

education · education · health & fitness

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

18 Oct 2022

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

215 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Oct 2026

   5.02 How to be more resilient with special guest Dr Sherry Hamby

   Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! We often think of resilience as the ability to withstand more and more stress or pressure, which never sounds like a lot of fun or very sustainable. However, as Dr Sherry Hamby explains in this episode, that’s not really what the scientific literature says about resilience. We chat about Dr Hamby’s book, Stronger Than You Think, and go through the four pillars of your resilience portfolio. By the end, you’ll identify ways you can impro...

2. 

   5 Oct 2026

   5.01 How to be independent when your supervisor is controlling

   Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! Trying to be “more independent” and “driving your PhD” when your supervisor simultaneously keeps rejecting your ideas can be one of the biggest challenges in academia. In this episode I talk about why I think this situation comes about, what impact it has, and give four tangible ways that you can improve the situation for both you and your supervisor. If you liked this episode, you should check out this one on How to use your exi...

3. 

   30 Sept 2026

   4.69 GREATEST HITS - How to manage negative feedback

   Send Vikki any questions you'd like answered on the show! When did you last get some negative feedback? As PhD students and academics, we get negative feedback quite often, either comments on drafts of papers, rejections from journals, applying for jobs, all sorts of things. We get bits of negative feedback and it can really hurt. So what do we do when we experience negative feedback? What do we do with the fact it hurts and how could we perhaps do something different in the future? That's wh...

Who has been a guest on The PhD Life Coach

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Ruth
• Jess Dineen
• Sophie Hannah
• Dr Gertrude Nonterah

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

17,191

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

13 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

91 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 71 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

78

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

85

Contact The PhD Life Coach

Guest appearances

Does not typically book guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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Questions about The PhD Life Coach