Dear SGSSS PhD students

At SGSSS, incorporating the PGR voice is central to our governance process. With that in mind, we are delighted to introduce ourselves: the new SGSSS Student Engagement Team – five Associate Officers who are at different stages of study across our member institutions: https://www.sgsss.ac.uk/about-us/student-engagement/

Members of the team are: Clara Seyfried (Psycholinguistics, University of Dundee), Ebenezer Ishola (Education and Society, University of Dundee), Gladys Konadu (Politics, University of Strathclyde), Nishat Tasneem (Social Work, University of Edinburgh), and Yasmin Coffey (Business and Management, University of St Andrews).

Within the SGSSS Directorate, the Student Engagement Team represent the voice of the PGR community, provide expert advice on relevant issues, and promote student-centred events. To deliver on these responsibilities, the Student Engagement Team will be delighted to hear from PGRs in the Social Science and related disciplines (irrespective of funding status) across the 16 SGSSS member universities.

Please feel free to email us at pgrvoice@sgsss.ac.uk to share your opinions, suggestions, concerns, and other relevant information. We have also set up an online feedback form if you would like to share your thoughts anonymously: https://forms.cloud.microsoft/e/wW9brT1Zs8.

In addition, we are delighted to announce that the 2026 Doctoral Symposium is taking place in May in Dundee, the City of Discovery! It promises to be a great time of insightful conversations, networking, and fun for all PGRs in the Social Science and related disciplines across Scotland. As we are aiming to plan a fun and engaging event, at this stage we welcome any suggestions for what you would like to see at this event.

More details about this year’s Doctoral Symposium will be shared soon. Stay tuned!

Clara, Ebenezer, Gladys, Nishat and Yasmin