Teaching was a really rewarding part of my PhD experience, but it wasn’t always easy to juggle preparing for classes with all the reading and writing I had to do for my thesis, attending and organising conferences, commuting and trying to maintain some part of my life that didn’t revolve around the university!

The balancing act that is teaching whilst undertaking a PhD along with all the other existing commitments you have is addressed in the fifth video with advice from City PhD students. Abeer Elbahrawy, Alex Gilder, Lee Jones, Alex Powell, Marianna Rolbina and Deanna Taylor have some suggestions that might help. They talk about:

• dividing your week into teaching and research days
• being strict about how much time you set aside for teaching
• knowing when to say no
• making the most of non-teaching time in the summer
• being realistic about what you can do – perhaps finishing in four years rather than three
• the benefits of teaching – seeing good exam results, gaining confidence, inspiring students’ interest and importantly, having some human interaction!