Wednesday 16-09-2026 - 00:00

Written by Shameela Yoosuf Ali, doctoral candidate & Dr Mutiat Owolewa, doctoral graduate, Birmingham City University

Some events linger because of the words spoken, others because of the ambience they create. The Ideas Xchange at BCU STEAMhouse was one of those rare occasions that brought both together.

As PGR co-creators, being part of this event meant a lot to us. We were involved in shaping it from the early planning stages. We thought carefully not only about what the event would discuss, but about the kind of space it would become.  If you want sincere conversations about supervision, belonging, inequality, and research culture, then the setting and structure count just as much as the theme.

We were clear from the start that we didn't want a conference. Not in the usual sense, rows of chairs, a stage, people clapping politely at the right moments, and going home having said nothing. This open space brought together postgraduate researchers, supervisors, EDI practitioners, and external stakeholders to reflect on an inclusive doctoral culture in a thoughtful, grounded, and conversational way.  

Well, it made a difference.

There was something about the atmosphere that encouraged openness. People were not simply attending to sit through sessions and leave. They were there to listen, to engage, and to share. We usually speak about inclusion in abstract terms, while the spaces themselves still feel rigid, hierarchical, or emotionally distant. This event felt different.

The conversations were more empathetic because they were not limited to one type of perspective. There were doctoral researchers at different stages, supervisors with different experiences, and people working around EDI and institutional change. That mix created a richer exchange. Supervision is never just a private relationship between two individuals. It is also shaped by wider cultures, structures, expectations, and inequalities across the university. 

The event was generously funded by the University Alliance's DTA Supervisor Grant Scheme and inspired by the BCU That’s Me! Project that has already opened important conversations about inequality across the doctoral lifecycle for Global Majority communities. That wider foundation gave the day a real sense of purpose. It was part of a broader attempt to think differently about whose experiences are centred in academia, whose voices are heard, and what genuine change might require.

Professor Martin Glynn read a poem, "What Happens? after the welcome, and something in the room loosened. Hard to describe exactly what changed. Shoulders came down. People stopped checking their phones. Whatever it was, it carried through the rest of the morning. The poem spoke about fear, uncertainty, imposter syndrome, wrong turns, and the courage it takes to face yourself honestly.

The roundtable covered everything, including inclusive leadership, disability and doctoral support, class, the whole meritocracy myth, why supervisors need to have the hard conversations earlier rather than later, and what AI is doing to how we trust knowledge at all.

One activity we planned was to bring everyday objects and ask people to choose one that they feel a connection to. Everyone wrote about how their chosen objects were linked to them. They wrote about where we'd come from, what we were still carrying, and the threads of personal history.

Small things counted more than we'd guessed. The food arrangement, where people sat, how much breathing room we left between sessions, and the fact that everyone ate together at some point.

Then the afternoon turned into something else entirely. PGRs stood up and talked about OCD, imposter syndrome, deadlines that never actually end, being far from home, visa stress, motherhood on top of a PhD, that specific tiredness international researchers carry and don't usually get to name out loud. There was an open mic. People used it. Some of it was genuinely hard to sit through. Not in a bad way, in the way that tells you something's true.

 
After that, we moved into co-creation sessions, researchers and supervisors working at the same table, and the register shifted again, less "here's what's broken," more "okay, so what do we actually do about it."

As PGRs, being trusted to co-create this event also felt affirming. Too often, doctoral researchers are spoken about rather than spoken with. Here, our perspectives were part of the event’s making, not just its audience. That counts because PGRs not only experience research culture. We also have insight into how it can be reimagined.

What lingered after the event was that meaningful change begins when people are willing to listen differently, to speak honestly, and to create spaces where complexity is held rather than smoothed away. Inclusive doctoral supervision is not only a matter of policy language. It is also about care, reflexivity, accountability, and the courage to build academic relationships that are more just and more human.

We are grateful to everyone who made The Ideas Xchange possible, and to all who arrived with openness, generosity, and thoughtfulness. It was a privilege to be part of a day alive with reflection, exchange, and possibility. We hope it marks the beginning of a much longer, deeper conversation.