PhD scholars impacted by pandemic-induced hurdles

 PhD scholars impacted by pandemic-induced hurdles

Students faced roadblocks including paucity of time and maintaining quality of research

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Astha.Hemant@timesgroup.com

23.01.2022

Since the announcement of the first lockdown in 2020, UGC has extended the deadline for eligible MPhil/PhD students to submit their thesis work thrice. As per the guidelines shared, students being unable to conduct lab/research work due to universities remaining closedat this time, was cited as the main reason behind the decision. PhD students, who werein the middle of their research work when the pandemic hit, faced several roadblocks due to paucity of time and the pressure of maintaining the quality of research. Lack of live discussions

Arijit Ghosh registered for a PhD in Journalism and Mass Media from University of Calcutta in 2018. “My research needed comments from college students. With the colleges shut and most students refusing to be interviewed online at that time, I had to switch to sending them online surveys to ensure that I did not lag,” he tells. However, his sample grouphad been  hit with uncertaintyand was not open to being part of a PhD research, he tells. “While most refused, responsesof thosewho did participate were inadequate. Although I am about to finish research for my aimed sample size,I amnot satisfied with the qualityof work that has been done,” says Ghosh. Smriti Yadav is pursuing her PhD in Psychology from Meerut College, Uttar Pradesh. She feels that the level of difficulty imposed on PhD students during the pandemic is directly related to the subject of their research.

“My thesis required live interaction with young school students, as body language matters greatly in psychology-based research work. With schools shut, my option to have group interactions became nil. When I went for individual interactions, theprocess ofgettingpermission from parents, making children comfortable with online conversations, and getting them to answer appropriately was a time-consuming and often, futile effort,” she tells. For one year, Yadav’s research was ata standstill. “Today, my research work has finished. However, the pandemicmade italongand frustrating journey,” she tells. Lagging behind

Ajay Kumar is pursuing his PhD in Chemistry from University of Hyderabad (UoH). “The first year of PhD is for theoretical work, while the next two years are spent doing lab work with seniors to pinpoint the problem you want to address as part of your thesis work,” he tells.

Kumar had entered the second year of his PhD when labs were forced to shut down. “I missed out on an essential nine months of lab work at this time. Even conducting theoretical work required the use of a supercomputer at the university, which became difficult due to glitches causedby inadequateinternet speed,” hetells. Currently, Kumar is almost one year behind in his research and is working overtime to ensure that his deadlines are met.