“It met me at my point of need!” Reflections on the Black Researchers T&T Sponsorship programme from a sponsee’s lens

I’m Sharon and I’m a doctoral student with the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) at the University of Essex. I’m a black, young woman (in academia 29 is young haha) and an international student from Zimbabwe in Southern Africa. I mentioned this because it has a bearing on my journey and the experiences that I’m writing about today. I’m a health economist by profession and my research focuses on finding sustainable health financial mechanisms for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) prevention and management in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICS). Sounds cool, doesn't it?

My career has not always sounded so perfect, and it is far from it - I’ve just found a way to frame it in a way that is digestible to everyone. To be fair, I’ve been told that I package things well in words, so don’t fall victim and get a flawed impression. For instance, I hold a Development Studies undergraduate degree and later pursued a masters in Health Economics after getting some clarity on career prospects that I wanted to pursue. Before I started my PhD, I was an early career professional who had worked extensively advocating for access to healthcare for everyone (health equity) within charities, with government ministries, with regional think tanks and the United Nations (UN). I made a difficult but necessary decision to leave my then lecturing job in Zimbabwe and consultancy with the UN to further advance my career through pursuing doctoral studies.

It took me about two years to prepare for this journey, as you can imagine I had considered “the whole kit and caboodle”. After years of studying and a bit of work experience, I had discovered a research area I wanted to focus on and developed a research question for my PhD. I knew exactly what I wanted to do under my doctoral studies for the next 3 - 4 years preceding 2023 and had crafted a very well laid out proposal, a guideline that would help me structure my activities under my PhD studies. This landed me a fully funded PhD scholarship at ISER, and the PhD journey so far forms the basis of this blog. I arrived at our Colchester campus in the October 2023 term with much anticipation, great expectations and huge excitement! It was an adventure, it still is!

Obviously, I had anticipated challenges because I knew I was moving not only out of my country but to a whole new continent! Little did I know that I would face challenges far more than I had anticipated. What I had not thought through was the scale of the challenges and some that I had totally overlooked as I was oblivious of my new environment until I got to the uni and started my “independent research” journey. Being in a foreign country, I had expected to face minor challenges limited to adjusting to the language, food, music, missing home and struggling to meet new friends! As a well-travelled person, I didn’t think these were things that should have worried me as I had thrived in similar situations/environment. However, as I delved into the technicalities of pursuing independent research, I realized I had more than 101 things that I needed to figure out on my own and at some point, I felt like I had made the wrong decision to come and study here because I was not coping well. I struggled to fit in, in many spaces that I found myself in, not that support was not there, it was everywhere but I did not feel comfortable to reach out. It didn’t look anywhere near what I had hoped for nor what I could be comfortable to reach out to! As a result, I kept my challenges to myself, tried to figure things out on my own and reminiscing about it today, I feel that further worsened my situation. I remember sitting in one of my therapy sessions and thinking my therapist from the Student Well-Being and Inclusivity Service (SWIS) was absolutely amazing. I felt safe and supported but I thought she didn’t totally get how I felt and couldn’t understand the context of my experiences.

I had started to second guess my competences as I got deep into research, more often I saw less of people who looked (or felt) like they had had similar experiences to me and that took a toll on my mental health. When I think about it now, I feel like all I needed was a community of people who had or were having similar experiences with me or that could understand my circumstances. Fortunately for me, I got an invitation to a black researchers’ symposium event by another PhD student that I had met during welcome week. It was the first event that I felt like I belonged. I listened to a panel of four black professors talk about their experiences in their careers in academia, how they overcame challenges during their journey and mechanisms they had built to cope with the pressures throughout their careers. We also got answers to some of the questions that I had and had no one to ask!

This event was my turning point - it was where I discovered the Black Researchers’ Hub, a digital platform that hosts the Transitions and Transformations (T&T) project on Grad Intelligence. The project has a variety of resources that supports students from black and minority backgrounds to reach their full potential. I remember signing up for a couple of other resources under the T&T project along with the Challenger Lab (a 6 week long lab to design innovative, e-resources to support students from black and minority backgrounds to navigate systemic inequalities as well as provide bespoke academic & professional mentorship) and the T&T sponsorship programme which made a huge impact for me.

I want to highlight my experience with the T&T sponsorship programme!

Unlike general mentorship, the Black Researchers T&T Sponsorship programme under the Transitions and Transformation Project gives tailormade and practical opportunities to develop research, professional skills, networks and knowledge. It met me at my point of need! The year-long programme (for me it was from June 2024 - June 2025) paired me with an academic sponsor, Maria , who invested time and resources into my progress. She took my hand and showed me the way to many opportunities in areas that I lacked. She nurtured me with skills, knowledge, experiences and networks that I needed to regain my confidence back in a totally safe environment. I learnt new skills in coping with stress, cementing my confidence, maximising resilience, networking, expanding my capacity to succeed among others. Besides soft skills, my academic sponsor went an extra mile to connect me with experts in areas I was struggling in my research and equipped me with skills that I will need in future job prospects. I found it refreshing that we were able to share experiences and I could also share knowledge on things that I was well versed in. The programme provides many opportunities for us to exchange ideas and even learn new things together which meant learning was both ways. With my sponsor, we decided to learn more about using AI in a responsible way in academic work to improve efficiency through auditing a lecture series at Essex Business School (BE950 7AU Research Evaluations with a special focus on Artificial Intelligence and Literature Search) about the subject and also revised the good practices in qualitative research. When the programme ended, I was confident that I had a good network for support, I had all the skills I needed to succeed, and I left feeling like I will always have a mentor to reach out whenever I feel stuck or whenever I need some more guidance and motivation.

My experience might not sound extraordinary to most people but to me it is one of the most important parts of my journey. Apart from gaining a friend and mentor who is totally invested in my success, who checks in regularly to see how I’m doing, reading my research and seating with me giving constructive feedback over coffee, it helped me navigate one of the most difficult times of my PhD journey, one that I felt lost and almost gave up on my studies. It opened a new network of people who support me to thrive. It gave me courage to reach out to my second supervisor who is from another department as I needed expertise in his area of research. It reinforced mechanisms of resilience in me, boosted my confidence in my work and research. Most of all it reminded me that in the midst of it all, my dreams matter and I can be all that I want to be with the right resources and support! I will always be grateful for the sponsorship programme, to my sponsor Maria and I wish students like me get access to the opportunity like I did. I have no doubt that I will be to other students what my academic sponsor was to me - I owe it to myself to pay it forward!

Having said this, I should also mention that although the sponsorship made a huge difference in my journey, it didn’t end all the challenges and miseries. Instead, it built my capacity to deal with them along with other resources and support that I found from different places within the University wider community. As a sponsee, you also have a role to play. Being willing to learn, communicating your needs and working hard to achieve your goals will also contribute to the overall experience.

Apart from T&T sponsorship, I had support from  my amazing supervisors Cara and Nestor, I had support from Sarah (Revd Dr. Sara Batts-Neale - University of Essex Anglican Chaplain), the Student Wellbeing and Inclusivity Service and the greater university community.