What our community says
You don’t need to take our word for it! Read below to hear what some people have said about our initiative and the events that we run.
Caroline, University of Bath
I originally returned to university for my MSc in the hopes of moving into a more mathematical role in industry, and hadn’t considered a PhD at all. Following encouragement from my lecturers, I did start to see it as a viable option, but still wasn’t convinced that the commitment was for me, and so took a job as an analyst on completion of my master’s. I quite swiftly realised that my new “more mathematical” position was not going to provide me with the level of satisfaction and stimulation I’d become accustomed to during my MSc. I’d joined the Piscopia mailing list at the suggestion of my university’s rep whilst still a student, and after being sent a particularly interesting abstract, started attending the PiWORKS seminars on Teams during my lunch breaks. The contrast in my level of interest and engagement in these seminars compared to my work meetings helped me realise that academia was very much where I wanted to be! Hearing each speaker’s academic journey and realising that they hadn’t all moved in straight lines towards their current positions also reassured me that my slightly unconventional background needn’t be a barrier, which was further reinforced by a ‘Non-Traditional Career Paths into Academia’ event. Through the Piscopia mailing list I also found out about and attended useful and informative sessions about studying for a PhD in maths run by other organisations, which helped kick-start my application process. I’m now in the first year of my PhD and honestly feel like I wouldn’t have ended up here without the Piscopia Initiative giving me greater access to and insight into academia, and reassurance that there’s no fixed route in.
February 2024
Adi, Queen Mary University of London
Piscopia is such an amazing and supportive group. It is such a great platform, not only for their many great events (PiFORUM23 was one of my favourite conferences I’ve been to!) but also for their willingness and ability to cross promote other initiatives. Their mailing list is always full of great sessions they are running or helping to promote – many of which make me jealous not to be an undergraduate anymore! This has been personally very useful when needing to advertise initiatives I have been involved with as well. Piscopia were always so kind and willing to help, and an email advertisement would always be up on their mailing list within a day or two – which has led to events where we had attendees come from the other side of England!
In person, they are all so supportive, lovely and approachable people, who exemplify the best that academia has to offer. 10/10 would recommend getting involved!
April 2024
Alyssa
The [Piscopia] events gave me an understanding of the next steps I would need to take to look into further study, at a point where I felt a bit confused and overwhelmed by the process. I recently received an offer for a project that I’m really excited about and wanted to thank you – your initiative was a big influence that helped me to achieve this.
January 2024
Page last updated: 15/04/2024
The Piscopia Initiative 