#010 The Invisible Curriculum: What Your PhD Programme Should Teach But Doesn't (or not directly...)

The Invisible Curriculum: What Your PhD Programme Should Teach But Doesn't (or not directly…)

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The Unspoken Skills Gap

Your PhD will teach you to conduct research. That's the whole point. You'll learn methodology, analysis, writing, presenting. Fair enough.

But what I find frustrating is that we leave students completely unprepared for the actual experience of doing a PhD. And the real cost often isn't academic—it's personal.

I've sat with PhD students who are intellectually capable but emotionally drowning. I've watched promising researchers completely derail because they can't have a difficult conversation with their supervisor. I've seen brilliant minds paralysed by imposter syndrome or undone by poor time management.

These students eventually learn these skills. Through failure, exhaustion, or sometimes crisis. It’s cruel. They're learned by accident, through trial and error, often at significant personal cost.

This is the invisible curriculum: the skills nobody teaches you but everyone expects you to have. In many ways it’s the entire point of this newsletter – to teach the mechanics of research….

The Reality: These Skills Are Learned (Just Inefficiently)

I'm not saying these skills aren't acquired during a PhD. They are. But the acquisition process is haphazard, painful, and unnecessarily slow.

You learn emotional regulation through repeated rejection. You learn negotiation by finally standing up to your supervisor after six months of suffering. You learn financial literacy by running out of money halfway through. You learn public speaking by presenting a paper to a hostile audience.

This is learning by trauma, not by design. It works. But it's expensive in psychological and temporal cost.

The Seven Skills Nobody Teaches (But You'll Learn Anyway)

1. Emotional Intelligence & Imposter Syndrome Management

What it is: The ability to understand and manage your own emotions, recognise patterns of self-doubt, and develop resilience against the inevitable criticism and setbacks of research.

How it's "learned" accidentally: Usually around month 24-36 of your PhD, after your first journal rejection, when you convince yourself you're a fraud. You'll spiral for a few weeks, then either give up or develop coping mechanisms. Some of you will seek counselling (good instinct). Most will just muddle through.

Why it matters: 36% of PhD students seek help for anxiety or depression (Nature, 2019). That's not a personal weakness—that's a systemic failure to prepare people for the emotional labour of research.

The framework you should have learned:

• Separate the work from the self. Your paper being rejected doesn't mean you're stupid. Your hypothesis being wrong doesn't mean you're incompetent. Your idea getting criticised doesn't mean you're a fraud. This seems obvious when written down. It's not obvious when it's 10pm on a Sunday night and you've just had your third rejection email.

• Recognise the imposter pattern. Imposter syndrome follows a predictable cycle: you publish something decent → you feel like a fraud → you assume everyone will soon discover you're a charlatan → you over-prepare for everything → you eventually realise you're not actually a fraud, you're just a normal person who's done some decent work. Then you publish something else, and the cycle begins again. Knowing this pattern exists makes it less terrifying.

• Build emotional accountability. Tell someone (mentor, friend, supervisor) when you're struggling. Don't suffer in silence. This is hard for many researchers—we're trained to be independent thinkers, which sometimes translates into isolation.

2. Difficult Conversations & Conflict Resolution

What it is: The ability to address problems directly, have uncomfortable conversations with supervisors, negotiate boundaries, and resolve conflicts without damaging working relationships.

How it's "learned" accidentally: Usually by completely avoiding the conversation until the relationship is damaged, then having a crisis meeting where everything comes out badly. Or you suffer in silence for 18 months and then switch supervisors.

Why it matters: Supervisor relationships are THE critical variable in PhD completion. A bad supervisor relationship affects completion rates, mental health, and the quality of your work. Yet almost nobody is taught how to address problems early.

The framework you should have learned:

• Identify problems early. Don't wait 6 months to realise your supervisor isn't engaged. Don't let feedback patterns confuse you. If something feels wrong, it probably is.

• Use the "I" statement. "I'm feeling unsupported with feedback turnaround times" is vastly more productive than "You never give me feedback." The first opens dialogue. The second triggers defensiveness.

• Propose solutions. Don't just identify problems. Come with options. "I need feedback within 2 weeks of submission. Would it help if I gave you more notice?" This shows you're serious and collaborative.

• Know your escalation path. If the conversation with your supervisor doesn't work, where do you go? Your department? faculty office? Know this before you need it.

• Document everything. After difficult conversations, send a follow-up email: "Thanks for discussing this with me. To confirm, we agreed X, Y, Z. I'll follow up on [date]." This sounds bureaucratic. It's actually protective for you both and helps with project management.

3. Negotiation Skills

What it is: The ability to advocate for your own needs, negotiate timeline extensions, ask for resources, and push back when something is unreasonable.

How it's "learned" accidentally: Usually when you're desperate. You need an extension on your thesis, so you finally ask, and you're shocked when your supervisor says yes. Or you realise midway through year 3 that you've been working on a project that's changed five times and you finally demand clarity.

Why it matters: Your PhD isn't fixed. It will change. Your circumstances will change. You'll need to renegotiate. People who can do this smoothly finish better, more on time, with better relationships.

The framework you should have learned:

• Separate your position from your person. "I need a 6-month extension" isn't personal. It's practical. Propose it practically: "My data collection took longer than expected. I need 6 months to complete analysis. Here's my revised timeline."

• Understand their constraints. Your supervisor has constraints too. Funding deadlines, committee requirements, other commitments. When you negotiate, acknowledge these. "I know the March deadline is fixed for funding reasons, but could we negotiate the January draft deadline?"

• Ask before you're desperate. Don't wait until you're in crisis to negotiate. Bring issues up early when you have options.

• Get it in writing. After you've negotiated something, email confirmation. This prevents misunderstandings later.

4. Financial Literacy & Money Management

What it is: Understanding grants, budgeting through uncertainty, knowing where money comes from and where it goes, managing financial stress, and planning for post-PhD financial reality.

How it's "learned" accidentally: You run out of money. Or you don't, and you're shocked to discover most of your peers did. Or you finish your PhD with debt because nobody ever explained your funding actually covered certain costs….

Why it matters: Financial stress is a major contributor to PhD attrition. The financial insecurity of early-career research is real. But it's manageable if you're prepared.

The framework you should have learned:

• Map your funding sources. Where is money actually coming from? Stipend? Tuition coverage? Grants? Teaching? Part-time work? Know the exact amount and when it arrives. Many students have no idea.

• Teaching / Marking: when will you get paid and how much? Establish this up front.

• Plan for the end. Your funding ends when you finish (or sometimes when you run out of time). What happens then? Can you extend? Do you need part-time work? Do you need to move back with parents? Plan this. Don't discover it six months before you finish.

• Know where to get help. If you're struggling financially, most universities have hardship funds, emergency support, or can connect you with resources. Most students don't know this exists.

5. Time Management & Productivity Systems

What it is: Not just "managing your time" in some abstract sense, but building systems that work for your life, managing the chaos of research, and maintaining consistency across years.

How it's "learned" accidentally: You'll procrastinate, then panic, then finally figure out what works for you. By month 18 of your PhD. Which means you've wasted year 1.

Why it matters: A PhD isn't sprints. It's a marathon. You can't sprint for 4 years. But you also can't just drift. You need systems that work across the chaos of life—illness, mental health, personal crises, boring chapters, exciting breakthroughs.

The framework you should have learned:

• Separate planning from execution. Spend an hour each week planning what needs doing that week. Then follow the plan. Don't plan every day—that's procrastination disguised as productivity.

• Build in buffer time. Your life will disrupt your research. Illness, family stuff, mental health days—they're not failures, they're inevitable. Plan accordingly.

• Use accountability systems. (We've covered this before—consistency + accountability is everything.) A writing group, a mentor, a friend who checks in. Pick one. Use it.

• Recognise your productivity pattern. Are you a morning person? Work in bursts or in steady sessions? Need silence or coffee shop buzz? Figure this out and build your schedule around it, not against it.

• Track progress, not just hours. "I worked 8 hours" tells you nothing. "I wrote 2000 words and completed the literature review section" tells you everything.

6. Public Speaking & Presentation Skills

What it is: The ability to present your work clearly, handle questions confidently, and engage an audience—whether it's a conference, a committee meeting, or a public lecture.

How it's "learned" accidentally: You present at a conference, completely bomb, feel awful, then gradually get better. Or you present to your committee and get torn apart, and eventually learn how to handle hostile questions.

Why it matters: Your research is only valuable if people know about it. You'll spend 4 years on research. If you can't communicate it clearly, nobody benefits. Plus, presenting is terrifying for many researchers. We'd rather hide in the lab.

The framework you should have learned:

• Start from the listener's perspective. "What does my audience need to know?" Not "what do I want to tell them?" These are different things. Your audience needs to understand your problem, why it matters, what you found, and what it means. Everything else is decoration.

• Tell a story, not a lecture. Hook → Problem → Your approach → Your findings → So what? This is a story structure. It works because humans are wired for stories. Your data isn't a story until you frame it as one.

• Practice with feedback. Present to someone who will critique you. Not harshly, but honestly. Does this make sense? Did I lose you anywhere? What's the key takeaway? Do this 3–4 times before the real presentation.

• Prepare for questions. Not memorise answers. Prepare frameworks. "What would you do differently?" "Why didn't you test X?" "How does this compare to Y?" Think through what questions might come up and how you'd approach them.

• Manage your anxiety. Nervousness is normal. It doesn't mean you're bad at this. It means you care. Breathe. Remember your listener wants you to succeed (usually). You know this material better than anyone in the room.

7. Building & Maintaining Professional Networks

What it is: The ability to build meaningful academic relationships, maintain them over time, and leverage them for collaboration, opportunities, and support without feeling transactional or manipulative.

How it's "learned" accidentally: You go to a conference, meet someone, exchange emails, and then never follow up. Then eventually someone follows up with you and you realise the power of staying in touch. Or you graduate and realise you have no network because you were too focused on your work.

Why it matters: Opportunities in academia come through networks. Collaborations, jobs, speaking invitations, consulting work—they come from knowing people who know you and your work.

The framework you should have learned:

• Start early. Begin building your network in year 1, not year 4. Attend seminars. Go to conferences. Join professional associations. Meet people.

• Add value first. Don't network to get something. Network to contribute something. Share their paper on LinkedIn. Cite their work properly. Offer to collaborate. Come with value.

• Stay in touch systematically. Don't rely on memory. Maintain a simple spreadsheet of key contacts. When did you last speak? What were they working on? Follow up annually with people you respect: "Still working on X? I've moved on to Y. Let's catch up soon."

• Help without expectation of return. Introduce people to each other. Share opportunities. Recommend someone for something. Do this regularly. Eventually, people will do the same for you.

• Make it public. Share your work on LinkedIn. Tag collaborators. Engage with their content. Build your public presence. Your network extends far beyond people you've met in person.

Why Institutions Don't Teach This (And Why That's a Problem)

The assumption is that if you're smart enough to get into a PhD programme, you're smart enough to manage your emotions, negotiate with authority figures, and maintain your wellbeing.

This is obviously nonsense.

Being good at research doesn't make you good at managing conflict. Being academically talented doesn't protect you from imposter syndrome. Having a brilliant mind doesn't automatically translate to public speaking ability.

Yet we persist in this approach: throw students into the deep end and assume they'll learn to swim.

Some do. Others develop anxiety. Others quit. Others finish damaged.

This is wasteful. It's also preventable.

The Shift That Needs to Happen

Progressive institutions are starting to recognise this. Some now offer:

• Mental health support and resilience training

• Communication workshops (how to talk to your supervisor)

• Financial literacy sessions

• Time management frameworks

• Presentation skills training

• Networking guidance

This is good. But it's still positioned as optional add-ons, not as core to research training.

What needs to happen is: these skills should be integrated into PhD programmes from day one. Not as separate modules. Integrated into research supervision and training.

Your supervisor should be teaching you how to have difficult conversations while you're having them. Your department should have clear communication protocols, not just assuming people will figure it out. Time management and productivity should be discussed from year 1, not discovered in year 3.

What You Can Do Now

If you're in a PhD programme right now, you don't have to wait for your institution to sort this out.

Identify your gaps. Which of these seven areas do you struggle with most? That's where to focus first.

Seek support intentionally. Need help with public speaking? Take a course. Struggling with your supervisor? Have a difficult conversation, or find a mentor outside your department. Emotional regulation failing? Find a therapist. Financial stress? Talk to your department's hardship fund.

Find peers facing the same issues. Imposter syndrome is universal among PhD students. Find others and discuss it. The shame evaporates when you realise you're not unique.

Build your own invisible curriculum. Create a reading list. Watch presentations on communication skills. Join a writing group. Do what your institution should have done for you.

Closing Thought

Your PhD is hard. You accept this when you start.

But it shouldn't be hard because nobody taught you how to manage yourself emotionally, or because you have no framework for difficult conversations, or because you're drowning financially.

These are solvable problems.

Learn the invisible curriculum. Either from your institution (if they're enlightened), or from books, courses, mentors, and trial and error (if they're not).

But don't learn it purely through crisis and survival.

Resources & Next Steps

If you're interested in temporary research/AI roles - highly paid:

• I've been working with Mercor on positions for PhD students and researchers. Many of my readers have found these valuable for bridging funding gaps or gaining industry experience. If you're interested, applications take 15-20 minutes: https://work.mercor.com/?referralCode=6578187f-cfd6-41b3-84a4-0d34eeeac960&utm_source=referral&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=platform_referral

For institutional workshops: If you work at a university or research institution and believe your students would benefit from training on any of these seven areas I offer bespoke workshops tailored to your institution's needs.

Connect with me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/iain-jackson — or simply reply to this email.

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Thanks for reading [sorry it’s a bit longer than normal!]. See you next time.

Iain