What is a PhD – is it a certificate or a way of life? What is the significance of adorning the black robe? Is there a connection between science and philosophy? Is there a historical background to it? In this article, Jithin pays tribute to the doctorate and how it can drive away naive realism and bring substantive reasoning into our lives. He pays homage to the great minds —Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Whitehead and Einstein —true lovers of knowledge.

Enam Reyaz, a student at the Jamia Hamdard Institute of Molecular Medicine (JH-IMM), recounts her physical and emotional roller-coaster of experience embracing pregnancy and motherhood while pursuing a PhD degree; what helped her challenge the taboos and what more can be done by research institutions to support expectant mothers.

Vanshika Singh is a PhD student at the National Centre for Brain Research (NBRC), Manesar. In this next article in our PhD Cafe series, she writes about why networking can be challenging for an introverted graduate student and the strategies that one can employ to derive the benefits of networking while remaining true to their personality.

Parul Anup recently completed her PhD from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai. In this next article in our PhD Cafe series, she talks about the expectations that graduate students and Principal Investigators (PIs) have from each other, and how keeping these in mind can help in building a healthy mentor-mentee relationship.

Zill e Anam is a PhD student at the Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University. In this next article in our PhD Cafe series, she discusses some of the speed-breakers in her journey, solutions that helped her, and what she learned from each episode.