In this conversation, Stella and Lily – two students who just completed their first year of the SOPR program – reflect on their experiences so far. Stella is a Kachin activist from northern Burma/Myanmar researching decolonial and community led peace-building and Indigenous self-governance and self-determination practices. Lily is a queer youth climate activist, writer, and researcher whose research and activism centers youth engagement in climate-decision making, the mental health and emotional impacts of the climate crisis, and developing alternative policy, governance, and community frameworks to address the impacts of the polycrises from a climate and sustainability perspective.
This conversation began with the question: Why did you choose the SOPR program? What are your interests and where are you coming from?
Stella
I chose the SOPR program for several reasons. First, I wanted to continue working with my supervisors from my master’s in the political science department. As a political activist working in an international, rights-based space and researching on Indigenous self-determination practices in the Global North and South, I already knew what my research was going to be about. So, having supervisors who are caring and generous and know my interests and where my commitment lies, just made so much sense for me to continue my doctoral studies. Then, I learned about the flexibility of the Qualifying Exam format that students have in the program. It was an easy decision to come to SOPR. What about you, Lily?
Lily
I finished my master’s a couple of years before applying for PhD programs. I did my undergraduate and masters in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the University of Kings College and Dalhousie University. I took a couple of years to work in the environmental non-profit sector out East, primarily working with municipalities on climate change adaptation and more physical/technical responses to the impacts of climate change. I had come from more of a background of youth climate activism focused on a justice lens and doing work to advocate for policy change and political organizing around youth engagement in climate change decision-making. I also focused on ensuring that there’s equitable representation of communities who are impacted by the climate crisis in decision-making spaces.
My master’s was looking at how climate change impacts the mental health of young people. Something that I noticed as an organizer and also through my research was that many of the young people, and other people involved in climate justice organizing, were those like myself who are members of the 2SLGBTQIA+/queer community, but there wasn’t any discussion as to how queer and trans folks specifically might be impacted by the climate crisis – or ways to bridge organizing for queer liberation and justice and the climate crisis. I tried to work on that simultaneously while having my full-time job in climate adaptation through like additional work and volunteer work. But I found that there wasn’t the opportunity to delve into it in the depth that I wanted to, because it wasn’t a part of my full-time work. It felt very like separate and isolated and I couldn’t really see a way to merge them, even though looking at how queer and trans folks are impacted by the climate crisis is definitely related to climate adaptation I kind of felt a little boxed in. So I started to look into PhD programs and the SOPR program was the only one that really spoke to the level of interdisciplinarity and like opportunities for different types of methods and engaging with communities that I wanted in terms of how I go about my academic and organizing work. I found the program first, but then I had the opportunity to meet with a couple potential advisors and really find the right fit for my work.
And certainly, the opportunity to choose alternative methods for our qualifying exams or assignments and also our future dissertation work was one of the major draws for me to come to SOPR because in my master’s I did some arts-based methods. I used poetry as a way for the participants to reflect and engage with their emotions related to the climate crisis. I am really interested in continuing to incorporate arts-based methods to my work in the future. The Social Practice program is so grounded in alternative ways of knowing and organizing and doing research. I really felt like it would be an opportunity for me to grow as a researcher and build up my skills in a diverse way.
“The Social Practice program is so grounded in alternative ways of knowing and organizing and doing research. I really felt like it would be an opportunity for me to grow as a researcher and build up my skills in a diverse way.” -Lily
Stella
We are starting SOPR year two. What was your year one in SOPR like?
Lily
The first year was definitely eye-opening. We had the opportunity to be exposed to a wide breadth and varied theories and practices from a range of different scholars and also organizers and knowledge holders outside of the academic institution. It was also a really great opportunity to be engaged with the SOPR community. I found the most meaningful part of my first year – and hopefully the future years to come – were the opportunities to gather with all years of the program through our community of practice, especially since we ended up having most of our coursework online this year and we didn’t get as much of an opportunity to connect through the actual course times themselves. To kind of build on what we were learning in our coursework and strengthen our relationships within the program outside of our courses was really meaningful. What about you, Stella?
“I found the most meaningful part of my first year – and hopefully the future years to come – were the opportunities to gather with all years of the program through our community of practice[…]” -Lily
Stella
I agree with you. I particularly enjoyed learning about different social practice theories. I really enjoyed the co-learning aspect among our cohort as well as between us and our professors. For me, at the same time there was a challenge with course reading, which is also an opportunity. I wish the course reading list was more diverse reflecting other practices from the Global South. I was of course grateful to get to explore Indigenous sovereignty, as well as race and gender issues particularly to the Global North, on Turtle Island. This was also due to the fact that the reading lists were curated by past instructors and students. With SOPR being a new and young program, there is room for improvement to reflect a more diverse student body each year. There is some work in that area that needs to be done.
Lily
Yeah, one of the aspects that was both a challenge and an opportunity was that all of us come from such completely different backgrounds in terms of our professional, academic, and personal lives. We often took different things from the readings, which led to challenging but also very fruitful and engaging discussions. I think that also speaks to the fact that the reading list doesn’t necessarily represent every new cohort of Social Practice students coming in and that more opportunities for us to bring in our own expertise and knowledge would be really meaningful. I guess we started to talk about it a little bit, but can we delve more into what the SOPR community is like outside of our first year courses?
Stella
Yes, I love it and I’m so grateful for such a unique and welcoming community. Remember in the first few weeks of the program, we had multiple gatherings. The upper year SOPR students were hosting us with food, and so much care. You instantly felt so welcome and comfortable in the first few weeks. You really get a sense that you could reach out to anyone, and they will be there. That sense of community is extremely important to survive and thrive in the program, trying to create meaningful social changes. Did you have the same experience too, Lily?
“That sense of community is extremely important to survive and thrive in the program, trying to create meaningful social changes.” -Stella
Lily
Yeah, I agree. I feel like it’s very rare to come into a new space and feel so welcomed, especially by those who have gone before us in the different stages of the program. At every stage so far, we’ve had multiple people from upper years offering up their examples of their past work, offering to chat with us about their experiences, and really giving any help that they can offer. I do think that’s really rare, especially because you know, often grad students are so taxed on time. But I feel like in SOPR it’s valued and it’s prioritized to build that community and support one another. Having the chance to, you know, access those connections and help each other out is really impactful. I think one of the other real strengths of the community is that, you know, there’s a real emphasis that everyone is bringing their own knowledge and skills to the table. Although we’re a part of an academic institution which has a hierarchy, we really do have the opportunity to engage with faculty and upper year students on a very like even level and participate in learning opportunities together and create art or have fruitful discussions together. I wish we could have even more opportunities to do so.
Stella
Speaking of that, let’s address the elephant in the room, imposter syndrome. Because any PhD program often is super competitive and students are expected to produce so much work to be seen good enough, as one example. How has it been for you in SOPR?
Lily
So personally, especially at the start of the program, I felt a lot of imposter syndrome about my age because I was the youngest in our cohort of students and one of the younger ones involved in the program at all. Although I acknowledge that I bring a lot of research experience and other experiences, it’s a lot different compared to some people bringing in 30 years of experience in a specific field. But I think that one of the strengths and one of the ways that I navigated those feelings is that, although we’re all coming in as first year students and we’re coming from very different backgrounds, it’s been really valued that we all bring different perspectives into the space. It’s an opportunity to learn from one another and grow as organizers and scholars. But I think it’s also really challenging being in an academic space and not letting ourselves get caught up in, you know, trying to get the right number of things on our CV to ensure future success; to not always be thinking about the next step and just really enjoy the process and the journey. I’ve tried to kind of just sit back and really take in whether it’s our course work or our opportunities and community of practice to actually like engage in deep learning and relationship building and not just thinking about, you know, getting to the next thing.
I think imposter syndrome is one of the most challenging things to face, especially because even if we have a really supportive, engaging, and uplifting community within our program, that doesn’t necessarily extend to the rest of the university – or even outside of the university, you know, going to conferences and things like that. I recently went to a conference where I was presenting, and it became even more evident how rare the supportive space of SOPR is as I spoke to other PhD students who have really strict demands in terms of how many publications they have to do to graduate, and the really like uber competitive spaces that they’re living in. And I feel like it would be so much more difficult to let go of any feelings of imposter syndrome if you’re in a space like that, we’re very lucky in the space that we are part of and that we’re helping to create as well.
Stella
I really like what you said about the link between being in a supportive environment and collaborations as outcomes. When we talk about ‘productivity’, what are we talking about and what kind of work do we produce really? As the program is about transformational change, the things we do and the way we do things cannot be business as usual. What does it mean then? For me, I don’t want to produce things just for the sake of adding things to my CV. Collaboration comes naturally from trust, friendship, and inspiration. With those foundational components, I know the outcome will be truthful, inspirational, and meaningful.
“As the program is about transformational change, the things we do and the way we do things cannot be business as usual. What does it mean then? For me, I don’t want to produce things just for the sake of adding things to my CV. Collaboration comes naturally from trust, friendship, and inspiration. With those foundational components, I know the outcome will be truthful, inspirational, and meaningful.” -Stella
Imposter syndrome for me comes in waves. But being in SOPR helps me deal with it so much better. The waves are much smaller and come less often because, one, I am in a supportive environment, and two, we are all so different in what we do and where we come from. You are not comparing yourself to anyone so that imposter syndrome doesn’t creep in as much, if that makes sense [laughter].
Lily
Yeah, and I’ll just add too, I think something that’s so important about the way that we operate in SOPR is that things like arts-based or creative products and community-based reports and even events are highly valued. So, the value isn’t only placed on academic peer reviewed publications. It is on having that opportunity to just see where things go and see you what the best way to share the knowledge that is co-created within our research is. That really is the way it should be.
Stella
We have been talking about how glowing our SOPR community is. But if we step out of it, how has the University of Guelph community or the city of Guelph been?
Lily
I feel like the University of Guelph is a bit challenging to connect outside of our direct ties to SOPR. I have ties through my two labs and my co-supervisors in geography and political science, but outside of those spaces I feel like it has been a little challenging to connect more broadly at the university. I have found that the city of Guelph and the surrounding areas have been very welcoming and there’s a lot of opportunities to engage. One of the most fun things that I started when I moved to Guelph was the Rainbow Chorus of Waterloo-Wellington, which is a queer focused choir. It was a really great opportunity to sing fun music but also connect with other people. Through that I got connected with some other groups, like a queer group that goes on hikes. It also brought the chance to check out a lot of different events in the community. One of the things that I automatically loved about Guelph as soon as I moved here was how many markets -like craft markets and food markets – that happen in downtown and other areas of the city. Although Guelph is a small city, there are always numerous events going on. There’s also a lot of wonderful parks and nature in Guelph and just outside. So that’s been a really great way to get to know the area and also meet people. What about you, Stella? You’ve been here a bit longer than me.
Stella
That sounds fun. It is my third year living in Guelph. Because I am here with my family and with a young child living in the family residence of the University, my connection or my involvement in the university community is through this family residence. We have such a wonderful community and space there for students with families. We have programs for children and a community garden. It’s pretty unique.
Lily
I forgot to mention that I live off campus and it was a bit challenging to find a reasonably priced and reasonably large apartment. I live with my partner and we have a dog. We don’t live super close to campus, but we do live a reasonable bus ride or bike ride away. We are in a really nice area with a large park and walking distance to downtown. But certainly, finding housing off campus is a bit of a challenge.
Stella
Do you have anything else that you wanted to reflect on before we conclude?
Lily
Well, I think the last couple points were around like our experience working with our advisors and if we have any advice about finding an advisor and then just broad advice for any students considering SOPR.
Stella
As I mentioned earlier, I met my supervisor in my MA in the Political Science department at UoG, so it was straight forward for me. But I know you have a different experience from me finding or meeting your supervisor.
Lily
Yeah, I found my supervisor online. I reached out first to Leah Levac and I found her from the SOPR website. She seemed to have the most relevant background in terms of critical policy studies and working with diverse communities on engagement with decision making, as well as some work on climate issues. I met with her and we got on very well but she let me know that she didn’t have enough funding to fully support a PhD student, so I would need to find a co-supervisor. Initially I came up with two potential co-supervisors and my current co-supervisor Karina Benessaiah was the one who could support me in in terms of funding and capacity. At first it was a bit nerve racking because I hadn’t actually met with her, and I had to make the decision about whether to accept the offer before I had the chance to. But it worked out very well in the end. I have a good working relationship with both of my supervisors. It is really challenging to know just from looking at someone’s profile on the university website. You learn so much more from working with them and interacting with them. I think that the relationship and working practices of a supervisor and how they operate and align with your own priorities is the most important thing. I ended up choosing to come here for a combination of the program, the supervisors, the funding package I was offered, and the location – but the supervisors are really key because you’re going to spend four to five years working with them, so you don’t want to have a bad working relationship.
Stella
I totally agree with you on that. Having a supervisor who knows you and your research interests, and will support you to do what you need to do is the most important thing above all else. At the end of the day, they are the ones who will walk with you for 4 years and help you explore things in a safe space. Find a good supervisor that’s right for you. We covered a lot, Lily.