Embodiment,
identity &
lived experience

By Farah Hina

A PhD is often described through milestones and outcomes, but lived from the inside it feels different. It is less about achievement and more about endurance. Days blur into schedules. Weeks are measured by deadlines. You move forward because you have to, not because there is time to pause and ask how it feels to be there.

Somewhere in the middle of that forward motion, Emma Experience quietly arrived. Not as an interruption, but as a soft widening of the space around everything that had begun to feel tight and grey.

One career workshop lingered long after it ended. Rejection was spoken about not as a single event, but as something that seeps in slowly. An unanswered application. A closed email. A silence that starts to sound personal. What stayed was a simple reframing: rejection is not a verdict on your worth. It is a redirection of your path.

A PhD can be lonely in ways that are hard to articulate. You can be constantly busy and still feel unseen. Emma Experience made something clear: connection does not arrive on its own. It is built slowly, through small acts — sitting next to someone, staying behind after a session, saying yes when it would be easier to leave early. Over time, those small choices accumulate into something steadier.

Productivity culture offers endless instructions. Wake up early. Do more. Push harder. One session offered an alternative: listen inward. Some days, thinking comes easily in the morning; some days it does not. Letting go of borrowed routines makes space for honesty. Guilt softens. Energy stops being something to fight and becomes something to respect.

Imposter syndrome rarely announces itself loudly. It whispers. It questions. It asks whether you belong here, whether this space was ever meant for you. Sometimes, the bravest act is not proving yourself, but choosing to stay — choosing to believe, just slightly more than yesterday, that you are allowed to be where you are.

Emma Experience became more than a programme. It became a reminder that life alongside a PhD needs room for breath, for connection, for joy, and for rest. Becoming is not only about outcomes. It is about how you carry yourself through the in between. That gentler shaping is what remains, long after the sessions end.

By Farah Hina · Chair, Cambridge Open University Psychological Society (COUPS) 2025–26

I recently had the privilege of leading the Cambridge OUPS webinar, The Climate–Mind Connection: From Awareness to Action. Over two hours, our panel went beyond headlines — sharing practical insights on managing eco-anxiety, building resilience, and taking meaningful action. The key takeaway was clear: understanding the link between mind and environment empowers us, and small actions can make a difference.

Dr. Abeer Albdour (University of Birmingham) explored how extreme temperatures and air pollution affect mental health — highlighting links between heat, cold, pollution, and rises in psychiatric admissions, depression, anxiety, and schizophrenia. Key takeaway: understanding environmental stressors is crucial for protecting mental health and building resilience.

Isaac Kenyon, eco-adventurer and mental health advocate, shared how connection with nature, purpose, and community can anchor the mind. The concept of "blue space" stood out: lakes, rivers, and the sea can be even more calming than green spaces. His key message: we cannot control the storms, but we can steer our course.

Dr. Mohsen Gul highlighted that young people feel the weight of climate change everywhere — but they don't just worry, they act. What holds them back isn't imagination; it's opportunity. As he reminded us: every job can be green, every initiative can spark change.

Amanda Cole (retired clinical psychologist) shared highlights from the BABCP Climate Conversations Guide — emphasising that climate-related emotions (anxiety, grief, anger) are natural and valid. Rather than trying to remove these feelings, the guide helps people channel them into meaningful action using CBT principles and compassion-focused approaches.

Post-event surveys showed the webinar had a powerful impact — attendees reported increased awareness of the climate–wellbeing intersection and concrete plans to act. Let's hold on to the hope that comes from rowing together.