Regular meetups are helping postdoctoral researchers in our Department build connections, share experiences, and feel more at home in Durham. From informal lunches and walks around the city to day trips across the region, the meetups offer opportunities to get to know colleagues at a similar career stage, exchange practical advice, and develop friendships beyond the working environment.
We didn’t really start the meetups from scratch, but picked up and continued something that was already there. Conrado Da Costa, a PDRA who left in 2025, used to organise occasional games nights in the department. While he was still here, we thought it would be nice to have lunch together more regularly, and also to organise things outside the University from time to time.
I think part of the inspiration came from the fact that research can sometimes be quite a lonely job. Arriving somewhere new can also be difficult, especially when you know that, as a PDRA, your contract is often fixed-term and your time in that place may be quite temporary. At the beginning, it can be easy to feel a little lost or not quite know where you fit in.
For us, simply having a few people you know you can have lunch with every week, ask questions, or just chat to makes a real difference. It gives you a small sense of familiarity and belonging in a place that is otherwise still quite new. At least, that has certainly been the case for us.
Especially when you are new to Durham, it can be really nice simply to know a few familiar faces and have people around who understand a little of what your experience is like.
It really depends. Sometimes a ‘meetup’ is simply going for lunch together, chatting and catching up on our everyday lives at the University. Other times, we organise things outside the University, from walks around Durham to little day trips to places such as Cragside, Gibside or Seaham, or going to the pub to listen to some Irish music.
It is all very informal, really. Usually someone initiates it in our shared WhatsApp group and we figure out when folks will be free. The important thing is less what we are doing and more having some time to see each other, talk about how things are going, and enjoy doing something together.
I think they are especially useful when you first arrive somewhere and have a specific person or a couple of people to directly connect to. It also helps to have a group of people at a similar career stage who are living through many of the same things and who can help you find your feet in all sorts of ways.
Sometimes that is very practical: how to connect your computer to the printer, who to ask about a particular process, or how to get something done within the University. But it is also about knowing what is going on in Durham, having somebody you feel comfortable asking a slightly silly question, or simply knowing there are people around who will be happy to have lunch with you.
And, perhaps most importantly, those people can become friends. When you are living somewhere for what may only be a few years, having that kind of informal support and friendship can make the experience of being there much richer.
When you are living somewhere for what may only be a few years, having that kind of informal support and friendship can make the experience of being there much richer.
Probably seeing people become comfortable with one another and watching the group turn into something that feels quite natural. After a while, it stops being about ‘organising meetups’ and becomes people messaging each other to go for lunch, going for a walk together, celebrating a birthday, or making plans at the weekend.
I think that is probably the nicest part: knowing that something quite simple has helped people feel a little more at home and has led to genuine friendships.
I’d say we would be very happy to have them. We are really just a small group of friendly people having lunch together, going for walks, occasionally going somewhere for the day, and helping each other with all the normal little things that come with being a PDRA.
There is nothing formal about it and there is certainly no expectation that you come to everything. You can just come along for lunch, meet a few people and see how it goes. Especially when you are new to Durham, it can be really nice simply to know a few familiar faces and have people around who understand a little of what your experience is like.
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