This week I’m in Lisboa. Sounds idyllic? Wish you were here?

I’m here for a summer school. This is an annual event, tied to my field of work. Doctoral, post doc and more experienced academic researchers come together to share their research and discuss sociology and education in Europe. Our summer school has been in Strasbourg, Naples, Brussels and now Lisboa. It didn’t happen at all during the pandemic. But we’re here now. Yippee.

Of course, it’s tricky to keep the funding for such a summer school going at any time. My colleagues do great work locating the euros. They believe it’s an event worth holding as it provides a unique opportunity for people to come together to learn. And to write together.

Everyone at summer school is doing sociological research, but using different theories and methods and focused on a different topic. However, when people get to talk, connections can almost always be made. People can bring something from their research to a new shared interest and topic. And that new topic can become the focus of a jointly written paper.

Well that’s the theory of the summer school, and by and large that’s also how it works.

Now, you may not have a summer school near you. But you probably do have some events that you could go to. Seminars. courses. Classes. Online or face to face. But do you take these opportunities up? If you don’t, then now might be a good time to ask yourself why not.

I’ve said this before – and I’m not the only one to say it – but it’s VERY good to do things during your doctorate and after that aren’t immediately and obviously about your very specific research. Things that may not obviously leap out at you because they don’t seem relevant.

The opportunities that are available to you may in fact seem a bit of a stretch, they aren’t apparently of much use. But maybe. Just maybe, these are opportunities that will allow you to meet new people, encounter new ideas, find new texts, foster different conversations, grow new academic friendships. And how will you know if you don’t give at least some of these opportunities a go?

It’s sometimes hard when you’re deep into your research, particularly if you’re under pressure, to allow yourself to do something other than the directly utilitarian. But there are three reasons for giving what might seem like a distraction a go.

First, you don’t know what’s going to turn out to be relevant. Very often things that seem disconnected from your study actually turn out to be extremely interesting.

Second, giving your head a break from your own stuff can be a really good thing. Simply taking time out can counter intuitively actually help you make good progress when you come back.

Third, doing a doctorate is about your education, and this is more than your own research. Seeing what other people are doing, engaging with scholars more widely, and talking with different researchers, will actually help you in the never ending process of becoming scholarly.

And something else, you might squeeze in time to find out more about a place less familiar to you.

I’m sure you can think of a few more reasons. The point is that even if you can’t get to our summer school, now or in the future, there’s probably some equivalent that you might attend. Your university. Another university nearby. A professional association. An online network. Taking that opportunity could be surprisingly positive.

And how will you know if you don’t give at least one or two of these opportunities a go?