A personal reflection from Sheba on stepping away from her PhD for a year, supporting postgraduate researchers, and why creating space for community matters.
“When I started my PhD, I thought the hardest part would be the research. I was wrong.”
Three years into a PhD, Sheba Tayo-Garbson did something most researchers would never dare: she pressed pause. Not because the thesis beat her, but to spend a year as your SAMCT Officer, representing the School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology and fighting for postgraduate researchers across Salford.
It wasn't an easy call. “Walking away from a PhD, even temporarily, can feel risky when you have already invested so much time, energy, and emotion into it,” she says. So why do it?
“Because I care deeply about students and the postgraduate research experience. We are students, researchers, teachers, mentors, conference presenters, and sometimes all of those things in the same week. Yet our voices can easily be overlooked.”
A year of making PGRs heard
Twelve months on, the list speaks for itself: a seat on the PGR Steering Committee, one-to-one support for fellow researchers, stronger ties between PGRs and the Students' Union, and reverse mentoring sessions with Professor Simon Green, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange.
“Meaningful change begins when people are willing to listen,” she says. And on pushing for SU involvement in PGR inductions: “Starting a PhD can feel overwhelming enough without also feeling invisible.”
The research that shaped her
Sheba's own PhD explores the role of social media in digital activism and collective action against gender-based violence in Nigeria. Through interviews, surveys, and social media analysis, she has spent years listening to “stories of resilience, advocacy, courage, and social change.”
That work has shaped everything she's done in office. “One lesson that continues to stand out is the importance of speaking up,” she says, and it's why she's backed SU campaigns encouraging students to seek help when they need it. Her message is blunt: “No student should ever feel that they have to suffer in silence.”
The lonely side of research
For all the advocacy, Sheba is honest about the parts no one warns you about. “Research can be lonely,” she admits. “Some days your world becomes a laptop screen, a stack of journal articles, and a coffee cup that somehow keeps refilling itself.” And then there's everyone else: “You explain your research topic to relatives who still think you are 'just in school.'”
But she's quick to flip it. “Despite the challenges, there is also beauty in the journey,” she says. “Beauty in discovering that you are capable of far more than you ever imagined.” Her advice to anyone weighing up postgraduate study? “Do not limit yourself. There is room for you too.”
So she's throwing a party 🎶
Thesis & Turntables is Sheba's answer. In her words: “Not as another academic event. Not as another conference. But as a reminder that researchers are human beings too.”
📅 Wednesday 24 June 2026 · 🕕 6pm–9pm
Expect music, dancing, good food, and a room full of researchers who understand exactly what you're going through, whatever stage you're at, from first-year to final viva. It's free for all PGRs, and it doubles as a celebration of the end of SPARC.
“Productivity does not always come from pressure,” Sheba says. “Sometimes it comes from people.”
As she prepares to return to her thesis for its final stage, she leaves fellow PGRs with one thought: “Success is not just about finishing a thesis. It is about growing through the process without losing yourself along the way. Behind every thesis is a person trying their best.”
So put the laptop down for one evening. Your literature review will still be there on Thursday.
Book your free place 🎶