The R.E.St Reset: Sustainable Practices for Work/Life Balance in the PhD

This workshop is designed to help you redefine what sustainable productivity and work-life balance can look like within your PhD journey.

We’ll start by exploring the different types of rest and what restful practices mean for you personally. Using the novel R.E.St Rest method developed by PhD trainer Dr Jamie Pei, you’ll be encouraged to rethink the importance of integrating rest and play alongside your work — and discovering the work practices that energise and motivate you the most.

The R.E.St Reset method focuses on:

R: Rest – Priorisiting and making space for rest in your weekly schedule.

E: Energise – Discovering the practices to support your optimal working flow.

St: Stop – Learning to identify boundaries and limits to shape a healthier work routine.

By working through the R.E.St framework, you’ll learn how adequate rest boosts productivity, enhances the quality of your research, and makes the PhD experience more creative, resourced and enjoyable.

You’ll leave armed with practical strategies that actually work so you can stop overworking and start enjoying a more balanced, fulfilling PhD life.

Learning outcomes

By the end of the workshop, you will have learned:

- About the different types of rest and what rest can mean and look like for you
- How rest enhances your research work, output and productivity
- How to counter compulsions to overwork
- How to begin to give yourself more permission to rest and enjoy balance