Embarking on a PhD is a significant intellectual and personal undertaking — and it’s not uncommon to feel uncertain, isolated, or under-supported, especially in the early stages. This is particularly true for students navigating academia for the first time (first-generation doctoral students), or those working without consistent guidance from supervisors, or support from friends and family.
I offer PhD coaching and mentoring grounded in extensive academic training and teaching qualifications, including a PhD in the social sciences from the University of Cambridge and extensive experience supervising students there. My approach combines clear, practical strategies with thoughtful, personalised support, helping you gain clarity, build momentum, and move forward with confidence.
Whether you’re just beginning your PhD or preparing for your viva, I can support you with:
While emotional and moral support is part of the process, my focus is on providing practical, rigorous guidance that is tailored to your research and your goals. I work with students across disciplines, with a particular interest in supporting first-generation doctoral candidates and those without established networks in academia.
If you’re looking for professional, informed, and constructive support at any stage of your PhD, I’d be pleased to hear from you. You’re welcome to get in touch to arrange an initial conversation. I offer the first 20-minute discussion for free, after which you can decide if you’d like to arrange a weekly, two-weekly or monthly coaching session with me. I also offer one-off strategic days (7 hours, with breaks) or half-days (3 hours, with a break) if you have a larger, more complex issue to work through.
All sessions are online, through Teams.
I am most well versed in UK doctoral formats but am happy to take international clients, convenient time permitting.
50 minutes
In this session we can solve a problem that is currently blocking you from moving forwards in your PhD work. This might be related to literature review, study design, conducting the research itself, writing up, editing or viva preparation. We can also use this time to discuss any social, mental or emotional issues that are blocking your progress and how I can help you move forward with them.
3 hours, inclusive of a break
In this session we can tackle an issue in slightly more depth. This could be related to your method of synthesising literature, your conceptual or theoretical framework (including exploring the difference between the two), tweaking your abstract to make it exceptional, or making an outstanding graph, chart or infographic. This is also the ideal session for a viva preparation, as we can spend a little time discussing your work and then rehearse the viva together. We can also use this time to discuss in more detail any social, mental or emotional issues that are blocking your progress and how I can help you move forward with them.
7 hours, inclusive of breaks
In this all-day session we can take the time to explore one large or thorny issue in depth, or several issues. This could be editing a large section of text together; creating several high-quality graphs, charts or infographics; considering coherence across the chapters/sections of your thesis; ensuring your conceptual or theoretical framework is used coherently; working on referencing issues or learning how to use a reference manager such as Zotero; checking or adding table and figure captions properly so they can be included in an automatic table; improving your literature review to be more critical or logically ordered; or improving your conclusion and implications. We can also use this time to discuss in more detail any particularly tricky social, mental or emotional issues that are blocking your progress and how I can help you move forward with them.
A free 20-minute discussion, after which you can decide if PhD Coaching & Mentoring is right for you and if you’d like to arrange a weekly, two-weekly or monthly coaching session with me.
£60
50 minutes.
In this session we can solve a problem that is currently blocking you from moving forwards in your PhD work.
£180
3 hours, with a break.
In this session we can tackle an issue in slightly more depth.
£400
7 hours, with breaks.
In this all-day session we can take the time to explore one large or thorny issue in depth, or several issues.
If you can’t find a convenient available slot, please get in touch via the Contact Me page to see if we can arrange something that works for you.
Previous clients/students have said:
“Lucy always manages to tease out the things that I am most struggling with, and help me see the options in front of me more clearly.”
“Feels very much like therapy!”
“I love that the supervision space feels really comfortable and supportive”
“It was wonderful to work with Lucy who provided excellent support and was always calm, professional and encouraging. She had much insight and improved my book by noticing things I’d never have seen and no one else spotted. I’d definitely make sure I worked with her again on any non-fiction project. She has a unique skill set and a warm can-do attitude. Delightful and insightful.”