I once dreamed of changing the world by contributing to new knowledge in a foreign land, far from familiar faces. When I finally received a full PhD scholarship, it felt like success. I had achieved what I had worked toward for years. Yet almost immediately, another question followed: now what?
My mind raced with conflicting emotions. A fully funded PhD is an incredible opportunity, but it also brings doubt. Why should I do a PhD? Why shouldn’t I? I had imagined this moment would feel decisive, a point of certainty where everything finally made sense. After years of experience across different sectors, receiving the scholarship was something to celebrate. Still, I found myself wondering what would come after the PhD, and whether I was ready for what lay ahead. In the end, I decided it was better to say yes than to live with regret.
After arriving in Ireland I started to experience first hand the struggles a PhD student would face. It was a challenge but I told myself “no matter what happens, don’t ever give up”. The biggest challenge of all was finding a place during my first year. It was a daunting experience.
Through networking and meeting people at university events, I realized that there were a lot of discrepancies in the stipends a PhD student receives. A part of me always wondered why certain research projects are funded more than the others.
A PhD scholarship offers a stipend which allows me to live and research while simultaneously covering the relevant university fees. However, when I first came I received the bare minimum stipend, 50% of it was spent on the rent. However with a little luck, lots of help and fighting, I was finally able receive the higher stipend. It was the first small win I achieved after coming to Ireland.
Experiencing these struggles first-hand drove me to be more empathetic towards the postgraduate researcher community. I am not the first to experience these issues and will not be the last. This made me realize that I need to voice and advocate for the betterment of the postgrad research community within the university.
This led to me getting involved with the students union and eventually I became the 2025-2026 Postgraduate Research Officer. I didn’t run for the title, but for the genuine reason of representing postgraduate researchers and speaking out as their representative.
Since being elected I have successfully helped fellow postgraduate researchers get higher stipends and solve a wide range of other issues that PhD students face. Yet there is more work to be done. I know change is slow but its not impossible.
I still don’t have all the answers. I don’t know exactly where this PhD will lead, or what kind of future it will give me. But I do know that saying yes to this opportunity has changed me. Not just academically, but as a person. It has made me more aware, more critical, and more committed to acting with care and speaking out for justice.
Maybe that’s what a better future actually looks like. Not certainty. Not prestige. Just people choosing, again and again, to keep going, to speak up, and to believe that what they are doing still matters.
Heres to a better future for all of us and I’m rooting for all of us Postgrad researchers at the University of Galway. Lets keep the flag up high despite all the odds.
Buddila Wijeyesekera is the Postgraduate Research Officer of the 2025/26 Students’ Union Executive Committee
