Dr Mhairi-Jean Ross is a Research Associate on the Sensory Lives Project at King’s College London. While a postdoc at the University of York, she took part in the White Rose Prosper Programme. Here she reflects on how Prosper helped her find her footing, and why she thinks the programme is especially valuable for those who might feel they don’t quite fit the academic mould.

What motivated you to apply for the Prosper programme?

Prosper came for me at a really transitionary time. I’d just finished my PhD, which had been an incredibly challenging process. I’m a lone parent of two children, and I became a single parent in the second year of my PhD, right in the middle of the pandemic. I was also moving around the country, largely disconnected from my research cluster at Glasgow, so I was working very remotely and in quite a lot of isolation. When I eventually finished, I was really proud to have got through it all, but I also found myself in quite a precarious situation, working across several short-term contracts and wondering what was next.

One thing that made Prosper particularly possible for me as a carer was the local element. Having sessions at nearby White Rose institutions meant it was something I could actually access, and that mattered enormously. It was also, I think, my first real opportunity to connect with peers at a local level, after a long period of working alone.

Which aspects of the programme did you find most valuable?

There were a few things that really stood out. One was the sessions with mid-career researchers who came in to talk with us. Because I’d been working in isolation for so long, I’d missed out on that kind of informal knowledge-sharing: hearing how people had built up fellowship applications, what funding pots they’d tapped into, how they’d worked with mentors. Just being in the room for those conversations was enormously useful, and I suspect I wasn’t alone in that. I think there are a lot of researchers who did their PhDs during the pandemic and missed out on that kind of peer learning.

Another really valuable element was the skills audit work in the early sessions. I came to Prosper feeling like I was moving from one world of work to another, seeing my background in housing, community development, and creative practice as somehow separate from my academic identity.

“Prosper really helped me to see that all of that experience made me a stronger candidate, not a more complicated one.”

How did participating in the programme influence your thinking about your future career path?

It genuinely encouraged me to think much more expansively about my career. Before Prosper, I think I was siloing myself, imagining that the options after a PhD were quite narrow. The programme really pushed me to think about myself in a broader way: to draw on my creative skills as a musician and storyteller, my years working in housing associations and community development, and my lived experience as a lone parent and carer. Rather than seeing those things as complications or distractions, I began to see them as the things that made me distinctive.

I think it also helped a great deal with confidence. Coming from a working-class background, being a first-generation graduate with nobody in my family or wider network who really understood the academic world, it can be very easy to develop imposter syndrome. Prosper came at the right moment to help me see that what I bring to the table is actually something important.

What have you gone on to do since completing Prosper?

I’m now a Research Associate on the Sensory Lives project at King’s College London. The project focuses on the lives of neurodiverse families living in temporary accommodation, and it speaks to a really strong element of my own lived experience, which makes it especially meaningful. We’ve just launched our findings in Parliament, and this year I’m leading on the design and tour of a playhouse tent which will communicate children’s experiences to diverse audiences.

I’ve just secured funding from the British Academy for a project I’ve been wanting to do for a long time: a piece of creative research around the history of community land ownership at Carbeth in Scotland. We’ll be creating a song and story audio walk, a video, and doing oral history work with young people from an underserved neighbourhood. I’m really excited about it.

Were there any specific skills or areas of development that the programme helped you to focus on that you hadn’t anticipated?

The creative dimension. I hadn’t really been drawing on my background as a musician and storyteller in my academic work, and Prosper actively encouraged me to think of those skills as an important resource rather than a separate hobby. That shift in thinking has led directly to the British Academy project, with a very tangible outcome. I think it’s a really good example of the transferability of what Prosper teaches: the lessons don’t necessarily land immediately, but they stay with you and keep working in different ways as your career develops.

What advice would you give to a postdoc who is considering applying for the Prosper programme?

I’d recommend it wholeheartedly, and I’d particularly encourage women, carers, and those from working-class or widening participation backgrounds to apply. If you’re in that early, uncertain stage after your PhD, wondering what’s next and whether there’s a way through, Prosper is exactly the kind of support that can help you find some direction and confidence.

The Prosper facilitators, Emma and Karen, are genuinely excellent at what they do. They bring real expertise to the question of postdoc employability, and they’re generous with their support. You’ll also learn a great deal from the other participants: I picked up ideas about new software, different ways of working, approaches to research I wouldn’t have encountered otherwise.

And the bigger message I’d want to share is this: if you’re a woman, a carer, or someone from a working-class background who’s striving to build a career in academia, please don’t lose hope.

“The path may be harder for those of us with greater responsibilities and fewer resources, but the knowledge and experience we bring are genuinely valuable. Prosper helped me to believe that, and I can’t overstate how much that belief has mattered.”