• Name: Jamie Powell 
• PhD Programme: Integrated PhD Programme at the School of Management 
• Type of study: Full-time
• Duration: October 2022 – October 2027
• University: University of Bath
• Children: 1 child, aged 6-months
• Nursery: Doesn’t attend nursery
• Stipend: Departmental Studentship at £4,800 every three months
• Nursery fees: No nursery fees currently, but would be approximately £850 per month if Jamie’s child did attend nursery. 

Jamie’s story:

“My undergraduate degree was in advertising, but I quickly realised I was far more interested in the psychology behind it than the design aspect. After graduating, I took an unexpected detour and started working in a bingo hall, where I became particularly interested in the business ethics and psychological dynamics of the industry.

When the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the day-to-day cycle of the bingo hall, I decided it was the right time to return to academia. I went on to complete a master’s in Consumer Behaviour before progressing to my PhD Integrated PhD Management.

We have a six-month-old baby, and balancing childcare with my studies can be challenging. My partner also works full-time as a climate scientist, alternating her time between home and the office for work. Since I’m based in Southampton, while doing my PhD at the University of Bath, I mostly work from home when I’m not teaching.

To manage our workload, my partner and I alternate focus days where we aim to work without interruptions. Thursdays and Fridays are my focus days, while Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are my work-from-home days. On Wednesdays, we both work from home and share childcare duties.

I find the days where I’m working from home and balancing childcare quite challenging. At the moment, our baby needs a lot of attention, so I often find myself needing to make a judgement call about whether to keep the baby occupied, or focus on my work. Very often it’s the work that suffers. When those days happen, I try to work whilst the baby is napping and then I catch up on anything that I’ve missed in the evening.

Needing to work in the evening is okay, but not ideal. My partner and I try to make sure we carve out a period of time before bed to reconnect and catch-up on our days, but there’s little time for other activities like watching TV together or engaging in a movie.

Alongside studying for my PhD, I also teach, which is how I earn my Departmental Studentship. I do roughly 8-hours of teaching per term, and then all the administrative work that comes along with this. Juggling four different roles – being a father, partner, student and teacher – is manageable but difficult. There’s always one aspect of this that ends up taking priority.

When we found out we were pregnant, our original plan was for our little one to start nursery in May-2025, to help to lighten the load. We saw the government scheme, offering 15-hours free childcare if you’re working, however, because I am a postgraduate researcher, I don’t count as employed for the purposes of the scheme. I’m also not eligible for the government’s Childcare Grant scheme, which is for full-time higher education students with children under the age of 15 (or 17 if they have special educational needs). We also looked at enrolling our child in the University’s on-site nursery, too, as the costs are significantly lower than they are through private providers but there’s currently around an 18-month waiting list, which just wouldn’t have worked for us.

It was challenging to find further support or guidance on our eligibility for additional childcare assistance. We reached out to the nursery, the University, and even Citizen’s Advice, but no one could offer any clear advice. It felt as though these organisations were unaware of the gaps in provision or where to direct those who fall through the cracks. The entire process was incredibly confusing—I earned too much to qualify for one scheme yet was considered too much of a student for another, despite effectively working full-time Monday to Friday, 9 to 5. I still don’t know if there are any other schemes we might be eligible for.

Had we been able to access some form of childcare support, our plan was to set aside an additional focus day each week—allowing me to concentrate on my PhD while my partner focused on her job. We are now considering whether I should switch to part-time study for six months to help ease the pressure. When I calculated the costs, I realised that halving my stipend would actually be more financially viable than paying nursery fees. We were completely blindsided by the cost of childcare in the independent sector.

Switching to part-time study would add an additional 3-months to the end date of my PhD, but it seems more economically viable and it would remove some of worrying of needing to go back and forth between work and childcare.

Although our current situation is challenging, and knowing what we know now, I would still make the same decision to start my PhD and to have a baby. My PhD does offer the flexibility to work from home, which is very advantageous for the stage that our little one is currently in. I also remind myself that our current situation is temporary; this is the period of time where our baby needs the most support, but soon they’ll start to develop more independent play skills, and so on. I do work some questionable hours, but the freedom my PhD offers me does enable me to manage it. I would say that we are struggling, but managing.

When it comes to support from my peers—particularly other dads studying for PhDs—there are a couple of us in my cohort, and we do talk about our children, such as whether they’re reaching certain milestones. However, I wouldn’t say I have a real support network in that sense. Living in Southampton also means we’re far from family, so we don’t have a wider support system to rely on for childcare either.

That said, it’s not all doom and gloom. I have a great pair of supervisors who fully support me working from home, which has been a huge help. I want to acknowledge the important role they’ve played in helping me balance my PhD with my childcare responsibilities. Combined with the flexibility of my work, this is an opportunity I might not have had if I were working in a different sector.”

Content correct as of March 2025.