PhD as a vital process: an emotional, economic and social perspective

Resumen

The doctoral stage is oen framed, within instuonal discourse, as a process of academic specializaon aimed at professional development and research excellence. However, this perspecve tends to overlook the emoonal, economic, and subjecve dimensions that permeate doctoral work and signicantly shape both knowledge producon and the lived experience of early-stage researchers. In this presentaon, we propose a crical reecon on the material and symbolic condions that dene the doctoral journey, with parcular aenon to its impact on mental health, nancial stability, and professional trajectories. Drawing from a situated and autoethnographic perspecve, we address issues such as academic precarity, impostor syndrome, and the pressures of producvity, as well as the pracces of care and mutual support that emerge within informal networks of doctoral candidates. Our aim is not to oer denive soluons, but rather to make visible a reality that is oen silenced, thereby contribung to a broader conversaon on the structural condions of research within the university context. We argue that rethinking the doctorate from its margins and vulnerabilies may serve as a rst step toward the creaon of more humane, sustainable, and equitable academic environments.