I co-organized a panel in the Human Geography stream at the Annual Swiss Geosciences in Bern. We aimed it at early career researchers and entitled it as shown above: “Diverse paths to an uncertain future…” Tellingingly, this appeared in the conference program as the more anodyne “PhD, What Next? Early career options in Human Geography.”

We found it indicative of the relative powerlessness of our positions that the title was changed without our knowledge or permission. I can hardly imagine the furor if David Harvey’s 2017 lecture in Boston at the American Association of Geographers annual meeting was changed, without his knowledge, from “Marx, Capital, and the Madness of Economic Reason,” to something less controversial or calculated to offend. You might claim that there’s a world of difference between David and Daniel, and that this difference entitles a certain degree of respect toward the former that is not necessary toward to the latter. I mean, he’s David Harvey – he has clout, right? And I answer that it would be my hope that all people, regardless of station, could be treated more-or-less equally, and that in the university, of all places, we would strive to dismantle inherited hierarchies. It shouldn’t matter whether someone is working on a PhD or in the twilight of a storied career.

We also pondered what the title change itself. From an admission of uncertainty and fear to a neutral presentation of the problem, as though we were seated behind tables at a job fair. It struck us as somewhat cruel that people more advanced and more secure than us – professors with sparkling publication records, coherent research profiles, and solid employment – would reshape the honesty of our cry into little more than a bland portrayal of simple steps on a pretty path.

The PhD path is fun and fulfilling, for sure. Nothing in our panel questioned that. Rather, it’s the emotional cost that comes with it that concerned us: the uncertainty, the doubt, the instability. We wanted to open that box for discussion.

These ideas aren’t ours and they aren’t new. There is a mental health crisis in academia and we want to talk about it. In our opening remarks at the panel – after addressing the unfortunate renaming and presenting our original title – we shared some numbers: in the general population, some 6% of people reported moderate to severe depression. In the academy? 39% (n=2,279, from 234 institutions in 26 countries).

So we assembled a panel of experts – three established scholars whose work we admire – and asked them the following:

Thankfully, they were brave and honest and open. Their answers were illuminating and inspiring, and not just to me: I don’t have that much experience to compare it with, but I’ve never organized a panel that had so much positive feedback after. The crux of it was that here we saw three established scholars – people that admire and that we would like to emulate – sharing the confusing and circuitous routes they took. It makes “success” look a lot different when you hear about the bumps along the way. And, especially, when the people sharing these bumps aren’t doing it hagiographically. This wasn’t, after all, a grand retelling of the travails they endured on their way to fame. Instead, it was a very humanizing experience for all concerned. One person on the panel told me afterwards that it had been a very useful exercise for them too, as it enabled them to make sense of their story as an outsider would, as a whole.

I took away several lessons. First, there are more dimensions to success – and different definitions of it! – than are commonly admitted. Second, resilience is a key factor in “making it”, whatever that means to you. Every one of these experts had been beaten down to the point where anyone could have been justified in giving up. It was remarkable to hear, and their resilience encouraged me to cultivate my own. And third, these seem to be universal issues and could benefit from more sunlight. This doesn’t mean that we should sit around and moan about our troubles. Let’s not kid ourselves – ours is a privileged position and we’re lucky to be able to do what we try do. But at the same time, it’s not an easy road and it does no good to keep quiet about the uncertainties, the instabilities, and the suffering. And if I ever accumulate anything remotely resembling clout, and if I’m ever lucky enough to have PhD students of my own, this is not something that I will gloss over. I want to make space for this, at whatever level you or I currently occupy.