Hi

I'm doing a PhD in Social Sciences and I tend to study at home or in the library. I meet up my supervisors every eight weeks. There aren't many full time postgrads in my department, but a couple of us do meet up every other week or so. The upshot is I feel socially isolated. I attend some of the uni events and public lectures plus I'm a student representative on university committees. The union is very inactive - so not much happening there. I have some existing friends from pre-PhD, but I'd really like to broaden my social circle. Any ideas?

Is there an office or work space for PhD students where you can work sometimes? Home and libraries can be quite isolating places to work and if you try to work alongside others that can help and you might find impromptu coffee breaks can happen.

Thanks for your reply. That would be ideal for me, but unfortunately there aren't any designated work spaces for doctoral students on my campus.

There's meetup.com, which may have some groups of interest to you in your location. The best thing is to go to a few different events, with different groups, and see if there's any people you click with; you could then make separate plans (coffee, pub etc) with them. The same is true for uni events; I think they don't constitute a social life in themselves but following up on interesting acquaintances from these events can produce friendships.