About

PhD Progress was created by Dr Catherine Pope. Since completing her PhD in 2014, Catherine has coached and trained more than 3,500 PhD students across 12 universities. She has run many writing retreats and also developed training for PhD supervisors.

After 10 years in researcher development, Catherine has recently become a technical trainer in software engineering. The PhD Progress training programme is now offered by Research Coach.

Photo of Dr Catherine Pope
Dr Catherine Pope

Testimonials

“Catherine created an excellent environment for the sharing of ideas and the exercises we did made me able to clarify my research aim in a way I had never managed to do before. This workshop was so productive it honestly has transformed some of my ideas from vague concepts that make me despair to specific, compelling objectives that I have real confidence conveying.”

“Catherine was a wonderful facilitator; supportive, knowledgeable, and easy to talk to. It was also very helpful to escape the niche bubble that we tend to fall into as researchers to gain outside perspectives on our work.”

“This was a great experience and I always appreciate Catherine’s commitment, genuine support and valuable advice. The aspect I really enjoyed was the fact that the PhD and thesis writing were described in very pragmatic terms and they weren’t romanticised as it often happens in other events, workshops and in academia, in general. As a self-funded PhD student struggling with finance and time, this has been the first time I have felt completely at ease and not left behind.”