Surviving and Thriving as a First-Year Physicist

Student transition into University has long been recognised as a complex journey and developments in the last few years, such as the Covid-19 pandemic, and an ever-increasing cost of living, have introduced further challenges, leading to it becoming increasingly paramount to understand this student experience. In response, a growing body of research is focusing on speaking to students, and gaining an insight into the many factors involved. Here, I will share work I've done looking at the student transition into taking an undergraduate Physics degree at the University of Bristol, and this will include suggestion of some possible interventions to this student experience. Additionally, I will give a brief introduction to the process of collecting and analysing qualitative data.

William Stafford is currently a PhD student in the Physics Education Research Group at the University of Edinburgh, researching student decision-making through the entire journey of Physics undergraduate study under the supervision of Prof Ross Galloway. He graduated with an MSci Physics Degree from the University of Bristol in 2024. Beyond graduation he worked for Bristol as an educational researcher, continuing research with Dr Terry McMaster looking at the transition into University that started as part of his final-year undergraduate project.