COVID-19, which was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11 and resulted in the deaths of millions, in 2020, continues to affect all areas of life deeply. Although the COVID-19 outbreak is a health-based crisis, one of the areas where it has the most impact is education. With the continuous uncertainty process it causes, COVID-19 brought significant challenges on higher education institutions since it has an impact on the teaching and learning process. 

University students are described as a high-risk population in terms of mental health and wellbeing issues (Browne et al., 2017; Stallman, 2010). Frankly, the Covid-19 outbreak has a vital impact on graduate students (Liu et al., 2020). Research indicated that there is an increase in financial and psychological stress in Ph.D. students compared to pre-COVID-19 situations (Johnsons et al., 2020; Lyson et al., 2020). Furthermore, Cao et al. (2020) show that graduate students started to suffer from economic stressors and academic delays more in their daily life. This outbreak decreased the mental health services available at the same time (Wasil et al., 2021) since it brought many stressors to our life such as contracting the virus, concern for loved ones, social distancing, and major lifestyle disruptions (Pfefferbaum & North, 2020). Undoubtedly, these concerns influence graduate students who were already a vulnerable group before the Covid-19 (Evans et al., 2018). Closing the university counseling centers and leaving the campus immediately led to uncertainty, stress, and disruption of the academic process for the graduate students’ lifestyle and mental health (Chirikov et al., 2020; Sahu, 2020; Zhai & Du, 2020). 

There is a growing body of research regarding Ph.D. students' wellbeing and mental health stating that this population suffers from anxiety, depression, and stress more than other populations. Studies conducted with graduate students during the Covid-19 outbreak mainly focus on wellbeing (Galle et al., 2020). Nurunnabi et al. (2020) stated that graduate students also demonstrate higher stress, depression, and anxiety than their non-graduate peers. Other researchers found that graduate students develop new coping strategies during the outbreak (Rogowska, 2020; Savitsky et al., 2020).  In this context,  it's crucial to look into doctoral students' experiences during the Covid 19 pandemic since some policies could be considered for the doctoral students' development in the post-COVID-19 environment. For meaningful engagement, Wang and Delaquil (2020) advocate three systems: peer support, faculty mentorship, and participation in research and publishing. Furthermore, adaptive preparations can be developed with respect to research areas and methodology, considering the structural needs in future doctoral studies, so that doctoral research is less vulnerable and more resilient to unpredicted extreme circumstances like a pandemic (Xu & Tran, 2021). 

The aim of this study is to understand the experiences of Ph.D. students during the Covid-19 outbreak among one of the leading research universities in Turkey. For this purpose, the study will examine the research question as follows:

• How do Ph.D. students experience the Covid-19 outbreak in a research university?

This study aims to understand the experiences of Ph.D. students during the Covid-19 outbreak in a research university in Turkey. A qualitative phenomenological research design was used to understand the participants’ perspectives, experiences, and feelings rather than testing a hypothesis (Bogdan & Biklen, 2017). Data were collected through semi-structured individual interviews developed by the researchers after the approval by the human subjects ethics committee. The interview protocol was developed by the researchers to acquire more in-depth information about the experiences of Ph.D. students (Morgan, 1997), referring to four areas; (1) Demographic Information, (2) Daily life during Covid-19, (3) Impact of Covid-19 on academic processes, and (4) Coping Mechanisms during Covid-19. The interview protocol was piloted with three Ph.D. students from the Educational Sciences departments. Furthermore, three academics from METU reviewed the interview protocol, and it was finalized after considering the feedback received. Participants included 15 Ph.D. students who were employed through volunteer sampling strategies (Cohen, Manion & Morrison, 2018). First, 213 doctoral students from different fields at the research university were invited to participate in the study. Out of 213 students, 15 doctoral students volunteered to participate in the study. The participants consisted of five male and 10 female Ph.D. students between the ages of 27 to 65. Six of them were married. Seven of them were working as research assistants at the same university in different departments, two were not working, and six were working at different public institutions. Qualitative content analysis was used after transcribing the data using the pure verbatim protocol (Mayring, 2014). Since the main aim of the phenomenological approach is to understand the unique experiences of participants, pre-established themes and codes were not used in this study (Richards, 2005; Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2016). Four steps were followed in content analysis: (a) encoding data, (b) finding themes, (c) arranging codes and themes, and (d) identifying and interpreting findings. Two researchers of this study coded the whole data simultaneously. Two other researchers coded the parts of the data for the triangulation process. After the triangulation process, suggested themes, sub-themes, and codes will be considered and finalized. Strategies such as peer debriefing, detailed descriptions (Creswell, 2009), and analytic generalization were used to establish external and internal validity.

The preliminary findings indicated that considering the significant responses and codes, two key themes emerged as follows: (1) Effects of Covid-19 on Academic Work and (2) Effects of Covid-19 on wellbeing. The first theme mainly focuses on the Ph.D. students’ experiences regarding their academic work during Covid-19. It has three sub-themes; research aspects, virtual events, and lectures. Under the first sub-theme, participants mentioned their research experiences during lockdowns under two codes as opportunities and challenges since the participants focused on both sides. Some students consider the lockdowns as an opportunity to focus on their work and create a wider network using online sources, and others highlighted the difficulties of reaching the resources. The second sub-theme contains the Ph.D. students’ perspectives on the rapidly increasing virtual opportunities. The last sub-theme has two codes: lack of resources and (dis)connection to understand the nature of online lectures. The second theme has two sub-themes; uncertainty about the future and psychological aspects. The first sub-theme has two codes: lack of motivation and job opportunities. Participants mentioned considering quitting their current job and considering new opportunities for their careers. The psychological aspects contain four codes: social isolation, having an inner journey, using social resources, and mental health challenges. They start to understand themselves better and consider their wants and needs. Even though they had lockdowns and social isolation, participants benefited from social support from peers, professors, and supervisors to cope with these negative effects. Participants faced challenges related to mental health such as depression, stress, death anxiety, and feeling overwhelmed. In conclusion, results revealed a comprehensive understanding of Ph.D. students’ experiences during Covid-19. Thus, it offers implications for policymakers and higher education stakeholders.

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