You know those “What’s in my bag” videos on YouTube? Influencers pull out tiny lip glosses, tiny designer wallets, and aesthetically pleasing hand sanitizers. Yeah… this is not that.

Welcome to PhD life! Where your bag is basically your survival kit! It’s less about looking cute and more about how I can make it through a 12-hour day in the lab/office/classroom without collapsing!

So, let’s unzip this academic backpack (metaphorically, of course). Here’s what’s inside:

1. The laptop (a.k.a My Brain’s External Hard Drive)
2. Notebooks & Pens
3. The Planner
4. Noise-Cancelling Headphones
5. Snacks
6. Water Bottle
7. Chargers & Power Bank
8. Emergency Kit

1) The laptop (a.k.a My Brain’s External Hard Drive)

If my laptop dies, so does my productivity… and my will to live. If I could give one piece of advice for any incoming students, it would be to invest in a good-quality laptop! A fast, reliable laptop will literally save your life! You will need your laptop to write (a lot…), do image analysis, code, etc., so making sure it’s a good one is definitely worth it. It’s not just a device, it’s basically an extension of my brain, except this one occasionally decides to update in the middle of the day.

Recommendation: I recommend a MacBook Pro! I know they are on the pricey side; however, they are reliable, have long battery life and is user friendly!

Pro tip: Back it up. Then back up our back up. Then back that up too. Nothing will make you cry faster than realising you have lost you entire thesis a month before it’s due, just because you forgot to click save. Bonus Pro tip: Get Yourself a laptop stand improve your posture. Your future self will thank you!

2) Notebooks & Pens

Yes, we are in the digital age. Yes, my laptop exists. But somehow, I can’t let go of good old-fashioned pen and paper! Having a physical notebook by your side during experiments is a lifesaver when you need to quickly jot something down! And doodling in the margins during seminars helps me look engaged while my brain is secretly thinking about what I’m having for dinner!

Recommendation: I personally love papier notebooks and Muji pens (for the aesthetic, of course!)

Academic rule: The number of pens you own is directly correlated to how many mysteriously vanish!

3) The Planner

PhD life = chaos personified. If I didn’t write it down, it doesn’t exist, and I’m not going. Meetings, lab schedules, experiments, conferences, and the occasional birthday. It’s good to keep a record of upcoming events and experiments, because let’s be real, the human mind will simply forget. A planner is the only thing standing between me and total disaster.

Recommendation: I recommend the Productivity Planner or the Papier planner!

Extra points if it has stickers! Nothing says “serious academic” like slapping a smiling avocado on your thesis timeline.

4) Noise-Cancelling Headphones

Labs are noisy. Libraries are noisy. The office is noisy. The world is noisy. Sometimes you just need to drown it all out with Lo-Fi beats, classical music, white noise, or even heavy metal (I’m not judging!). Minimizing distractions will help you stay focused and boost your productivity, so you can get all your work done in 50% of the time!

Recommendation: If you know me, you know I am always wearing my Sony WH-CH720N, but AirPods also have a nice noise-canceling feature!

Bonus: Wearing big headphones = the universal “do not disturb” sign. Perfect for avoiding anyone who has “just one quick question” that spirals into a 45-minute discussion.

5) Snacks

PhD = permanent state of hunger. The harder you work, the hungrier you become. You need to treat yourself, not beat yourself. You’ll tell yourself, “I don’t need snacks, I’ll just eat later,” and suddenly it’s 4 PM, your experiment isn’t done, and now you’re wondering whether agar plates are edible. There’s nothing wrong with having a few healthy (and some unhealthy) snacks in your bag for whenever you get peckish!

Recommendation:Protein bars, trail mix packs, chocolate (hehe) or a quirky snack box.

Rule of thumb: If your bag doesn’t rattle with snacks, are you even a grad student?

6) Water Bottle

Hydration = brain fuel. Approximately 55% to 78% of the human body is made up of water, highlighting how important regular drinking is! It’s easy to forget to drink water when you’re having long days in the lab, but as soon as you come back to the office, remember to hydrate! Also, carrying a water bottle makes you feel like you’ve got your life together, even if your inbox says otherwise!

Recommendation: A chili bottle will keep your water nice and cold for the whole day!

Yes, it’s heavy. Yes, it takes up space. But it saves you from paying £3.50 for bottled water on campus, which is basically highway robbery!

7) Chargers & Power Bank

The holy trinity: laptop charger, phone charger, and portable power bank. If you’re anything like me, you can’t live without access to the internet, so make sure your devices are always charged! Nothing’s worse than when you’re presenting your data to your supervisor only for your laptop to die mid-slide!

Recommendation: Everyone needs a good and reliable power bank, that lasts all day!

Without chargers, you’re not a researcher; you’re just a very tired philosopher muttering about “lost progress.”

8) Emergency Kit

Every bag should have some everyday essentials. You never know when you’re going to need them! The less glamorous but life-saving section of the bag:

• Lip balm (the -80°C gives me dry lips, sigh.)
• Hand sanitizer (post-lab necessity)
• Painkillers (For when your code won’t run, and your PI keeps asking you why)
• Plasters (Pipettes are secretly aggression weapons)
• Tissues (For the cold room or for your emotions)

Because sometimes surviving academia is about having lip balm and ibuprofen within arm’s reach.

9) The Random Pile of Papers

Every academic bag has that pile. A tragic mix of conference flyers, printed journal articles you’ll “definitely read later,” and forms you forgot to hand in.

Will you ever read those papers? Unlikely. But carrying them around makes you feel smarter, so it’s worth the back pain.

Final Thoughts

So, what’s in my academic bag? A mix of survival tools, essentials, and snacks! The truth is, your bag becomes an extension of your identity. It will always be too heavy, slightly messy, and full of crumbs from a snack you forgot about. But it also holds your ideas, your tools, and maybe, just maybe, the first drafts of your future thesis!