The Hx of Early Academics studying the EU in Time of Pandemic: Building online community for NEXTEUK doctoral students.

As COVID-19 has impacted all areas of the student experience in higher education, there have been positive disruptions that have led to opportunities for learning with a heightened focus on building communities of learners. Out of necessity, we have moved away from the user experience in education (Ux) to a more humanistic consideration of learning that focuses on building community and collaborating from pre-Primary through graduate studies. In essence, we have begun to build the connected Human Experience (Hx) of Learning across all levels. With moving the NEXTEUK PhD Summer School to a virtual learning environment, our focus changed to thinking of how we can build online experiences that promote collaboration, community, and connectedness. Essentially engaging in the answer to the question: How do we build an online community for early career academics and doctoral students in a time of pandemic, especially in a field of study that is pretty much new following the impact of Brexit on European integration? We will focus on a learning model we call the Human Experience, lessons learned, and next steps. We will rely on survey research amongst participants of the NEXTEUK doctoral school