I came to Leicester about five years ago from the big city itself - that's London - and I still encounter people who think I am odd but put it down to being from London. It never fails to make me laugh.
Whilst working at DMU I embarked on a Masters degree which I successfully was awarded in 2010. The University supported me to do it alongside my job and that is one of the reasons I am such a big advocate of DMU - it really believes and invests in people; both staff and students.
I started my PhD in January 2010 and I am loving doing the research. It is a topic that I believe passionately in and it is such a privilege to be able to research an area that might allow me to make a real difference to people's lives. For more information about the research itself please see the 'what is my research about' page.
I decided to start this blog to chart my progress as I move through the research. I hope that it will be a sounding board for me when I need to vent my frustrations with the research. I hope over time if I build up followers that it will also offer support to other people who find themselves in the same place that I am, which as any researcher knows, is often lonely. Research means late nights and early mornings. It means hours spent at a computer instead of socialising with friends or wandering in the sunshine. Research means compromise but it also reaps wonderful rewards.
In order to complete any successful research you must believe in what you are doing as it is the one thing that will keep you going when the teapot is empty and your eyes are sore. I do believe in my research. I believe very strongly that above all my research will be useful and not collect dust on a shelf somewhere. Let's hope so!
Since I have been enrolled on this PhD I have watched my partnership disintegrate and my life be turned upside down by divorce and a loss of hope. For a while the research bore the brunt of my emotional meltdown but now it is the thing that keeps me strong. Any project is conducted by a human being and that human being will have their ups and downs in the personal life and it will no doubt affect their writing, their perspective and the time they have to spend with their work. Research should never be used as therapy but it does give one a purpose and a focus when the world conspires against you.
This blog will not be an account of all the reading and writing that I am currently doing - my supervisors get this particular pleasure. Instead it will be a very honest account of the emotional journey that a PhD student goes through to get to their viva and beyond.
I decided to start this blog to chart my progress as I move through the research. I hope that it will be a sounding board for me when I need to vent my frustrations with the research. I hope over time if I build up followers that it will also offer support to other people who find themselves in the same place that I am, which as any researcher knows, is often lonely. Research means late nights and early mornings. It means hours spent at a computer instead of socialising with friends or wandering in the sunshine. Research means compromise but it also reaps wonderful rewards.
In order to complete any successful research you must believe in what you are doing as it is the one thing that will keep you going when the teapot is empty and your eyes are sore. I do believe in my research. I believe very strongly that above all my research will be useful and not collect dust on a shelf somewhere. Let's hope so!
Since I have been enrolled on this PhD I have watched my partnership disintegrate and my life be turned upside down by divorce and a loss of hope. For a while the research bore the brunt of my emotional meltdown but now it is the thing that keeps me strong. Any project is conducted by a human being and that human being will have their ups and downs in the personal life and it will no doubt affect their writing, their perspective and the time they have to spend with their work. Research should never be used as therapy but it does give one a purpose and a focus when the world conspires against you.
This blog will not be an account of all the reading and writing that I am currently doing - my supervisors get this particular pleasure. Instead it will be a very honest account of the emotional journey that a PhD student goes through to get to their viva and beyond.
