Connecting with fellow SGSAH scholars aboard the Waverley, with Arran in the background. One of the things I have genuinely appreciated about being a Scottish Graduate School for Arts & Humanities (SGSAH) funded student is that my PhD experience has taken me beyond my laptop and university walls. As an international student, I have been … Continue reading Sometimes the PhD Needs You to Leave the Desk: My Year Two SGSAH Residential in Millport
Photo: Kristin Hardwick, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0) Say the words "writing retreat" to a PhD researcher and watch their eyes light up around one thing: the word count. A few days away from supervision meetings, teaching admin, and emails arriving in the background. Just you, a laptop, and a target you have been promising yourself … Continue reading What Writing Retreats Actually Teach You
There is something deeply hopeful about watching someone else reach the end while you are still standing near the beginning. Their graduation does not promise that your own journey will be easy or predictable, but it reminds you that the end is possible. Someone else once stood where you are standing now, unsure of how they would make it through, and somehow, they kept going.
I am thankful to be here. I know what this opportunity means. But knowing the weight of the opportunity does not remove the ache of the sacrifice. People often see the achievement, but they do not always see what it costs.
Doing a PhD is not just about locking yourself away with books, notes, deadlines, and a document that refuses to behave. Some of the real learning happens when you leave the desk, enter the room, listen to other people’s work, and realise that your research is part of a much bigger conversation. This blog is a reminder to show up, sign up, pay attention, and make the most of the spaces that help shape you into the researcher you are becoming.
New resident blogger, Olivia Shaw Lovell, introduces her work, and what excites her most about contributing to this SGSAH blog space.
Dr Sarah Mackay and Dr Emily Munro, returning guest bloggers, share their forthcoming exhibition at the National Library of Scotland, researching the nation's relationship with wet weather.
Guest bloggers Cicely Farrer and Alison Scott reflect on their event, Creative Citizenship in the Archives, co-organised with the SGSAH KE Hub Citizenship, Culture & Ethics (CCE).
Guest blogger Ludovic Brunot extends academic research into irredentism in Italy, a 19th-century nationalist movement geared towards 'redeeming' Italian-speaking regions from foreign domination, through his review of the 2025 film, Fiume o morte!
Guest blogger and 2026 British Council Venice Fellow Kialy Tihngang dives into their research relating to Blackness, queerness, and Britishness in film and moving image.
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