This guest blog comes from Emma Brunton, a first-year PhD student at the University of Glasgow. Her thesis is titled: ‘Transformations in women’s spiritual power from precolonial to early colonial Rwanda’. Here, she discusses her experience conducting fieldwork from May to June of 2019. When I started my PhD about eight months ago, I knew … Continue reading Research in Rome
This guest blog comes from Ruth Salter, who is finishing the first year of her PhD in Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. Ruth researches the cultural-political position of the mid-twentieth century Scottish Folk Revival and its relationship with theories of cultural dominance. This blog looks at Ruth’s incorporation of listening to podcasts … Continue reading Podcast Your PhD
In one of my earlier posts, I discussed what it’s like giving a paper as a sufferer of anxiety. In that blog, I briefly talked about some of the tips my counsellor gave me at the time, and how I got through giving my first talk. I thought it might be helpful to expand more … Continue reading Top 5 tips for giving papers
This guest blog comes from Rebecca Jones, who will shortly begin the second year of her PhD in English at the University of Strathclyde. Her research uses feminist ecological, vegetarian, vegan and animal studies theory to analyse masculinity, species and the consumption of the animal in retellings of the classical Prometheus myth in literary fiction from … Continue reading Getting Emotional in Animal Studies
Learning when to say ‘no’ is something of a fine art. It’s something that a lot of people struggle with in their daily lives in general, but I think the struggle is equally, if not more, applicable to PhD life. From personal experience, I know how hard it is to say no to both requests, … Continue reading Learning when to say no to yourself and others
In theory, a PhD is simple – research a topic, come up with some original ideas, and write about it. Easy, right? Nope… Academic work-wise, we all know that a PhD is never so simple. It’s not a straight line that you follow with no bumps in the road, it’s a winding path, a rollercoaster … Continue reading Self-funding my first year
Thursday, 20th June, 2019 It’s a grey evening in Glasgow, and I can just about see the sun through the thick cloud out of my window, over the tops of the high-rise buildings across the street. It’s a far cry from St Andrews here. Everyone who comes to St Andrews is always shocked at how … Continue reading A Small-Town Girl in Glasgow
This guest blog comes from Conner Milliken, a first year PhD student in Theatre Studies at the University of Glasgow, undertaking a PhD entitled 'Queer History-Making in Performance: Interrogating Scotland’s Narrative of Liberalisation'. Here, Conner reflects on participating in the Oral History Training workshop. “Oral history is a unique way of doing history, involving the reconstruction … Continue reading Oral Interview (?) with PhD Student Conner Milliken
For a long time, my self-care has been an afterthought, and it felt like things were just happening to me, rather than me making anything happen – like I was in the ocean with waves crashing over me, but I wasn’t swimming (I love a good simile). I’m not sure how or when even I … Continue reading Taking self-care seriously
This week's guest blog comes from Thaddeus Thorp, who is in the second year of his PhD in Classics at the University of Edinburgh, supported by a SGSAH Doctoral Award. His thesis focusses on commercially-driven social mobility in the western Roman empire during the first century A.D. Thaddeus, along with Laura Donati, Sam Ellis, Ambra Ghiringhelli, … Continue reading Reflecting on the Northern Lights Workshop
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