Tell us a little bit about your journey to studying PhD History...
I came back to education as a mature student in 2016 having left school 15 years previously. In the intervening period I worked a range of sales and business development roles but personal circumstances meant I was looking for a change. I first entered a mature student access course through the Scottish Wider Access Programme at West College Scotland (Greenock). Following this year long course I applied to a number of Scottish universities for history undergraduate programmes and accepted a place at the University of Strathclyde in 2017. Following competition of my undergraduate degree (in History with Politics and International Relations) I was very grateful to accept a scholarship from the Wellcome Trust to study an MSc in Health History at Strathclyde in 2021. During this course I spoke with many of my lecturers about next steps and a career path into higher education which appealed to me greatly. During the process we were also told of different funding streams to move into a PhD programme and in late 2021 I applied to a number of funding bodies with a proposal for the project I am now working on. I was delighted to receive a Student Excellence Award from Strathclyde in 2022 which funds me PhD until 2025.
Tell us about the format of the programme. What were you doing week-to-week?
The first thing I think it is important to say is that each PhD programme is different. The projects are, almost by definition, unique and as such it is important to discuss plans with your supervisors in detail to keep on track. At Strathclyde we also have a Postgraduate Certificate in Researcher Development that we have to complete alongside or PhD programme. This means there are a range of training and development courses and seminars we can attend throughout the year to help improve our skills as early career academic researchers. These are built into and around my time working on my own research on my project to fill out the working week. We are also encouraged to attend conferences and other external seminars relating to our project. In terms of my work so far in the first year of my PhD the focus has primarily been on conducting a review of secondary literature already written around my area of research. This is then complied in what will become a chapter of my final thesis to establish the themes and areas of discussion already in the historiography about the subject.
There is no real set pattern to my time week-to-week but generally I split my time between working from my office at home and working in the teaching and learning building at Strathclyde, a space I appreciated greatly as it is quiet and offers amazing views of the city which help break up the day when I need to take time away from my desk! I tend to spend most days in the week reading and taking notes on academic texts at the moment but have also begun compiling primary source archives and resources which I am building into my working pattern too. I have a monthly meeting with my supervisors and usually have a draft of a piece of work to submit to them for discussion to complete during the preceding month. As noted previously I will also build attending training seminars or external events into my week as and when they come up. There really is no set pattern to what I do which is actually a positive as it means I cam be flexible to meet new deadlines or include different events should they come up. Though that freedom to manage your own time can feel a little overwhelming at first, having come from a more structured process like an MSc, it is actually very liberating to feel in charge of your own work/life balance.
What were the most enjoyable parts of your degree?
I would say the most enjoyable part of my project is the primary research. Though the bulk of my project will be based around oral history which I will be conducting in my second year I have started looking at other archival research this year which has been very rewarding. With a PhD you put together a proposal which you hope is unique and will add something new to the historiography of your subject and as such it means exploring novel material to uncover new pieces of information. That is very exciting to an early career researcher and I’ve enjoyed interrogating newspaper archives and film and television material that few others have explored previously. I would also say that the freedom to be creative has been a great boon too. You are very much encouraged to “own” your PhD project and make decisions you feel will benefit the work and this means a great deal of flexibility is afforded to you. Be it attending a conference, writing a paper or exploring a particular archive I feel I am able to take chances with my work which you might not be afforded in other courses.
How do you feel your previous degrees have helped you prepare for your PhD?
My PhD project is actually based tangentially on my undergraduate dissertation work. During my undergraduate course I became very interested in the role of British Empire in shaping modern British identity and social and cultural structures and wrote a dissertation exploring this through the lens of British culinary culture. That interest stayed with me during my MSc and, although I moved on during that course to look more closely at mental health, when the opportunity arose to submit a PhD proposal I returned to the topic. In sense my degree contributed directly to what I am doing now. Even my MSc project helped inform my current project. Here, I looked at the role of the British media in shaping public attitudes to mental health. Examining the relationship between the media and public discourse really interested me and I have built similar primary source work into my current project as I am focusing on late twentieth century history. More widely I have also benefited greatly from learning in an incredibly supportive and nurturing environment at Strathclyde since I joined in 2017. My current supervisors on my PhD have both acted as supervisors for my other courses and so we have a working relationship which I value greatly.
What advice would you give to someone who is considering working in a similar role to yours?
It may sound trite but find something you are genuinely interested in studying in very granular detail. You really do get in amongst the weeds in researching for a PhD and it can occasionally feel a little bit of a slog. The first few months in particular, when the focus is on secondary literature, would be very difficult to navigate if you don’t have a genuine passion for the subject so it is very important to put together a project that appeals to you completely. Find a supervision team that you are confident you will work well with would be another piece of advice. You will be working with them regularly and their guidance and encouragement are vital to your success so be sure they are the people you want to work with. Keep through notes and a well formatted bibliography too! You read A LOT and you will bounce around from text to text, coming back to things months later sometimes, so keeping track of what you’ve read, and what you found most useful from it, is vital. I would also encourage you to get involved in the vast array of training and development programmes available as these really help give you a sense of what you enjoy about life as a researcher and, crucially, what you don’t! You can then tailor your work around your areas of strength/preference as a result. Finally, I would encourage you to be bold and look to present your work at events as early as you feel comfortable. I always planned on attending conferences as a presenter in my second year and never looked to do so any earlier. However, having attended a few conferences as a delegate in the past year I feel like I have missed out on the chance to be involved far earlier and, most importantly, to gather feedback from other academics on my project and how I could develop it further. It might seem scary but I urge you to get stuck in! These events are always so welcoming and encouraging and, even if the feedback is challenging to hear, it will help move you forward.
