Beyond Your Research Degree

beyondyourresearchdegree
Beyond Your Research Degree

(This podcast has now ended. Please check out PGR Podcast for the latest content from Doctoral College) A podcast from Researcher Development about topics relating to PhD researchers, including careers for researchers, beyond academia, from the University of Exeter. Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

  1. 08/03/2022

    Episode 21 - Demelza Curnow (Quality Enhanement Manager, Quality Assurance Agency)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode we talk to Dr. Demelza Curnow, Quality Enhancement Manager for the QAA! Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses   Transcript   100:00:10,890 --> 00:00:23,850Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter Doctoral College. 200:00:23,850 --> 00:00:27,450Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree. 300:00:27,450 --> 00:00:28,890I'm your host, Kelly Preece 400:00:28,890 --> 00:00:39,330and today I am talking to Dr Demelza Curnow and Demelza works in one of those many sort of academic related jobs or academic related fields, 500:00:39,330 --> 00:00:46,020but this time at an organisation outside of academia called the quality assurance agency. 600:00:46,020 --> 00:00:51,720So Demelza, are you happy to introduce yourself? My name's Demelza Curnow 700:00:51,720 --> 00:00:56,610My Ph.D. was in mediaeval English. 800:00:56,610 --> 00:01:03,330The title of it was five case studies in the transmission of popular middle english birth romance 900:01:03,330 --> 00:01:07,830Possibly not the most catchy and as where I am now. 1000:01:07,830 --> 00:01:12,630I'm based in the far tip of Cornwall, down near Penzance in. 1100:01:12,630 --> 00:01:23,220a little village called Ludford and I came back to Cornwall pretty close on on finishing my Ph.D. and my 1200:01:23,220 --> 00:01:32,160work over the last 15 years or so has been in academic quality and standards and governance. 1300:01:32,160 --> 00:01:37,860That wasn't what I went into immediately after my Ph.D. 1400:01:37,860 --> 00:01:41,850And I can say more about that, if you'd like me to. Yeah, absolutely. 1500:01:41,850 --> 00:01:48,110So we will get on to kind of how how you got to academic quality and standards, definitely. 1600:01:48,110 --> 00:01:57,310But. So what was the initial transition you made or the first role that you did after you finished your Ph.D.? 1700:01:57,310 --> 00:02:01,420Well, I'm from a farming family, and I finished my Ph.D. realising this, 1800:02:01,420 --> 00:02:09,100I knew nothing about anything apart from farming and middle English, which is an unusual combination. 1900:02:09,100 --> 00:02:13,390And I guess one of the big differences is I'm conscious of between 2000:02:13,390 --> 00:02:22,570When I did my Ph.D. 20 years ago, when they're done now, is that all I did was my Ph.D. 2100:02:22,570 --> 00:02:29,650There was nothing around the edges in terms of employability and other skills. 2200:02:29,650 --> 00:02:34,900And also, I wasn't doing lots of teaching or doing the conference rounds either. 2300:02:34,900 --> 00:02:41,630Just specialising in my manuscripts. And then I suppose the first. 2400:02:41,630 --> 00:02:48,350What if you could quote a proper job that I had outside of family really was working at the cider 2500:02:48,350 --> 00:02:56,350farm up near Truro where I worked for about nine months as a tour guide and tractor driver 2600:02:56,350 --> 00:03:02,650And in some respects, I can actually trace my career journey from that point. 2700:03:02,650 --> 00:03:10,090And I think one of the the really important things it did for me was forced me to stand in front of people and speak, 2800:03:10,090 --> 00:03:13,720which was something that was complete anathema to me. 2900:03:13,720 --> 00:03:20,620And one of the reasons that I didn't want to go into an academic career, I never planned to go into an academic career. 3000:03:20,620 --> 00:03:27,490I was simply doing my Ph.D. for the sheer enjoyment of playing with mediaeval manuscripts. 3100:03:27,490 --> 00:03:33,820This was quite fortunate in many respects because at the time this, I was doing my my Ph.D. 3200

    22 min
  2. 31/01/2022

    Episode 20 - Holly Prescott (Careers Advisor of Postgraduate Researchers at the University of Birmingham)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode we talk to Dr. Holly Prescott, Careers Advisor of Postgraduate Researchers at the University of Birmingham! Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses   Transcript   1 00:00:10,890 --> 00:00:23,630 Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter Doctoral College.   2 00:00:23,630 --> 00:00:27,020 Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree.   3 00:00:27,020 --> 00:00:32,870 I'm your host, Kelly Preece, and in this episode, I'm going to be talking to one of my colleagues from the University of Birmingham.   4 00:00:32,870 --> 00:00:36,830 Dr. Holly Prescott, about her career beyond her research degree.   5 00:00:36,830 --> 00:00:49,100 Holly, are you happy to introduce yourself? Yeah, sure. So I'm Holly Prescott, and I did my Ph.D. at the University of Birmingham.   6 00:00:49,100 --> 00:00:54,800 I did it between 2008 and 2011. It's tough to get my head around.   7 00:00:54,800 --> 00:01:03,050 The fact that it's nearly 10 years since I finished my Ph.D. was a crossover between literature and cultural geography.   8 00:01:03,050 --> 00:01:14,200 So I was looking at the effective, and narrative agency of abandoned spaces in contemporary British fiction.   9 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:18,200 And once I'd completed that.   10 00:01:18,200 --> 00:01:25,520 I felt like I'd taken research as far as I wanted to take it.   11 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:34,760 And so from then, I forged a career in what we might call higher education professional services,   12 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:43,780 and I'm currently the careers advisor for postgraduate researchers at the University of Birmingham.   13 00:01:43,780 --> 00:01:47,980 Amazing. I just want to pick up on a phrase that you use, though, which I thought was really interesting,   14 00:01:47,980 --> 00:01:52,630 which is that you came to the end of the PhD and you'd taken research as far as you wanted to take it.   15 00:01:52,630 --> 00:01:58,510 Can I ask you more about what you mean by that? Absolutely, yes.   16 00:01:58,510 --> 00:02:07,240 And I think what I mean by that would be in comparison to how I felt after I finished my master's degree.   17 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:13,570 So I did, a taught MA and in literature and culture at the University of Lancaster.   18 00:02:13,570 --> 00:02:18,760 And I just got really into it, got really into my dissertation.   19 00:02:18,760 --> 00:02:26,050 And one of the main reasons I progressed to the Ph.D. was because after I've done that MA dissertation, I thought I'm not done yet.   20 00:02:26,050 --> 00:02:32,210 I felt like there was more mileage in the ideas and the research I was doing.   21 00:02:32,210 --> 00:02:34,000 So just to give you some context.   22 00:02:34,000 --> 00:02:46,570 My master's dissertation was looking at uh urban exploration photography and say where people go into abandoned buildings, take photographs,   23 00:02:46,570 --> 00:02:50,860 display them online and especially of maternity hospitals,   24 00:02:50,860 --> 00:03:00,370 and crossover between the online display of these images of these abandoned maternity hospitals and birth narratives.   25 00:03:00,370 --> 00:03:10,390 And and yeah, I felt like and the more I was reading, the more I was seeing abandoned hospitals,   26 00:03:10,390 --> 00:03:16,570 especially cropping up in and in novels that I was looking at.   27 00:03:16,570 --> 00:03:21,640 And so I think there's more I can get out of this.   28 00:03:21,640 --> 00:03:28,390 And and that was one of the main reasons I went on to do something I think kind of served   29 00:03:28,390 --> 00:

    27 min
  3. 25/10/2021

    Episode 19 - Kelly Preece (Researcher Development Manager and Research and EDI Manager, University of Exeter)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager is interviewed by Dr. Charlotte Kelstead, University of Exeter Doctoral graduate about her career in research and Higher Education. Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses   Transcription 100:00:10,880 --> 00:00:23,790Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter, Doctoral College. 200:00:23,790 --> 00:00:29,550Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree, I'm your host, Kelly Preece for this episode. 300:00:29,550 --> 00:00:34,800We're going to be doing things a little bit differently. I'm delighted to be joined by Dr Charlotte Kelstead. 400:00:34,800 --> 00:00:41,310Charlotte graduated with her Ph.D. in history from the University of Exeter recently and is 500:00:41,310 --> 00:00:46,740currently working as an event coordinator at the European Centre for Palestine Studies. 600:00:46,740 --> 00:00:49,200But I'm not going to be talking to Charlotte about her career. 700:00:49,200 --> 00:00:57,690In fact, we're switching around and instead Charlotte's going to be interviewing me about my career in research and higher education. 800:00:57,690 --> 00:01:02,550So take it away, Charlotte. OK, fantastic so 900:01:02,550 --> 00:01:10,140I have lots of questions for you because I feel like you've been part of my experience at Exeter for quite a long time. 1000:01:10,140 --> 00:01:19,890So I remember when I was when I was back doing an undergraduate doing the Exeter The X Factor introductory thing about seven years ago. 1100:01:19,890 --> 00:01:23,370I remember you being there and having a wonderful personality and brightening up, 1200:01:23,370 --> 00:01:31,170brightening up the end of the day when we were all starting to flag a bit. So I'm just really interested to hear all about your career, 1300:01:31,170 --> 00:01:40,080especially because I've just submitted my corrections and I'm now starting to think about careers beyond academia and within academia. 1400:01:40,080 --> 00:01:46,110And I'm just really interested to hear today about how your career has progressed, things that you've learnt along the way. 1500:01:46,110 --> 00:01:51,330Any advice you might have and how it's all come together to be where you are now. 1600:01:51,330 --> 00:01:56,320So perhaps you could start by just giving us a bit of background on your career. 1700:01:56,320 --> 00:02:05,220So how you got to where you are now? Yes, so am I. 1800:02:05,220 --> 00:02:16,950I always say, like my, my career has been incredibly eclectic in every possible way, so I actually started working professionally when I was 14, I. 1900:02:16,950 --> 00:02:22,080So I was a theatre kid in all of its stereotypes. 2000:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,330And I was a dancer and an actor and a singer. 2100:02:24,330 --> 00:02:31,560And so I was in the the youth company actually at the Northcott Theatre on the University of Exeter campus when I was a teenager. 2200:02:31,560 --> 00:02:37,570And so I was working all through secondary school and then. 2300:02:37,570 --> 00:02:43,160Decided kind of had a decision to make between going to stage school and going to university, I was always quite academic, 2400:02:43,160 --> 00:02:52,720so I thought I'd go down the university route, but I did a degree in dance and theatre, perhaps unsurprisingly. 2500:02:52,720 --> 00:03:02,290And I always say, look, that within about a week of starting my undergraduate degree, I met a Ph.D. student who I just actually, 2600:03:02,290 --> 00:03:10,070I think just passed his viva called Martin Hargreaves, who was one of our what at Exeter would be a PTA, 2700:03:10,070 --> 00:03:15,1

    41 min
  4. 23/09/2021

    Epsiode 18 - Ruth Gilligan (Senior Lecturer at Birmingham University)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager talks to Dr. Ruth Gilligan, Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing at Birmingham University and author of The Butchers. Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses Podcast transcript   100:00:10,910 --> 00:00:23,720Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter. 200:00:23,720 --> 00:00:26,600Hello and welcome back to Beyond Your Research Degree. 300:00:26,600 --> 00:00:33,830I'm really delighted to be back with you after our summer hiatus and to be bringing to you a conversation with Dr. Ruth Gilligan. 400:00:33,830 --> 00:00:38,810Ruth is a senior lecturer and academic, but also because she's in creative writing. 500:00:38,810 --> 00:00:46,010She is a published author. And so I thought it would be interesting for us to have a conversation with someone who is an 600:00:46,010 --> 00:00:52,820academic but maintains a professional profile and creative practise alongside their academic work. 700:00:52,820 --> 00:00:57,890So Ruth, happy to introduce herself, certainly. Well, firstly, thanks so much for having me. 800:00:57,890 --> 00:01:04,400It's lovely to be chatting to you and reminiscing a little bit about my time at Exeter. 900:01:04,400 --> 00:01:12,650I came to Exeter in two thousand and eleven to start my PhD in creative writing, 1000:01:12,650 --> 00:01:18,110and then I actually went straight for my PhD into my first academic job. 1100:01:18,110 --> 00:01:24,860I the first interview I went for my creative writing role had come up at the University of Birmingham. 1200:01:24,860 --> 00:01:31,010So despite the fact that I was still finishing my PhD, I was like, ah sure, I'll apply and see what happens. 1300:01:31,010 --> 00:01:40,790And anyway, I got offered a job. So I started as a lecturer in creative writing at the University of Birmingham in kind of August twenty fourteen, 1400:01:40,790 --> 00:01:44,690at which point I was still in the final two or three months of my PhD. 1500:01:44,690 --> 00:01:50,900So I was kind of trying to pretend that I was a lecturer and seem very grown up and important to my students, 1600:01:50,900 --> 00:01:58,880despite the fact that I was secretly still a student myself and trying furiously to dot all the T's and cross all the I's on my thesis. 1700:01:58,880 --> 00:02:07,040So yeah, it was a bit of a mad time, but yeah, then I started out at Birmingham and seven, maybe eight years later I'm still there. 1800:02:07,040 --> 00:02:16,610So I'm now a senior lecturer. Since that time, I've also published two more novels and I had published three novels before my PhD at Exeter, 1900:02:16,610 --> 00:02:23,660but I went on to publish two more, one of which was the novel that I wrote as part of my creative writing PhD. 2000:02:23,660 --> 00:02:26,960And then my most recent book The Butchers came out last year. 2100:02:26,960 --> 00:02:35,300So yes, I am now kind of fully fledged novelist, academic, creative writing lecturer and still very much in touch with Sam 2200:02:35,300 --> 00:02:41,090And Sinead my two wonderful supervisors and have very, very fond memories of working with them. 2300:02:41,090 --> 00:02:43,490There's a number of things I think I want to pick up on in that. 2400:02:43,490 --> 00:02:50,120And the first is something that comes up a surprising amount, actually, in talking to people for this podcast, 2500:02:50,120 --> 00:02:58,430which is about kind of seeing an opportunity when you've not actually finished the PhD and going for it and getting it, 2600:02:58,430 --> 00:03:05,060and then how you go about juggling, working and finishing up. 2700:03:05,060 --> 00:03:13,820Co

    27 min
  5. 26/07/2021

    Episode 17 - Katie Finning (Senior Research Officer, Health Analysis and Pandemic Insights, Office for National Statistics)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager talks Dr. Katie Finning, who recently made the transition from a postdoc to a research role outside of academia.  In the podcast Kaite mentions the Civil Service Job site and the Glassdoor repository of interview questions. Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses   Podcast transcript 100:00:10,890 --> 00:00:23,730Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter College. 200:00:23,730 --> 00:00:32,340Hi, it's Kelly Preece and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree, continuing our series on getting jobs during covid. 300:00:32,340 --> 00:00:35,190I'm really excited to be talking to Dr Katie Finning. 400:00:35,190 --> 00:00:44,220So Katie was up until recently a postdoc at the University of Exeter and has during the pandemic made the transition into a non-academic role. 500:00:44,220 --> 00:00:49,680So are you happy to introduce yourself? Sure. So I'm Katie Finning. 600:00:49,680 --> 00:01:01,540I am. I'm currently working as a senior researcher at the Office for National Statistics, so I was in academia for about nine years before I left. 700:01:01,540 --> 00:01:11,790I'm originally joined not long after I finished my undergraduate degree, I took a job as a research assistant to university. 800:01:11,790 --> 00:01:18,810So I was working on a clinical trial of a behavioural therapy for adults with depression. 900:01:18,810 --> 00:01:23,130And I kind of worked on that project from start to finish when I joined. 1000:01:23,130 --> 00:01:27,070And we were still kind of gaining all of our ethical approvals. 1100:01:27,070 --> 00:01:33,870And I stayed working in that job right up until the end where we published the results of the study. 1200:01:33,870 --> 00:01:43,530So that was a really great experience because I kind of saw the whole research lifecycle from start to finish. 1300:01:43,530 --> 00:01:48,780And in that job, my main job for most of that time was data collection and recruitment. 1400:01:48,780 --> 00:01:56,910So that was great. I spent most of my job kind of going out and meeting people and interviewing them and talking to them about their experiences, 1500:01:56,910 --> 00:02:02,160which was was a really interesting and fun job. And then I did my PhD. 1600:02:02,160 --> 00:02:06,510I moved over to child mental health, so I was still at Exeter university. 1700:02:06,510 --> 00:02:13,230So I'd always been kind of interested in mental health from a research perspective, but particularly child mental health. 1800:02:13,230 --> 00:02:18,910And a PhD opportunity came up just as my contract on that clinical trial was coming to an end. 1900:02:18,910 --> 00:02:27,150So it was kind of perfect timing. It was in a team I was really keen to kind of make my way into and the topic was really interesting. 2000:02:27,150 --> 00:02:35,700So it was advertised as a job rather than me kind of submitting my own PhD proposal. 2100:02:35,700 --> 00:02:39,090And my PhD was kind of epidemiological. 2200:02:39,090 --> 00:02:51,150So it looked at kind of patterns and trends in data, looking at the association between anxiety and depression in young people and school absenteeism. 2300:02:51,150 --> 00:03:00,690And so I used a variety of different research methods during my PhD, did a bit of systematic review, some quantitative work, some qualitative work. 2400:03:00,690 --> 00:03:02,520So it was a really kind of nice, 2500:03:02,520 --> 00:03:10,410well-rounded project that gave me experience and methods that I hadn't experienced when I was working as a research assistant. 2600:03:10,410 --> 00:03:16,530And I think

    40 min
  6. 28/06/2021

    Episode 16 - Alexandra Smith (Public Health Research Support Officer at Devon County Council)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager talks Alexandra Smith, who is finishing up her PhD and has just started a job as Public Health Research Support Officer at Devon County Council.   Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses     Podcast transcript   100:00:10,840 --> 00:00:15,700Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter, Doctoral College 200:00:15,700 --> 00:00:27,660Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree. 300:00:27,660 --> 00:00:36,820I'm your host, Kelly Preece, and in this episode, we are continuing our series on securing jobs during covid-19. 400:00:36,820 --> 00:00:44,460I'm speaking to another of our current PGRs who's not quite finished writing up, but has started a job in a local authority. 500:00:44,460 --> 00:00:54,810So, Alexandra, you happy to introduce yourself? So my name is Alexandra Smith and I'm a student at the University of Exeter. 600:00:54,810 --> 00:01:00,720I based in business school, but my PhD is on what I call the holistic health benefits of working groups. 700:01:00,720 --> 00:01:05,820So essentially I'm looking at five different variables organisational landscape, physical health, 800:01:05,820 --> 00:01:14,430mental health and social capital and their influence on working group participant motivation for joining, remaining and leaving. 900:01:14,430 --> 00:01:18,210So at the moment, I am working with Devon County Council. 1000:01:18,210 --> 00:01:23,790I'm a public health research support officer and it's a role funded by the NIHR. 1100:01:23,790 --> 00:01:31,320That's the National Institute of Health Research, and it sits within the the CRN the Clinical Research Network. 1200:01:31,320 --> 00:01:37,560So essentially, NIHR is really interested in expanding its public health portfolio. 1300:01:37,560 --> 00:01:45,990So my role is to sort of link up researchers to populations to to get data from so I can 1400:01:45,990 --> 00:01:50,880do that through Connections that I have through the team within Devon County Council, 1500:01:50,880 --> 00:01:58,440but also to to create spaces for collaboration for public health. 1600:01:58,440 --> 00:02:09,780So I work across lots of different teams, so I will work with different individuals in D.C.C public health, but also broader DCC. 1700:02:09,780 --> 00:02:15,060So I'm also linking up with people in sort of who work more in the environment who are 1800:02:15,060 --> 00:02:22,140interested in working in transport and also working with sort of more partners as well. 1900:02:22,140 --> 00:02:31,500So community and voluntary sector NHS CCG Trust those different kind of partnerships, academics as well. 2000:02:31,500 --> 00:02:39,180And at the moment I'm working towards creating a webinar which DCC will be hosting on the 8th of July, 2100:02:39,180 --> 00:02:46,650and that's really a great collaborative forum to get academics and other partners together, 2200:02:46,650 --> 00:02:54,660to really talk through some of the pressing public health issues that we have in public health is such a huge area, 2300:02:54,660 --> 00:02:58,770really covers all aspects of life, really. 2400:02:58,770 --> 00:03:03,150It's very interconnected. So it's really important to have those collaborative spaces. 2500:03:03,150 --> 00:03:08,100And currently what I'm designing is a kind of like a platform. 2600:03:08,100 --> 00:03:17,220I'm looking to do this through sort of SharePoint and also through Microsoft teams to enable 2700:03:17,220 --> 00:03:25,560researchers and other collaborators to get together to put together grant applications. 2800:03:25,560 --> 00:03:35,250The r

    27 min
  7. 26/04/2021

    Episode 15 - Dr. Joanna Alfaro (Director of Pro Delphinus)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager talks Dr. Joanna Alfaro, a University of Exeter doctoral graduate who is now the Director of the Peruvian conservation organisation Pro Delphinus.   Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses   Podcast transcript   100:00:10,880 --> 00:00:23,270Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter, Doctoral College 200:00:23,270 --> 00:00:28,070Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree. I'm your host, Kelly Preece 300:00:28,070 --> 00:00:32,150And for this episode, I'm delighted to be talking to Dr Joanna Alfaro, 400:00:32,150 --> 00:00:38,090who is the president and director of the Peruvian conservation organisation Pro Delphinus 500:00:38,090 --> 00:00:41,780So, Joanna. Are you happy to introduce yourself? Yeah. 600:00:41,780 --> 00:00:45,770Well, my name is Joanna Alfaro and I am Peruvian. 700:00:45,770 --> 00:00:57,290I work in Pro Delphinus and Universidad Científica del Sur. So in 2008 I joined in the programme for PhD 800:00:57,290 --> 00:01:03,380My advisor was Brendan Godley and Annette Broderick at Exeter 900:01:03,380 --> 00:01:16,670And I was. That's probably my favourite years as being back a student in the U.K., a dream that I was able to fulfil. 1000:01:16,670 --> 00:01:25,460And for my the theme of my PhD was ecology and conservation of marine turtles. 1100:01:25,460 --> 00:01:34,270And that was also great because it allowed me to to apply the knowledge and the 1200:01:34,270 --> 00:01:41,080experience that I got to working with sea turtles in Peru towards my PhD. 1300:01:41,080 --> 00:01:45,210It's brilliant. Thank you. And what are you doing now? 1400:01:45,210 --> 00:01:56,700So when did you graduate? So the though after the PhD, the I was able to to be back at home and and keep working. 1500:01:56,700 --> 00:02:04,710And what I love, which is marine conservation. So the projects we we have right now are focus. 1600:02:04,710 --> 00:02:13,470It was a very interesting transition because we started our careers being a species oriented. 1700:02:13,470 --> 00:02:21,330And by that I mean that I was I love dolphins and whales and sea turtles. 1800:02:21,330 --> 00:02:25,110So that was my interest. But we learnt over time. 1900:02:25,110 --> 00:02:34,880And and my PhD was a big lesson learnt that is not only about the animals that we were, 2000:02:34,880 --> 00:02:42,360that we're when we're working with animals, we should also look at the people that is related to the animals. 2100:02:42,360 --> 00:02:49,630So in my case, these people were fishermen. And mostly small-scale fishermen. 2200:02:49,630 --> 00:02:59,020And so the the the current work we do now is trying to support fishermen, to keep fishing. 2300:02:59,020 --> 00:03:09,520But in a more clean way, in a sustainable way, in a way that they can keep fishing for the for many, 2400:03:09,520 --> 00:03:15,010many years to come, but also in a way that we are helping animals. 2500:03:15,010 --> 00:03:23,300And in this case, it'll be the ones that we have this passion for the dolphins, the whales, the sea turtles. 2600:03:23,300 --> 00:03:33,580So it's it's a very good combination to be able to to be in the middle between biodiversity 2700:03:33,580 --> 00:03:43,600and economic activities as fisheries and also communities and engaging the main users, 2800:03:43,600 --> 00:03:54,900which are fishermen. That's great and really interesting how, like you say, that you've moved from thinking about particular species to. 2900:03:54,900 --> 00:04:05,550To fishermen. And that sort of shift in focus. So can you tell me a little bit about w

    21 min
  8. 29/03/2021

    Episode 14 - Dr, Heather Hind and Dr. Philippa Earle (Digital Learning Developers at the University of Exeter)

    Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager talks Dr. Heather Hind and Dr. Philippa Earle, who are doctoral graduates from English currently work as Digital Learning Developers in the College of Medicine and Health at the University of Exeter.    Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses   Podcast transcript   100:00:10,890 --> 00:00:23,400Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter Doctoral College 200:00:23,400 --> 00:00:28,320Hello, and a warm welcome to another episode of Beyond Your Research Degree. 300:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,560I'm Kelly Preece, the research development manager in the Doctoral College, 400:00:31,560 --> 00:00:38,670and I'm continuing episodes on the theme of getting jobs and moving forward with your career. 500:00:38,670 --> 00:00:44,190During COVID 19, by talking to actually in this episode, two of our doctoral graduates. 600:00:44,190 --> 00:00:50,880So Dr Philippa Earle and Dr Heather Huind both of whom did their PhDs in English but are now working in professional 700:00:50,880 --> 00:00:58,320services roles at the University of Exeter in roles that were created in response to the COVID 19 pandemic. 800:00:58,320 --> 00:01:02,880So Heather and Philippa, are you happy to introduce yourselves? I'm Dr Heather Hind 900:01:02,880 --> 00:01:10,860I did my PhD in English literature, specifically Victorian literature and things that the Victorians made out of human hair. 1000:01:10,860 --> 00:01:20,610And I finished in while I handed in in March 2020, just before the first lockdown's started and had my viva last year. 1100:01:20,610 --> 00:01:26,970And since then, I've been working for the university as a digital learning developer for the College of Medicine and Health. 1200:01:26,970 --> 00:01:34,090So I'm Dr Philippa Earle I finished my PhD at Exeter in. 1300:01:34,090 --> 00:01:41,350Summer of 2018. It seems a long time ago now. And my thesis was on John Milton. 1400:01:41,350 --> 00:01:47,800And I'm really interested in his material philosophy, which is commonly called monism. 1500:01:47,800 --> 00:01:52,600And so I've kind of been floating around since then, doing various things. 1600:01:52,600 --> 00:01:58,590I'd really like to get into academia. I really enjoy teaching. 1700:01:58,590 --> 00:02:04,650I have done some casual teaching since then to different roles at different universities, 1800:02:04,650 --> 00:02:10,680and I then came into doing this digital learning development role kind of last September. 1900:02:10,680 --> 00:02:17,100So I was kind of last minute recruits and it kind of slotted in working with Heather. 2000:02:17,100 --> 00:02:22,560That's fabulous. Like you say, probably it's useful just to start with, kind of back it up, back a little bit. 2100:02:22,560 --> 00:02:30,110What a digital learning developer is. And I think particularly as well how these roles have. 2200:02:30,110 --> 00:02:35,670It evolved because of the situation with the current pandemic. 2300:02:35,670 --> 00:02:41,730And so when they were first advertised, I think I applied last June, 2400:02:41,730 --> 00:02:47,320I think I started my application the week before my viva, and then I had the interview the week after my viva. 2500:02:47,320 --> 00:02:54,390Wow. Yes, it was the time. It was honestly really fortuitous for me as it worked out. 2600:02:54,390 --> 00:03:02,610But they were advertised as roles to support the shift to online teaching during the pandemic. 2700:03:02,610 --> 00:03:04,650And to think what the job description said. 2800:03:04,650 --> 00:03:13,680It said, you know, supporting teaching staff, troubleshooting online issues,

    43 min

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About

(This podcast has now ended. Please check out PGR Podcast for the latest content from Doctoral College) A podcast from Researcher Development about topics relating to PhD researchers, including careers for researchers, beyond academia, from the University of Exeter. Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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