Bumps In The Road Em

John Billings is a behavioral economics PhD student at the University of East Anglia. John joined me to share a very personal story about three failures that have occurred during his studies and PhD programme applications, and how – despite these setbacks – he’s ended up where he thinks he’s meant to be. John’s story may seem very context specific in parts, for example he shares some specific difficulties with applying to and working on an economics PhD in the USA, but the overall messages he shares: including understanding the role privilege has in ones ability to withstand failure, as well as the benefits (and downsides) of following what you enjoy, not always what is the most strategic path, are messages that cross all subjects and countries. I found John’s self-analysis and honesty refreshing, and I hope it’s of interest to you too.

More here: https://emmaelvidge.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/episode_18_john_billings/

Professor Robert Walker is an Emertius Professor in the School of Education at the University of East Anglia, with a Sociology background that has taken him all over the world. Although we do discuss failures - Rob openly shares a couple of high profile projects that suffered from communication breakdowns - one key topic of conversation here is teaching. Specifically, how can we encourage our students – undergraduate or postgraduate  - to develop a questioning mindset, an understanding of the research process and an acceptance of this process as an imperfect journey, within the traditional boundaries of a time-limited degree programme. Throughout this episode, Rob often talks about, somewhat caveats his examples, with saying ‘it was a different era’ in research but I found his thoughts around communication and teaching to be really relevant to the work I do today, I hope you do to.

More here: https://emmaelvidge.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/episode_17_robert_walker/

Dr Katherine Collins is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow working in  the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, where she is  also a Fellow of the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing. I invited Katherine  to be a guest on this podcast as I loved her simple but effective idea  of reframing how we view the research process…and I won’t say anymore on  that topic as I’ll leave it up to her to describe in the episode! We  touch on lots of other topics: perfectionism, taking things personally,  the influence we have as researchers, reflective practice, stationary  and how we teach research methods. Katherine and I come from very  different academic backgrounds but found common ground in our  discussion, I hope that whatever your field is you find something to  appreciate here.

More here: https://emmaelvidge.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/episode_16_katherine_collins/

Dr Steve Jones is a recently-completed PhD student at the University of East Anglia. A computer scientist by background, Steve completed an interdisciplinary Computer Science and Business PhD in the Norwich Business School.

During the final stage of his PhD, Steve was involved in a serious motorcycle accident that nearly cost him his life. Despite a two-year medical intercalation and extensive physical rehabilitation, Steve came back to complete his PhD. Steve shares with us the techniques that have helped him along the way, including building professional networks and friendships, asking for help, reflective practice and “trickle writing” your thesis (some call this writing a “Living thesis”). These techniques are useful whatever happens to you during your PhD – and I hope not many people live through what Steve has – so I hope there’s something here for everyone to learn from, or at least enjoy Steve’s love for his subject and his positive outlook on life.

More here: https://emmaelvidge.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/episode_15_steve_jones/

Dr Rosemary Bass is a Careers Advisor at the University of East Anglia. Today, Rosemary shares her career story, how she worked her way up the academic ladder and achieved the lectureship she thought she wanted, and how in the past few years she has transitioned into a new career. Rosemary touches on topics ranging from imposter syndrome, work life balance, the difference between what you think you want and what it’s actually like when you get there, and what life is like after leaving an academic position. This chat with Rosemary has reminded me – both overtly through stories she shares, but also just through the topics we cover – of the importance of not comparing yourself to others and following a path that’s the right fit for you. I hope you also find something to take away from this episode.

More here: https://emmaelvidge.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/episode_14_rosemary_bass/

Kara Langford is a PhD student in the Norwich Business School at the  University of East Anglia. Kara shares how she found herself making a  massive change to her research direction and methods in response to the  COVID pandemic. Although Kara’s PhD challenge is linked to the COVID-19  pandemic the core story behind it: starting down a path and finding that  the project no longer fits your values, or you couldn’t get from it  what you want, isn’t pandemic-specific and I’ve seen this situation crop  up many times. So, I think her message here is a timeless one, and her  ability to deal with the situation with self-awareness, humour,  perseverance and trust in her own ability should be inspiring to many.

Kara also brings her business background to the topic of failure,  sharing processes and theories that can change the way we view research  projects, whether they’re going right or you’re facing difficulties. I  absolutely loved these fresh takes on how we do our work – this was just  the sort of thing I was hoping this podcast project would throw up – I  hope you enjoy it to.

More here: https://emmaelvidge.wordpress.com/2021/10/04/episode_13_kara_langford/