OCD, the PhD and Me

As we speak, I’m travelling down to Bristol for my first supervision meeting since moving back to Yorkshire. My supervision meeting isn’t actually until tomorrow morning, but the train tickets were way too expensive for me to travel down on the day. Somewhere in the region of fifty pounds more (even on split-ticketing), and I … More A day in the life of a self-funding, remote working PhD student

I think I mentioned in a previous blogpost that I had been having some trouble with motivation. My energy levels have been kind of low (probably due to stress). Not to mention, this whole idea of not having actual holidays like I did when doing my BA and MA has been quite hard to get … More Motivating myself out of the slump

As I write this, I’m en route to Bristol for a training day. As Pete waved me off from the bus station, I remembered just how hard it was when I lived in Bristol, so far away from everyone. At this point in the journey, I’d still have been crying, utterly distraught that I’d have … More Reflecting

The last few weeks have been quite challenging PhD wise. I have actually been finding it quite difficult to find the motivation to work on my thesis. The hot weather combined with an overwhelming feeling of tiredness has made it quite challenging to focus for prolonged periods of time on reading/ writing. I have also … More Celebrating achievements, however small they may seem

I am always behind with the trends. I didn’t start watching Skins until the series had finished, I only started watching Stranger Things when Season 3 came out and I only started playing Pokemon Go last month. As a child, I collected the Pokemon cards, and I even had a favourite Pokemon (Pikachu, obviously). So … More An Ode to Pokemon Go

Trying to get people to understand what Obsessive Compulsive Disorder is can feel like you’re banging your head against a brick wall. We live in an age where mental illnesses are spoken about more openly, and our generation has a greater awareness of mental illness than the generations before. So why is OCD still so … More Talking to people about OCD

I’ve been hearing lots of stories recently about nightmare PhD supervisors making unreasonable demands, being difficult to reach and refusing to look over pieces of work. And, very naively, I’ve found this so surprising! It’s really important, when doing a PhD, to have a good supervisory team. They are there to guide you through the … More Having the right supervisory team when doing a PhD

Self-funding a PhD is hard work, both physically and emotionally. Tuition fees alone are about 4.5k (and they increase every year). Depending on how long it takes to do your PhD this means you will be paying about 20k. And that’s before you start factoring in your living costs. But if it’s something you’re committed … More Self-Funding as a PhD Student