As I stood at the front of the lecture theatre, with one hundred pairs of expectant eyes on me, I thought, not for the first time, “how the hell did this happen?”
Just before finishing my undergraduate degree in psychology I was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to go on and do a PhD within the same department. I’ll be honest, it wasn’t ever really in my ‘plan’ to do a Doctorate, but it is one of the best decisions I have ever made, and is one that has changed the direction of my life.
As many of the most interesting things in life come about it was largely through chance that I came to apply for the course in the first place. In my final undergraduate year I had decided to research the controversial topic of ‘designer babies’ for my dissertation. It just so happened that in that particular year the department was keen to do more research on reproductive technologies - so much so that they were providing funding for a PhD in this area.
I have to admit that I hadn’t even considered doing a PhD up until this point. I didn’t really see myself as a suitable candidate to undertake that level of study. It’s the highest level of education we have, and as a result I believed it could only be open to a very elite group of students – the scarily intelligent. While I was doing well at university
8
I certainly didn’t (and still don’t) fall into this category. I love a night out as much as the next person and there’s no doubt that I would be laughed off a University Challenge team, so pitiful is my general knowledge.
Despite this, as I didn’t know what I wanted to do after uni it seemed like a bit of a sign - not that I’m a believer in such things. However,
what I do strongly believe in is that I would far farther regret something that I have done, rather than regretting missed opportunities. With that in mind, I decided to put together a short proposal for a project I was interested in working on and to submit an application. A few weeks later, just before my final exams, I found out I had been awarded the studentship. I was thrilled, if a little apprehensive.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56