Coming to the end of a PhD is a strange event. Unlike the closure granted by the final exam and graduation party of an undergraduate degree, finishing a PhD involves a number of milestones along an interminable path: compiling the first thesis draft, receiving all your supervisors’ comments, finishing your conclusions, submitting the paperwork, uploading the thesis, and the examination.
A late-stage PhD student might thus find a sense of resolution elusive. I found my answer through art. My friend Bob suggested that I should illustrate my PhD journey, which resulted in “The ExPhDition”, an annotated map of the challenges and adventures I experienced since beginning at the University of Bristol in September 2016.
I was invited to write about the process of creating the ExPhDition, and the lessons I have learned while undertaking it, on the Bristol Doctoral College (BDC) blog. (The blog is styled as “a forum for Bristol’s postgraduate researchers”, and can be found here.) I understand that each student and project is unique – but I hope my post contains advice that is relatable to other researchers, albeit within a different context!
Find the post on the BDC blog here, or the full URL:
Ailsa’s ‘ExPhDition’ — why a PGR illustrated her route to a research degree
Reasoning With Volcanoes 