Ever spent years in a degree you were not happy with? This PhD student has, and she advocates for being brave enough to choose personal fulfilment over societal expectations and conventional timelines. In this article, she shares her breakthrough in changing academic direction to a path that better aligns with her passions, and offers empowering words to others who may be in a similar situation.
Jade Jenkinson summarises her doctoral thesis, in which she explores depictions of education in American, Australian and Canadian Gothic fiction through the lens of settler-colonialism. Jade explains the impetus behind her project and her coining of the term Educational Gothic as a means to classify and compare cross-national, overlapping trends within these works.
This article explores the experience of a gay man entering academia in an oppressive conservative culture, creating impossible contradictions between who they are and who academia wants them to be. Professional norms of academia clash with stereotypes of what ‘gay’ looks like to produce a suffocating costume that we often feel is necessary to survive. The article advocates for representation of minority groups in academia to expand ideas of who we can be – and for PhD students to care for one another and embrace our unique stories and identities.
Written by a doctoral student in Nairobi, this article discusses the benefits of research in enabling a country, such as Kenya, to generate increased economic growth and social development. Research is fuelled by curiosity and asking questions, immersing us in discovering everything there is to know – and ultimately propels humanity forward with developments.
