Vacation time

One of the treats of academia are the long vacations.

Especially in the summer. In the Netherlands, we generally have 5 weeks without any teaching obligations or related tasks. I usually make some resolutions for these vacations:

visit friends & family, travel, relax at the beach, read good books, write blogposts, spend extra time on my PhD, do more workouts, make some delicious healthy meals, prep barbecue parties, do some house renovations, etc. This year another thing was added to the list. Spend time with my little boy. While I am writing it down here, I notice the large to-do-list I have created for myself to do in the summer vacation.

Usually reality hits me.

Learning loop

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how I have these little epiphanies. Last week, I had a major one. I could say, I completed a learning loop. Kolb (an educational theorist) developed the experiential learning model composed of four elements: concrete experience, observation & reflection, formation of abstract concepts, and testing new concepts. According to his theory you have a preferred learning style, but you generally go through all four stages. So, what happend with me?

Should I continue my PhD?

I believe almost any PhD student at least once asks her/himself this question. I did to. Two times actually. It always came down to a yes in my case. I remember reading  blogposts and had conversations with my friend. I asked this question and two questions followed:

• Why did you start your PhD?
• Why would you want to quit?

If the answer to the first is “for myself”. The answer to the main question is

Being creative versus earning a living

Making a living from your craft is a challenge. You are no longer focussing on your craft solely. Being creative and contributing to a better world are opposing values to earning a living and building a public image, values you need to pursue as (senior) employee or entrepreneur. Jacob Waites recommends to shut down the computer and keep making stuff by hand. Underlining this story is a typical value conflict experienced by many designers. Read the full blog here.

The little epiphanies

Why do I research? Why go through so much effort and long, long days of pondering, going through my data, writing small bits of a paper? It is these little epiphanies you experience after a day of hard work. The insight you gained. The proof you found. The piece you were able to write.

Epiphanies, may be small, are the things that make you tick. I find them in my research. I make sure to have at least one per day. How?

The Anecdote

This how it all started a long time a go, when my PhD was just a seed.

As junior I worked as freelance consultant. One value I hold dear, is sustainability. Working on free projects, I could pursue this value. However, to get food on the table, I had to accept projects that had nothing to do with sustainability. After a discussion with a client about considering sustainability in the project or not, I became frustrated. I realized later, I was dealing with two opposing values. I lacked tools to effectively deal with this value difference and as a result I quit my freelance business.

Doing a part-time and external PhD

My occupation is lecturer at a University of Applied Sciences. Dutch law dictates these universities are not allowed to promote PhD candidates. My employer does like lecturers to get a PhD and supports this by handing out PhD vouchers. This is a small grand provided by our University, to which you can apply for as lecturer. I received this grand 2 years ago and will receive another 2 years. However, I am not doing my PhD at my own University, but at Delft University of Technology where my promotor resides.

Doing a part-time PhD is hard, because

New version of me

My blog has been dormant for over year and a lot has happend. My idea was to share ideas, thoughts, and insights of my research. However, I felt very insecure about it for a while. On my search to find data for my research question, I was not ready to share. And I was busy, and pregnant… This is the first time I do like to write something.

Currently, I am writing a journal paper about my study findings. Working on that part and waiting for my co-authors’ feedback. I feel the need to write. Something else, less formal. Then I remembered this dormant blog. Here I am writing another blog post, after 1,5 years.

A lot has happend.

Going on a diet

I dieted last couple of weeks. I worked on two conference papers with other researchers. Writing well is hard, especially writing a research paper. Academic writing gets wordy and boring quickly. Then I found this website: the writer’s diet.