Guest contributors Mark Maslin and Kevin Fowler
Choosing to undertake a PhD is a daunting task. This is not helped by the common misperception that studying for a PhD is a lonely struggle to prove you’re worthy of academia: a Darwinian process where only the fittest, strongest and luckiest survive.
{credit}Claire Asher{/credit}
Contributor Anne Priestly
To be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure getting a PhD was the right choice for me. I still wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do for a career. But then the opportunity came along that gave me the chance to pursue a postgraduate degree in biology and I couldn’t pass it up.
I was 30 years old and I already held a master’s degree in environmental science. I also had two wonderful kids and was fully involved in raising them.
My youngest child had started primary school a few weeks before and there I was at an induction session for new postgraduates. That’s right, starting a PhD when I was already busy (and sometimes overwhelmed) raising a family. I had been an at-home mom for almost six years and it felt strange to be standing there with a bunch of students fresh out of university. But it also felt like it was the right time for me to take some steps to reach my own career goals. Continue reading