Sherran Clarence

I have written and finally submitted the first draft. But reaching this milestone has meant working every day, for the last month or so at least. Which means I have not really had weekends or…

I'd like to start with a confession: I didn’t write the Most Awesome Thesis Ever Written, even though I wanted to. I got some things wrong in my thesis, and I didn’t really push myself as hard as I…

It’s been just over 2 months since you left my life. I have been filling up the time with holidays and family and more recently work again. Although I was relieved when I said goodbye to you, I miss…

Sometimes doing a PhD can feel like a form of madness when you are working and mothering small needy people full time. Why on earth would I take on such a huge time- and soul- and brain-consuming…

Why is the PhD, more often than not, framed as a long, arduous, lonely trudge, as opposed to a challenging, stimulating, and ultimately empowering thing? Why isn’t there more emphasis on what the PhD…

I am depressed. This may seem strange, given that I have just submitted my thesis and I am on holiday at last and free to watch hours of Downton Abbey while eating mince pies. But, I am. I am annoyed…

Support systems are not easy to set up, maintain, and especially to mend if they have fallen apart. They require care, time, and emotional energy, and these things are often in short supply during a…

Three weeks into my leave, my boys went on mid-year school holidays for 3 weeks. I worked, but at half-pace and my quiet was gone. It was frustrating and difficult. I kept working, but still only at…

We talk a great deal about mental stress, and even the emotional toll that a PhD process can take on students, but I have not yet seen very much written about the physical toll except in a couple of…

I have been thinking recently about my PhD journey. While it may seem that my journey was a bright and shiny thing, this is not completely so. Towards the end of 2010, I was asking myself - Do I…