Madeleine Kendrick

I am currently in the writing phase of my PhD and have been working hard towards completing my thesis. Here, I have compiled an actual to-do list, based on how I spend an average day, along with a…

A supervisor let me down spectacularly, and now I feel that my skill set is somewhat lacking. Although I fired this supervisor due to a host of reasons that have negatively impacted my work, this…

The other day, I had an encounter with an unfamiliar academic who has left a huge impression on me. Concerned with some public activity on their social media, I contacted them privately to voice my…

A few weeks ago, I realized that I had finally hit the upward swing of the independence curve, often associated with a doctoral student’s research journey. My supervisors loosely held the reins until…

Recently I found that the more data I’m collecting for my project, the more ‘wrong’ my hypothesis is looking. And when I say ‘wrong,’ I mean we were completely on the wrong path! But does this…

As a PhD student who was constantly penalised in their high school years for ‘unclear writing’ and ‘needs structure,’ I understand the impact of good feedback, and desperately wanting to make the…

Last weekend, my husband frowned and turned to me in the middle of watching ‘Gordon Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares’ one night. He wanted to ask a question: “Are you making progress in your PhD? I mean,…

When it comes to teaching, I want to be good. No, I want to be great! I want to inspire the same motivation in my students that I received from my own teachers. There's only one problem - I haven’t…

I’m one of the few people who have been unfortunate enough to have to change my supervisory teams. This was partially because one of my supervisors left the university, but also because I required a…

Am I a good co-worker? At my university, I get the distinct impression that I’m not well-liked. Not because I’m rude or offensive, but because I work remotely and enjoy doing so. And this got me…