Confirmation of candidature 2
Well it's over now, I did my presentation last week and the feedback I got from the panel was valuable. I have to say I was a bit disappointed in my own performance but I learned quite a bit from it all and I did well enough to get through and enjoyed the positive feedback as well as taking on board the suggestions for improvement.
I had coffee with someone in the field of Informatics last week and I felt a bit flat after our chat since she was critical of where my work sat, that is, within which discipline- IT or Informatics? She gave me some good advice about the structure of my work and talked about resources and the process of doing a PhD. It was good to know she had been through a lot of the stuff I am experiencing now. I think the fact that she believed it would take me another 3 years to complete kind of knocked the wind out of me though, as I want to complete my research on time.
Actually I think I am feeling disheartened because I am a bit tired of it all atm. When I got back from my confirmation presentation, there was email asking /telling me about a conference in New Zealand during December and raising the possiblity of presenting a paper there. There just seems to be so much work to do and I am not certain of where to start- ethics applications? my methodology? chapter 1? conference presentations? another article perhaps? I feel a bit overwhelmed again, but I guess you just start at the start - I 'll begin on an ethics application today and maybe also look at some methodology and when i feel a bit overhwelmed, I'll start on an article (I have at least 2 in my head).
I bet gym this afternoon will re-energise me :)
Confirmation of candidature
The whole process of confirmation of candidature has been really rewarding- I finished the written submission on Monday. I have bonded with my supervisor still in Australia and his input has been very constructive (my other supervisor is due back next week). I also now have a solid draft of chapter 1 of my thesis and feel I am making good progress. What's more I'll complete the final draft of an article today and intend to submit it to an informatics journal for publication. I've also started drafting another manuscript which is based on
NHMRC guidelines, Australian privacy laws, ethics and electronic forms of data collection. The new manuscript is really enjoyable to write and I cant wait to get a bit more time to devote to it.
Last week I attended a meeting with some executive communications industry representatives and senior academic staff of the university with a view to discussing the basis for future collaberation in suitable ventures. The discussion was really stimulating and I think a really interesting project might get off the ground as a result- there may even be grant opportunities that open up too :)
I am working so hard right now but it's a really productive time, so I'm really enjoying it.
I love being situated in the workroom- it's fun to have people to talk to, or to share a joke with and I like feeling part of the team.
