The University of Bath has an all-online system for making an application, and a very friendly IT guy to sort out any glitches.
The system asks for an academic reference and copies of degree and degree transcript. I rang up Bath and pointed out that I graduated in 1978, so most of my tutors at Bristol would be long since retired or passed on. The admissions people were helpful and amused and said it was okay, I just needed a solid client reference or two.
Pim has the advantage of being a doctor and a company director, so that makes him a doubly handy referee. He argued a bit and said I already know plenty and don't need to spend a lot of time and effort learning more unless it's for fun. So I assured him it will be fun (??) and he said okay, he would provide a reference.
Then I rang up the University of Bristol for copies of my paperwork. They arrived the next day - very fast indeed.
Now I "just" have to write the research proposal. The admissions lady said some people write 100 pages!! I was thinking more in terms of 2-3 pages. After all, when I outlined the idea to my contact person in the psychology department I took 10 minutes at most and he said it was thorough and elegant.
I really have no idea how much I am proposing to take on here in terms of scope and time. However, it doesn't really matter because 1) I'm a volunteer - what I do or don't do is up to me, 2) whether or not I complete it, I will learn an awful lot of useful stuff along the way, 3) it will build up my knowledge in things that interest me personally and professionally and 4) I am confident that I can shape things creatively as I go.
Sunday 27 June 2010
Monday 21 June 2010
Encouragement, of a sort
A long and interest call yesterday with my brilliant friend Bruce Clark, a senior journalist at The Economist and man of prodigious intelligence.
I mentioned my PhD plans to him and after a little discussion, he said that he tended to be wary of people in their late middle age deciding to do a PhD. He gave me an example of one project he felt sure was doomed to flounder, and then with his customary courtesy he assured me that he thought mine was a different type of PhD project. I certainly think it is, because it's practical, research-based and pretty concrete.
Talking with my piano teacher Sophie Yates about it today, her first response was a wholehearted "that's very interesting".
For me at this point the issues are less about whether the project is of any practical value and application - it certainly would be - but rather about how much I can muster and master the necessary knowledge to pull it all together coherently.
I mentioned my PhD plans to him and after a little discussion, he said that he tended to be wary of people in their late middle age deciding to do a PhD. He gave me an example of one project he felt sure was doomed to flounder, and then with his customary courtesy he assured me that he thought mine was a different type of PhD project. I certainly think it is, because it's practical, research-based and pretty concrete.
Talking with my piano teacher Sophie Yates about it today, her first response was a wholehearted "that's very interesting".
For me at this point the issues are less about whether the project is of any practical value and application - it certainly would be - but rather about how much I can muster and master the necessary knowledge to pull it all together coherently.
Friday 18 June 2010
Me? Do a PhD?
All being well my wife will graduate from med school in July and start working as an F1 (junior house officer) in August. It's taken four years on the course and a year of preparation to reach this point - five years in all.
During all that time, I've been the sole breadwinner and holding the fort at home, with the help of au pairs. With the prospect of less pressure to earn, I've been wondering what the possibilities might be in future.
Way, way back around the same time as I applied to join Reuters Graduate Trainee Scheme, I was also investigating becoming a psychotherapist. In the course of my investigations I met some very interesting people but came to the conclusion that virtually all of them had just become more adept at talking about and justifying their neuroses. So when Reuters offered me a job, that's the route I took. Since then I have met some far more "together" people in the psych areas - Bionergetic Therapists, NLP trainers wth a broad psychology background (not weekend diploma merchants), and research neurologists.
Back to this year. I had already decided to write a book this year on the subject of Richer Conversation - likely to be in Q3 and Q4. I expect to be thinking and learning a lot. Some of it will be original, meaning it will be based on my experience and reflections. Some of it will be adapted from academic research, philosophy etc. Assuming I would complete the book and have some momentum, I realised around mid-May that could extend the work towards a PhD.
A bounced the PhD idea around with a few people and actually got in touch with a contact at the University of Bath, Dr Neil Hinvest. I had what I thought was a rough idea of a research project I wanted to do, and how I wanted to do it, so I discussed it with him. Pretty early on in our chat he said he would be interested in supervising the project! He summed it up as elegant, well thought-through and with many potential uses both clinically and in business.
I found it both exciting and shocking that I could go from the germ of an idea to having the idea practically accepted in such a short time. I still have to make the application. I still have to discuss the whole thing with my wife, once she has her finals behind her. So it's still early days and I may still decide against it. Whether or not, it's all very exciting.
During all that time, I've been the sole breadwinner and holding the fort at home, with the help of au pairs. With the prospect of less pressure to earn, I've been wondering what the possibilities might be in future.
Way, way back around the same time as I applied to join Reuters Graduate Trainee Scheme, I was also investigating becoming a psychotherapist. In the course of my investigations I met some very interesting people but came to the conclusion that virtually all of them had just become more adept at talking about and justifying their neuroses. So when Reuters offered me a job, that's the route I took. Since then I have met some far more "together" people in the psych areas - Bionergetic Therapists, NLP trainers wth a broad psychology background (not weekend diploma merchants), and research neurologists.
Back to this year. I had already decided to write a book this year on the subject of Richer Conversation - likely to be in Q3 and Q4. I expect to be thinking and learning a lot. Some of it will be original, meaning it will be based on my experience and reflections. Some of it will be adapted from academic research, philosophy etc. Assuming I would complete the book and have some momentum, I realised around mid-May that could extend the work towards a PhD.
A bounced the PhD idea around with a few people and actually got in touch with a contact at the University of Bath, Dr Neil Hinvest. I had what I thought was a rough idea of a research project I wanted to do, and how I wanted to do it, so I discussed it with him. Pretty early on in our chat he said he would be interested in supervising the project! He summed it up as elegant, well thought-through and with many potential uses both clinically and in business.
I found it both exciting and shocking that I could go from the germ of an idea to having the idea practically accepted in such a short time. I still have to make the application. I still have to discuss the whole thing with my wife, once she has her finals behind her. So it's still early days and I may still decide against it. Whether or not, it's all very exciting.
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