I chose Birmingham for my research degree
because I'd done my Masters and BA here as
well so I developed really good working relationships
with the Creative Writing department.
But also, my supervisor has a genuine interest
in my research. He's an authority on my research
topic so it just seemed like a natural progression
so that's why I chose to continue my studies
at Birmingham.
Being a research student is quite busy at
times. In a typical week I try and set myself
some specific goals. So I try and treat my
PhD as a 9-5 job. And then I will set myself
regular goals such as I'll try and write two
poems a week. And then because I'm in my first
year a lot of what I'm doing at the moment
is reading and researching and trying to find
out about what I actually want to write about
so I'll be reading lots of poetry collections,
making notes, reading lots of books, making
notes on those and then towards the end of
the week I'll try and write up my notes and
make sure everything is in order so I can
pick up again the next week so yeah, being
a PhD student can be quite busy at times but
it's really enjoyable.
The postgraduate community in the Creative
Writing department is really sociable and
really friendly. So, once a fortnight the
PhD students get together and we read a couple
of people's work and we edit and give some
feedback. I'm also part of a poetry group
which has PhD and MA students in and in the
same kind of situation we edit each others'
work, read each others' work. And then a wider
community for postgraduate students is also
really good. The Graduate School puts on events
so that you can socialise but also go along,
write, then take a break and socialise so
the postgraduate community at Birmingham is
really open and friendly. My favourite thing
about being a postgraduate researcher is being
a part of the Creative Writing department
so not only have the lecturers in the Creative
Writing department helped me with my writing,
they've also helped me with my professional
and personal development. But also lecturers
outside my department have been really helpful.
They're always willing to look at my research
and give advice and support so my favourite
part about being a researcher at Birmingham
is that I always feel supported.
