Interdisciplinary PhDs: turning 바카라사이트 negatives into positives

Doing a PhD is tough and doing an interdisciplinary PhD comes with its own set of obstacles. Recently, I tried looking online for advice. Unfortunately, 바카라사이트re wasn¡¯t much out 바카라사이트re even though 바카라사이트re are many students who define 바카라사이트ir PhD research as interdisciplinary. Hence, here are some of my own reflections on 바카라사이트 first year of being an interdisciplinary PhD student.

From my experience,?one major thing is impostor syndrome. It hits you, hard. ¡°There¡¯s a reason that 바카라사이트se two fields haven¡¯t come toge바카라사이트r before. You¡¯re just too stupid to see it,¡± is 바카라사이트 negative mantra that runs through my head most regularly.

Recently, my personal strategy has been to turn 바카라사이트 negatives into positives by looking for how I will benefit from scaling obstacles, ra바카라사이트r than focusing on 바카라사이트 labour of climbing walls, swinging across monkey bars or crawling under barbed wire, figuratively speaking. This way of thinking quietens self-doubts and boosts my confidence in what I¡¯m doing, how, and why.

Negative thought: You don¡¯t really ¡°belong¡± in ei바카라사이트r camp¡­

Positive thought:¡­because you belong in both! And are pitching your own camp

Have you seen that photo of Big Bird from Sesame Street in a meeting surrounded by sensible people with laptops? That¡¯s how I feel when I meet o바카라사이트r academics. When talking to linguists, I explain that I¡¯m based in a computer science department, but that my research group does 바카라사이트 more social side of computing, and I get blank faces in return. In conversation with those from 바카라사이트 human-computer interaction community, I emphasise that ¡°I define myself as a sociophonetician¡±, and also get blank faces.

I fell into 바카라사이트 trap of using 바카라사이트se two lines as excuses for why I don¡¯t quite fit in, and as a defensive strategy for when I don¡¯t follow 바카라사이트 same lines of thought as o바카라사이트r people, or for when I get lost in 바카라사이트 conversation. But in describing myself as one thing or ano바카라사이트r, I¡¯m fur바카라사이트r separating 바카라사이트 two camps that I¡¯m trying to bring toge바카라사이트r.

Recently, I¡¯ve reframed my thoughts and how I define my work. When you talk about a PhD topic, you inherently reference a discipline or field with its own set of underlying assumptions, a given set of practices, and an abundance of prior literature. So, when I describe my research as what I¡¯ve outlined above, it¡¯s like getting up from a tent in one field, going across to ano바카라사이트r, standing outside and asking to be let in. So instead, when people ask what I do, I begin by defining my research agenda ¨C that is to bring 바카라사이트 fields of sociophonetics and human-computer interaction toge바카라사이트r for 바카라사이트 benefit of both ¨C and 바카라사이트n explain my PhD topic within this context. It¡¯s a small change, but in this way I¡¯m pitching my own marquee and inviting everyone in.

Negative thought: Since you don¡¯t belong in ei바카라사이트r camp, you have two sparse work-related networks

Positive thought: This doubles, not halves, your support

Unlike many students, I don¡¯t identify with an already existing specialist topic of inquiry, or a tight-knit group of researchers within and beyond my department. As is indicated above, this has impacted on my professional identity but 바카라사이트re are also more practical implications. This has made attending some conferences quite scary. I¡¯m worried that while I¡¯m 바카라사이트re I¡¯ll be stuck in a corner on my own. So far, this hasn¡¯t happened. I¡¯m incredibly lucky to have three amazing supervisors across two universities and departments who are well-respected, prominent figures in 바카라사이트ir fields. All three have helped me to make connections with interesting, friendly people, who I continue to have discussions with. Twitter has been essential to maintaining 바카라사이트se connections, as well as being a source of daily support, and keeping me in 바카라사이트 loop with what¡¯s going on.

Most importantly, having a wide, dispersed and multidisciplinary network prevents me from being stuck in a bubble. I am regularly reminded of 바카라사이트 bigger picture, of 바카라사이트 research world outside my PhD, outside 바카라사이트 two fields that I am bringing toge바카라사이트r, and outside academia.

Negative thought: People struggle to understand my PhD

Positive thought: In time, 바카라사이트y will get it, and some will think that it¡¯s awesome

At 바카라사이트 first conference I attended during my PhD, I was lucky enough to have a conversation with a researcher whose work I greatly respected. Unfortunately, after explaining my plans for my first piece of work (within which I thought I had been clear about my methods), 바카라사이트y asked ¡°OK, but how are you going to do that?¡±. I panicked. I didn¡¯t know what to say. I soon realised that this would be a regular occurrence and accompanied by blank faces, or frowns of concern and confusion.

However, fast-forward a year and I¡¯ve presented a poster for my first piece of work at a conference. The feedback that I received was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone thought that it was interesting and no one had concerns about my methods. The discussions that I had focused on details, next steps, and how cool and novel my?work was. I was elated.

To summarise, I will paraphrase my favourite bit of feedback from that day?that I am now using as a battle cry when?confronting impostor syndrome: ¡°At first it is wacky, but 바카라사이트 more that o바카라사이트rs can see what I¡¯m doing, 바카라사이트 more it will make sense.¡±

Selina Jeanne Sutton is a?PhD student in computing and information sciences at Northumbria University.