So, what is it that you do?

School of Critical Studies, 5 University Gardens, UoG

I am a PhD student. I've said that already. But what is it that I actually do? The image associated with a PhD, for many people including myself before I had any experience of it, is either of a genius in a laboratory replete with white coats and test tubes, or a half-mad, bespectacled recluse snowed under a pile of books in a library. I suppose all of us PhD students, depending on whether we work at the hard sciences or the humanities, might appear like one or the other at some point during our hours and hours of research. But a PhD nowadays is much more than that. Reading (loads) and writing (and discarding much of it eventually) still form a chunky part of a doctoral researcher's day, but now there are more roles, more call for engagement and impact and getting your work 'out there' - which sound depressingly like marketing speech - and this is only a small indication of the corporate, managerial style (alas!) taking over universities now. There are positive sides to it: being urged to get out, see more, do more, learn new stuff not necessarily related to your research is a good idea, particularly for those who have spend much of their lives in the cocoon of academic life. By that, I mean the young. For us older hands who have been out in the world already, it's what we've been doing already.


So what do I do? First, I work on my PhD, at the University of Glasgow, School of Critical Studies (a mellow-coloured though not photogenic building, pic. above)

The University of Glasgow was founded in
1451, when there was still a Byzantine empire:
the perfect place to write a novel set there! 

A PhD in Creative Writing has two components: the creative, in which you write an original work, and the critical, in which you engage with theory/ do scholarly research.
For the creative component, I am writing a historical novel (working title: Zoe, or The Obscure Rose), set in the Byzantine empire, which revisits the First Crusade from the viewpoint of marginal characters. For the critical component, I am examining issues related to the links between historiography and historical fiction, with popular narratives of the time of my novel (Lives of Saints, romances, dream books), and with national stereotyping in First Crusade fictions. I am also looking at two novels set at the same time and place, Count Robert of Paris by Sir Walter Scott, and Come Forth King, [ Ένας Σκούφος Από Πορφύρα, literally, A Cap of Purple] by Greek author Maro Douka, translated by David Connolly. Some of the character in both those novels are historical: Anna Comnena, the princess historian, her father, Emperor Alexius I Comnenus, and her mother, Empress Irene Doukaina. Anna Comnena will be a character in my novel, too, but only in a minor role: I want this novel to be about poor, unimportant, marginal people. Queens, princesses, kings and lords have dominated historical fiction for a very long time, as they have dominated historiography. They've had their say. Let others speak now.


I am also a Hunterian Associate. Details on exactly this programme is and what I'm doing there can be found here and here. This is an extraordinary opportunity to take my research in places I wouldn't have normally thought of, outside the sometimes sterile setting of desk and library. I'm talking about physical places: the Hunterian Art Gallery, the Special Collections of the UoG Library; and virtual places: my blog (or two). Fascinating stuff.


I am also a College of Arts Intern. This is still a mystery and a miracle to me, how I was made one: it is one of those extraordinary things that happen to you and make you very happy when you are told and then they make you even happier when you work on them. I get to do all sorts of different things a person working in a university would normally be expected to do - basically it's a bit like trying out different positions and completing various tasks related to uni life. All sort of tasks, and that's what I love about it. For someone with a really low boredom threshold, like myself, trying your hand at different things (and hopefully helping people along the way), and finding out what you'd rather be doing and what you'd rather not, and not having to commit to anything for too long, is just ideal.

So, this is what I do for my PhD. I'm doing much, and I'm enjoying every bit of it so far (though I retain my right to whinge a little from time to time).

I'd really love to know what other people's experience of their PhD is or was. So, if you're reading this, please, do share!