My PhD experience: retrospective and prospective

In his latest blog post, Postgraduate Researcher Stuart Bowes looks back over the three years of his PhD with the Royal Armouries and the University of Leeds.

"After three years, 83,000 words, and one global pandemic, I have just submitted my PhD thesis for examination. Looking back, it has been quite a journey.

"When I began in October 2020, the world was upside-down and we were all stuck inside. With the Royal Armouries shut for much of my first year and beyond, the structure of the entire project had to be fundamentally overhauled in response. All the same, it was greatly sustaining to have a clear purpose during that extended period of uncertainty.

"In spite of these early obstacles, I have still somehow managed to meet every critical deadline and milestone over the three years of my PhD. I was even able to finish my thesis within the projected funding timelines.

"Now that I have effectively reached the end of the doctoral process, it seems appropriate to revisit the first of this series of blog posts from January 2021. In retrospect, it certainly provides a resonant point of comparison."

Read Stuart Bowes' new blog post — My PhD experience: retrospective and prospective — on the Registrars: Training for the Future blog.

Feature image

Leeds Dock from interior of Royal Armouries, June 2018. Photo by Andy Lord.