About

Mother. PhD Student. Teacher. Multimedia Producer.

Shortly after my second son was born, I applied to Leeds Metropolitan University’s 100 PhD students scholarship to mark their centenary as a college. I started when he was 10 months old.

Studying for a PhD is the most energetic, emotional, intense, absorbing thinking I have ever done. It’s a real roller-coaster of a ride too. Doing a PhD with two young children is quite insane. I chose to do it believeing it would be a flexible way to work around child care hours, and give my grey-matter a bit of a workout before they were both at school.

The reality of being a mother and full-time PhD student is quite different to my expectations. Because of the complete involvement with the subject area, and the teaching that comes with the territory, I often find it frustrating when it’s time to down tools and be a Mum again. I often wish for longer periods of time to focus on one or the other. So I usually end up feeling I’m a little bit rubbish at both.

I want to keep a record of my thoughts and observations of being a student Mum. I will probably also want to write about exciting developments in the world of Digital Storytelling and other multimedia collaborative projects and finally let off steam about teaching.

[WP-CUMULUS]