The Year of the Intervention

2009 already! And still no more progress on the interventions starting. I have a funding issue that is yet to be resolved, although I did have a very (hopefully) productive meeting with our financial manager in the faculty today. He seemed very keen on my ideas and so I hope he will be able to win favour with the decision makers and I will be granted funding so that the interventions may begin.

Before then however, I have some very overdue commitments. I must complete my Gantt Chart and case study overview map. Once these are done and reviewed, I think smaller steps will be much easier to take.

In the mean time, teaching has started again this week. This is a 7 week commitment to the University and will take more than the alloted 3 hours. But I really do enjoy it. The subject is great, all staff I have worked with on the module have been supportive and interesting, and aside from the odd student who spoils it, they are generally a decent bunch.

I need some sleep now, but my plan is to get all of the time planning documents completed by tomorrow. That will help me to feel that I have achieved a reasonable amount this week.

A Full Contingent?

Well, it turns out that walking around the village in the dark with the dog is a good way to meet potential participants in the youth category. I just bumped into 3 lads who I know have been involved with the particular issue that I would like my first case study to centre around.

They seemed very open to the idea of participating, and jumped at the chance to put their side of the story across. They also mentioned a friend who had been to see the Councillor, so I need to find out more about suitability before xtending the invitation.

Part of me is delighted, part of me is now very worried that all hell may break loose when I put the youths and the older villagers in a room together with the sole purpose of discussing a village shelter for the youths to congregate in.

So with these 3 lads, the lad from our village of the group I met a couple of months ago and possibly another girl who lived in the village, that would make a nice number.

In the other group, I have 2 ladies, a man and his wife and either one of a couple, with possibly a couple more to draw on. I need to keep the balance straight.

Meetings, meetings, meetings

Today has been particularly full of meetings. 4 in fact. And I’m now tired and would like to reflect on the varying success over a glass of red, but I have a bid to write.

So, to record this quite pivotal day first…

Meeting 1 was with my 2nd supervisor. She has very helpfully suggested we meet along with her other supervisee, who only turned up 45 minutes later by chance. It was a clear moment of serendipity, the next 20 minutes were packed with dynamic knowledge sharing and highly productive. He is further than the road than me and has lots of stories to help illuminate the rocky path I am just venturing along. The first 45 minutes was also an incredibly helpful session. My supervisor is so in tune with my life situation, we seem to have a deep understanding of why things are the way they are, and I really value her gentle guidance. I feel supported, cossetted even.

Meeting 2 should have been a little more nerve-wracking. But the Associate Dean hadn’t logged on and wasn’t informed I was coming, so was in the middle of writing up notes, which he continued to do while I sat quietly in his room. Fine, I made more notes. He was incredibly supportive of my request for funding for equipment for my research intervention. Another moment of serendipity – tomorrow at midday is the deadline for applications for funding for community based projects to the university board. I can request up to £2000, which would make a massive difference to my project. Hence the bid writing I am about to do. He assured me that if my bid is not successful, the faculty would look favourably on my attempts to secure funding from other sources and would probably help me.

Meeting 3 was with the Over 50′s group in my village – the destination of my pilot case study. After yet another strange coincidence – realising I knew the invited speaker from Leeds Met (she’s a part time PhD student) who happens to live in my village – I had a brief chance to explain my project to the assembled group and drum up volunteers. I was met with a somewhat unexcited sea of faces, who on the whole left once I had finished. But I do have 6 participants, 1 of whom was already on my list from the Horticultural Show. I think they will be interesting people to work with. And even though it wasn’t the most enjoyable or productive experience, it did make me feel that I was standing up and actually doing something. I did enjoy the other talk though!

Meeting 4 has left me feeling quite down really. On the advice of the Chair of the Parish Councillors, I attended the Council Meeting in the village this evening to request funding for fees for the village hall, or a waiving of fees. Their initial reaction was to just stare at me, that is those that were facing me, half of them had their backs to the public audience. Then they, rather rudely and tersely, stated that it wasn’t their remit and they had to pay the full fees to hire the village hall. I had to ask further questions to get any more information out of them, like who I did need to speak to then. It was bad news, the man in question was very unhelpful when I requested a presence at the annual village horticultural show by a small team from a regional dialect project I’ve been involved with. Still, our local village police officer was their with a colleague. On the way back to the car (I left with them after their bit) we had a giggle about the tumbleweed moment when I asked my question. They were extremely helpful in terms of their knowledge about local youths who may be ideal as project participants. They were very encouraging and supportive, and our officer even volunteered to come along to meetings if I thought her presence would allay any concerns. I was also slipped a note from one of the committee on the way out with a potential lead that I will follow up in the morning. 

So quite a big day. I was hoping I would have had either the equipment or the hall fees sorted by tonight. But more steps forward taken, even if one or two back. And I have to learn to develop a thicker skin I think!

The second year begins

I’ll probably soon be looking back on year 1 of the PhD as the really fun time, full of indulgence. I lost hours, weeks even staring at Athens and Google Scholar for hints of trails that I should follow. I had fabulous coffee hours with my supervisor talking through the exciting possibilities of my research.

In May this year, 11 months in (bit late, I know, but that’s having young kids for you) I had my Confirmation Viva. Despite the initial anxiety, I actually really enjoyed it. It was a very positive experience and lots of great thinking led to great ideas from the team of experienced researchers gathered in the room.

A couple of months on, and I’m now forumlating exactly how I’m going to execute my fieldwork. Talking about it seems so easy…… thinking about how I’m actually going to encourage people that they really want to give up enough time to participate is a bit tougher.

I also really need to start keeping comprehensive references of the material I’m reading. Notes, however well organised in my academic planner, are still just notes.

I hope I can tie things up neatly so that when I return from holiday I can throw myself into writing and making contacts.