Blog: Confirmed!

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Wednesday was a big day for me, as I had my CONFIRMATION for my PhD. This is a sort of mini-VIVA, where you hand over a sample of what you've been up to and talk to somebody about it, so that they can assess whether what you're doing actually IS a PhD project, or an MPhil, or something you need to have a bit of a THINK about before asking again. It's one of the main STAGING POSTS along the way, and though different Universities call it different things, it generally happens about halfway through the research.

It's a big deal, basically, but I must say that I was remarkably SANGUINE about it beforehand. This may in part be because I had been to see a DERMOTOLOGIST earlier in the day about my PSORIASIS, and discovered that I only rank as 4/10 on The Scabby Scale (NB not actual terminology) after lying FULLY NUDE (apart from my socks) on a table and chatting about SUNBEDS. After that a fully clothed discussion of French Philosophers And Why I Don't Think They Apply seemed quite straightforward!

Another reason I was quite calm was that I was actually rather looking forward to it - this was a chance for me to TALK UNFETTERED about Doctor Doom and Transmedia to a room containing people who HAVE to listen and, indeed, ask questions, which seemed quite appealing. The aforementioned people were my two supervisors, Professor R Sabin and Dr I Horton, and the EXAMINER Dr D Byrne-Smith. Before Dan turned up Roger and Ian both asked, a couple of times, if I was stressed about it. I replied, quite truthfully, that I wasn't, and it was only later that I realised that maybe THEY were!

The interview was, for me at least, GRATE fun. Dan asked some Excellent and Pertinent questions, most of which I could answer (at some length, and with INSIGHTS emerging as we discussed them), and when some arose that I couldn't answer I said "I don't know." This is SUCH a better way of doing things than panicking and trying to make stuff up that I wish I could ALWAYS remember to do it! Dan also gave me some THORTS, IDEAS and also CRITICISM about what I was doing, which was ACE - apparently some people BRIDLE at this sort of thing, but if there is one thing that doing my MA a few years ago taught me, it is... well, it is "Go To The Pub Afterwards", but if there is ANOTHER thing that it taught me it was How To Receive Notes. Doing CREATIVE WRITING stuff involves a LOT of listening to other people's opinions of what you have written, and the best way to deal with it is to just sit there and TAKE it, whether it is BRILLIANT, DAFT, or somewhere in between. What I got yesterday was heavily skewed towards the brilliant end of the spectrum, which does make it easier!

When we'd finished that bit Roger and Ian had to leave the room so that I could discuss how it was going privately - this didn't take very long as I have been having a WHALE of a time, so then it was my turn to go out while the three of them discussed how I was doing, and then a few minutes later we ALL sat in the room again, and they told me it had all gone FINE and that I am now (nearly) officially CONFIRMED as doing a PhD. PHEW! Obviously, this being a University, there are approx 700 committees this has to go through before it is OFFICIALLY official, but those are meetings that I do not have to go to!

When it was done we all popped downstairs for a celebratory PINT and a surprisingly in-depth and THORTFUL discussion on The Nature Of Practice Research. Working at a University Of Interesting Things and simultaneously STUDYING Interesting Things at the same University is ACE!

posted 25/4/2019 by MJ Hibbett

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