What does your PhD focus on?

My PhD is mapping participation in energy, climate change, and Net Zero. It explores public engagement through digital methods within different political contexts. I’m hopefully going to be doing a case study between social media use in China and the UK. These are very different political contexts, and so this PhD hopes to highlight the different ways people participate in areas of science controversy.”

What inspired you to undertake a PhD?

I really enjoy research and I wanted to pursue a career that would allow me to continue learning and exploring. I have always wanted to do a PhD and I feel that this is the logical next step in my research career.

Has your background and identity influenced your approach to research and your scientific journey?

I have recently been diagnosed with autism and although it is still quite new for me, I feel that it has impacted massively my decision to pursue a PhD and influenced my approach to research. I feel that there are still a lot of misconceptions about autism that through my own experience, I now know not to be true. This past year since my diagnosis has been about learning who I am and just being a bit kinder to myself. That might mean not trying to fit into more neurotypical ways of working and giving myself breaks from time to time.

A big motivation for doing the PhD, aside from my love of learning, was because it suits me more than a traditional career path. I’ve worked in a non-academic setting, and I found it incredibly difficult to adapt to. Academia has allowed me to dive into something that I love, where I get paid, and can function (mostly) on my terms. Some of my autistic traits can be very positive and helpful in my research such as the ability to hyper-focus on certain tasks, however, other times, I’m just not able to produce anything no matter how hard I try. In my experience of traditional 9-5 positions, it is difficult to work at your own pace, even though the output may still be the same as peers. That’s why my experience of research so far has been so good; I am able to work on my terms whilst still producing (hopefully!) good quality research.

What career aspirations do you currently have?

I would very much like to stay in research so, for now, I would hope to continue my research journey through either postdocs or research positions outside academia.