Talking to people outside of my bubble

I’m really excited about the opportunities that have come my way this last week – a current study on the psychological needs of people with haemophilia affected by the contaminated blood scandal meant I got to meet with some really amazing researchers whose interests meshed well with mine – a hopeful future collaboration! Finding passionate, talented people to work with is an amazing experience. I have been really lucky in finding women in research who put the ladder and a hand down to help me climb this mountain to become a researcher. I can’t say how brilliant my supervisors are, for example. Rather like having the best of aunts!

I also spoke with the editors in charge of the Journal of Haemophilia Practice about taking on some editorial work there, which is super exciting – it is a young journal which has so much potential for nurses and allied health to publish in. It is accepting of the work that is possible for people in clinical practice, which is a rare trait! The processes are straight-forward, and really supportive. If you are publishing on haemophilia, it is a really nice journal to aim for.

I’m super excited to host Inger Mewburn (aka the Thesis Whisperer) during her sabbatical – she is kindly taking some time out of her time to come and talk to our researchers and PhD students, with a touch of book promotion. Having bought her most recent book, it is a good investment as a PhD student.

I do miss the connections I had on twitter but slowly I am building them in other areas – I joined a discord channel with other PhD students and it gives a space that is supportive. I joined Mastodon on the Scholar.social server and am slowly making contacts there but it is slow for me – time is as ever precious. I don’t have a Facebook account either although I do have to make one for my recruitment!

In a little moment of happiness – my ethics and project approval are in so I can actually make a start on this! All systems are GO!