Testimonials from Capacity development award winners
Iona Hindes was asked a series of questions to find out more about applying for a PhD with the SPCR. Her responses summarised her experiences so far, this included the challenges of commencing her PhD during the Covid pandemic and continuing to develop her research skills.
Q1. Can you tell me any barriers you experienced while completing your application for the PhD studentship
‘I experienced very few barriers while completing my application for the NIHR SPCR PhD. The application site was very clear and communication was excellent. Something which posed somewhat of a barrier was communicating with potential supervisors about my proposal as so many individuals were very busy and had little time to discuss my ideas. Luckily, I developed good communication with my current supervisor’
Q2. What was the best part about winning the award?
‘The amount of support I have received to carry out my planned research. I have been challenged to expand the scope of the project and methods’. However, the institute has been great at guiding me through the Ph.D. process and helping me develop my ideas. It was a great moment to learn that such an incredible funding award would go towards a research idea that I had developed and was really passionate about. Ever since winning the award the SPCR community has done a great job of fostering a sense of community and support, despite the challenges that COVID-19 and restrictions have imposed.'
Q3. What have you particularly learned since being awarded the Ph.D. studentship?
'that conducting research is often a complicated process with a lot of unpredictable changes. I have been told by other researchers and PhD students that research often takes a windy and unexpected route, and this message has rung true since the beginning of the studentship. Despite the unexpected challenges my PhD has still been a great experience so far and I have learned a lot since I was awarded the studentship. Some key things ......are how to work independently and efficiently, how to overcome unexpected challenges, and how to approach a complex mixed methods research question. I hope to continue to learn more as the Ph.D. progresses and look forward to the next few years of conducting research.
Meredith Hawking was asked to comment on her thoughts about her fellowship so far:
I applied for the SPCR fellowship a year ago and received helpful feedback and support from my institute throughout the process. The interviewers were friendly and asked interesting questions and I was impressed by how quick the whole process was compared to other fellowship applications.
As Queen Mary University was a new member of the SPCR, I felt lucky to be in a position to apply, having already been working on my fellowship project for a while. Hopefully in the next round more people from the institute will benefit from this funding opportunity with more time to plan and develop their applications.
My experience of doing the fellowship has been positive so far and I particularly enjoyed hearing about all the other fellows' projects in recent meetings. I'm looking forward to more networking opportunities with the cohort.