PhD diary
A journey as a doctoral student between 2017 and 2020. I keep these posts because, looking back from my early days, I can see how much my perspectives have shifted as a reminder of the learning journey.
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Week 32: Preliminary fieldwork Part 1
It’s been very humid and hot in Tokyo. I started conducting my preliminary fieldwork. This week, I was allowed to observe 7 medical consultations and take notes. In each, a doctor, a nurse, a patient and the patient’s family were there. The doctor introduced me to the patients; it was an opportunity for the patients read more
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Week 31
On Thursday, I flew from the UK to Japan to start my three-week preliminary field research. I will be making observations in Tokyo for the next two weeks, with further observations in a rural region in the third week. A rash came out on my arms two weeks ago, and I visited a walk-in clinic read more
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Week 30
The ethics committee has finally granted my ethics clearance. It was in Week 20 that I started working on the application forms. It took two-and-a-half months to shape my research protocol, information sheets and consent forms. A couple of weeks ago, I received a request for modifications and resubmitted a response letter and the full read more
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Week 29: Graduation week
Week 29 was my Master’s graduation week. I am not finishing yet, as I am doing my PhD studies at the same university, but I wore the graduation gown, attended the ceremony and took many photos with my old classmates, which was a very nice reunion! My goals for Week 30 complete my read more
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Weeks 27 and 28
I received an email from the ethics committee requesting a few minor modifications to my ethics application. Following my supervisor’s suggestions, I spent a couple of days revising and updating the documents. Last weekend, Luca and I visited a new restaurant. Like Michelin inspectors, we scrutinised the service, the food, and whether the restaurant was read more
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Relaxing weekend
Having read my supervisors’ feedback on my work, it seems I have cleared the first hurdle of my PhD studies! Now I can finally relax a bit. This morning, I read a novel and ironed our 14 work shirts. (After noticing that I was doing housework, Luca started cleaning the whole bathroom.) After ironing, I read more
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Weeks 25 and 26
I am writing this with an enormous sense of relief. For the last two weeks, since I came back from Tokyo, I have been concentrating on editing my chapter, though it has been a struggle. I finally submitted my work last night at 10 pm. Soon after I sent it, I collapsed on the floor read more
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Week 24
On Thursday morning, I flew to Japan and arrived at Narita on Friday morning. I stayed for two nights and left Narita on Sunday morning. This trip was for my family. It was really nice to see them and have dinner together. But my body clock was on UK time. On the inbound flight back read more
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