As a “distance learner” in the PhD in Creative Writing program at Lancaster, I miss a lot of on-campus activities. Granted, I knew that when I signed on, but still, I can’t help but feel a little wistful when the announcements of postgraduate (PGR) events come in my inbox. Author visits. Coffee and thesis readings….
Since my PhD research will include interviews with living people, my application–all 18 pages of it–for the ethics review at the university (here’s my previous post about it) had to pass through three levels of approval: My supervisor The ethics committee, including a department reviewer The Ethics Officer, chair of the ethics committee The reviews…
You know how we writers are. We need to know something? We look it up, we go to the library, we talk to other writers, we find an SME (subject matter expert). So in preparation for writing my thesis novel, I do what I’ve always done, which is line up people to interview who know about…
If you’ve been following me on Facebook, you’ll know that I was recently in England doing some steampunk research (tidbits of which will appear on this blog, even though I’m the world’s worst blogger). Anyway, part of the trip was a visit to Lancaster University. You know me–all about the onsite research. I met my dissertation…
I just spent five hours on the Grants.gov website, which involved filling out three forms, creating three documents, and logging in at least 20 times. And I thought the Copyright Office’s website was bad! At least you don’t have to re-login every time you hit a button. Whoever is doing the programming for the feds, they…