Last year, I faced my PhD confirmation remotely. A year on, I have just faced my 2nd year formal review and this time it was in person, which was refreshing! I haven’t updated my blog in a while, and it has honestly made me sad. So, I thought now would be a good time to share some updates from my end. The past year has been a whirlwind, to say the least. I grappled with uncertainty and embraced the pandemic as the new normal. It has been strange being able to go about my daily activities without many restrictions in Australia while my family and friends back home are not as fortunate. While it is great to be out and about, the border restrictions in Australia have taken a toll on me. It is frustrating to not be able to travel back to my home country to be with my family. It is even more tricky to handle the situation when there is no end to these restrictions in sight. The pandemic fatigue is also slowly but surely catching up with me. We had our annual postgrad reviews last month. Although these reviews are a way of checking in with students and making sure we have everything we need to do our work smoothly, there is always a bit of stress associated with it. On the weeks leading on to the review, there were a few days when I was overwhelmed by stress. It helped to talk to close family and friends about it. I also made sure I took enough breaks in between and did fun things on the weekend (and sometimes even midweek!). I also reminded myself that my work does not define me. On the day of my review, I was feeling quite nervous. It was nice to be back in the CCRC seminar room buzzing with a lot of people. Having an in person panel meeting meant there were some treats (individually wrapped of course!!) to help ourselves to. There was some good discussion around my work and we laid out the plan for the next 12 months. It’s surreal to feel that I have completed 2 years of my PhD. This also means that I haven’t been home in 2 years. During the past year I have also been involved with a few activities outside of my PhD. I applied and got selected for the UNSW Women in Science and Math Champions Programme, which is a yearlong professional development programme for female PhD candidates at UNSW. Being part of this cohort has introduced me to some wonderful women who are passionate about their work. I am also actively pursuing my interest in science communication by contributing to the program blog. I am also part of the Centre for Marine Science Innovation (CMSI) and I have been interviewing and profiling academics and PhD students to feature them in the CMSI newsletter. I also joined the Industrial Mentoring and Networking in STEM (IMNIS) scheme through which I have an assigned mentor who has been guiding me on careers outside of academia. This has been very useful as I am beginning to think about what I would like to do after my PhD. Two years into my PhD, I am finding it challenging to understand what I want to do afterwards. At this point, I know my interests are in climate change, science communication, public engagement, and policy. I just need to find the right job which will enable me to pursue these interests. As I write this, my friends who were stuck in their home countries have had their travel excemptions granted and I am eagerly waiting to reunite with them. So there is some hope! P.S - Here are some pictures from my holiday in Victoria, as a result of which I am currently confined to self isolation!
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AuthorBudding climate scientist from Sri Lanka, currently pursuing a PhD on heatwaves, at the Climate Change Research Centre (CCRC) at UNSW, Sydney. Believes in using effective science communication to bridge the gap between science and society :) Archives
June 2021
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