crafting stories, inspiring impact, nurturing connections
When thinking runs out of road On using tarot as a reflective tool, and why it has nothing to do with predicting the future I should say this at the outset: I don't think the cards know anything I don't. I'm not reading my future in them. I'm not asking them to make decisions for me. And I'm not trying to convince anyone of anything. What I do believe in is thinking. And I've learned, over a long…
What if? It is a powerful phrase; powerful when we are imagining our futures, imagining what might lie ahead, the good and the not-so-good, because contingency plans are often useful.
words can be doves or bullets, choose wisely
the challenges of meetings when you have achieved menopause
It’s a strange situation to be in, I am doing research-type activities within my role (with project-wide ethics etc etc) and yet I can’t get ethics to do research around my PhD because I need to pass my upgrade/confirmation panel first. And yet … the panel is to prove I can do research, which I am proving through my work. Sigh. Yes, I know and appreciate there are processes and procedures but…
I used to say it takes a community to raise a business - and after working with academics and third sectors I am becoming more and more to the realisation that community and connection is needed more than ever if we are to thrive as a human race and as a planet. How does a Collaborative Story Weaver enter into this equation?
I’m receiving so much pleasure from watching my garden resurrect itself after the long winter. The hellebores were first a few weeks ago, now the daffodils are a bright splash of yellow against the trunk of the silver birch, and catkins are hanging from my corkscrew hazel. Trees are pushing out buds and new leaves, there’s a haze of green over the bare branches, a promise of summer shade and…
I've always been a bit of a magpie when it comes to reading, I love a book because it's a book, because of its contents, I am not precious about a specific genre. Same with music as I have grown older. And I love the ways you can discover links and fresh ideas from combining knowledge, from reading outside a genre or topic. Books can show you things from a different perspective. By reading widely…
After a good six months intercalation to settle into my new role at a new university I returned to my studies in September 2024. And promptly felt overwhelmed and burned out. Breathe. Work was busy, the commute and being in the office two days a week were exhausting me, I was struggling to focus and every time I started reading an academic paper I fell asleep. Breathe. Fortunately between a…
My contract at work ends 31st March 2024. As with a lot of university roles, both academic and professional services, my role was project funded so when the project ends so does the funding to pay my wages. It is not truly a pleasant working environment in that respect, many of us hop from role to role, constantly having to prove ourselves and then spend a large amount of time job hunting, filling…
Yes, yes, it's a procrastination too, but I did need to clean up my office over the holiday break. Going through all the papers I've printed off, deciding what is still relevant, what I need to read, what I can discard. Found a whole sheaf of papers I wrote while in my first year under Sociology. Have kept them to one side and will re-read to see what I can adapt. I'd forgotten how much my topic…
Engagement, and the role of 'boundary spanners'*, exists on some levels to close the gap between academia and community, and here I use community in its widest sense, any person or organisation working or involved with the university. That gap, I believe, is a gap of knowledge and trust, caused by a difference in language and lack of understanding. It can also be cause by physical distance, by…
In my previous post I shared that I was giving my first public presentation about my PhD research, it was to a group (small group) of colleagues from across campus. Most of whom I didn't know. Reader, I was nervous. To mitigate my anxiety, and menopause memory challenges I decided I would read my presentation not attempt to remember it. I know my limitations, I wanted to make a good impression,…
On Thursday 23rd November 2023 I am going to speak in public about my research for the very first time ... to say I am nervous would be a vast understatement. Anyway, this is the gist of my speech tomorrow. Hello, I am Sharon Summers, Engagement and Knowledge Exchange Manager for the design researchers of ImaginationLancaster, based in LICA I am undertaking a part-time PhD around engagement and…
This phrase is on a sticker at the top of today's page of my TN daily journal. I need to remember it, daily. Remember it when I look at my lit review and wonder what to write next. Remember when I think of my upcoming Confirmation Panel and the butterflies flitter furiously in my stomach. Remember when I (foolishly) kinda volunteer to give a talk about my research in front of an audience that is…
I'm coming up to my confirmation panel ... 2 months and counting down ... and my supervisors have advised that I do my lit review for it. I've been reading papers and making notes for ages, now I have to write about them? Rude! Anyway, I beat procrastination back into its corner, it's sat sulking with a dunce's cap on its head, and I find that I have over 1000 words plus some notes written from…
Further to my last post on finding the way that's best for me ... I've just digitalised the results of conversations from the last two days. I feel so much more confident about what I am doing (and my ability to do it). As one supervisor stated when she saw these images "you know more than think you know!" While I know that things will (probably) change, I finally feel I am heading in the right…
(and don't be afraid to ask) Welcome to my island of imposter syndrome surrounded with the ocean of no confidence and overlooked by the mountains of fear. I've been struggling with my supervision sessions for a while. I have three amazing supervisors, all colleagues, all people I trust and have good relationships with. But supervision sessions were challenging for me (to say the least). There was…
A little explanation ... When I was dreaming up a name for this blog I decided on 'fuelled by coffee' as basically that is what keeps me going sometimes. I never drank coffee until I was pregnant with my first new life form, and then, for some reason, as my body weight increased I moved from tea with milk and sugar to coffee with milk and sugar (with seeded batch loaf + butter and marmalade) as my…
One of the things that I know has been holding me back is my organisation and process for capturing, storing, accessing, and assimilating information. I've been all over the place, digital and paper-based, trying different apps and systems (evernote, roam research, one note, obsidian, logseq), but I think I have found my solution. And the proof is - I've been reading and capturing and making notes…