The never ending pursuit of knowledge, and being at a crossroads
I am delighted to inform you that I have passed the upgrade process for my PhD 🥳! What's does the upgrade process involve, you may ask, or as many people have asked me? I had to write a thesis on the work I've done so far, and then perform an oral exam known as a viva, testing my foundational knowledge and asking about the work I've done so far. To be honest, the viva was a bit of a fever dream. I was fasting (Ramadan innit) and I normally wake up to eat before starting the fast (it's called Suhoor), but on V day I didn't, so the last time I ate and drank anything was at 7pm the day before. That, paired with not being able to go back to sleep easily, led to me being both physically and mentally drained, and I got light headed not once but twice during the viva 😱! It's honestly a miracle that I passed.
I have two takeaways from the viva. The first is that there is so, so, so much more I need to know, stuff that would have never crossed my mind. Like, what on earth is a polaron?!!! The second takeaway is that my future work is too scattered, and that I need to narrow down my scope. This was a bit of a bummer for me, because the aspect that I wanted to explore was shot down by my viva examiners (great guys btw), so yeah I'm not really sure what to look at for the next 2.5 years...
So what am I gonna do next? Aside from other immediate work (like making a research poster for a conference!), I'm gonna hit the books (again!), make some fackin flashcards, and discuss with my supervisors on potential routes for future work. I hate the feeling of being stuck and not knowing what to do, so I want to get out of this rut as soon as I can.
Brown guy out