A post-PhD existence

Everyone talks about how the initial submission of your thesis is anticlimactic. You get all the documents in order (which for me meant jumping through several hoops to ensure the final PDF version had high-quality images, which is a far more difficult task than initially anticipated), slowly upload them to the online system, and then hit submit. There is very little fanfare other than that which you prepare, such as having your supervisors watch the page load with you. You walk out of the room in a bit of a haze, unsure what to do with your time since it doesn't feel right to get to work on one of your many, many projects. And that’s it, at least for a few months.

I was very fortunate to have both ongoing research projects and a full-time job offer at the Huon Valley Council, so even though I needed to take time off (which I certainly did), I was able to occupy the long days that were so used to being full of non-stop work with important tasks. Then, a few weeks or months later, you start hearing back from the journals you submitted chapters to in the last week before submission and get the report back from the examiners who determine how much more of your life will be occupied by the PhD.

Now, with the PhD finalised and the conference of my Doctorate, I find myself grappling between the critical importance of my full-time role (moving Huon Valley through a climate-changed world) and my desire to be in academia (which I seem to sustain through publications and ongoing research). In order to keep my feet in the door, I am always looking for more research projects to attach myself to. So please get in contact if you are interested in my work!

AI generated image of Huon Valley

While there is ongoing contraversy around the existence and use of AI image generators, they are able to create a strange glimpse into the world. Generators like Dall-e and Midjourney began to peak in popularity in the second year of my studies, and I used them for one of my major chapters. This image was used as the cover of my thesis and captures aspects of the Valley that were reflected in many of my participant’s comments about why they value the Huon.