Reflections on a PhD project 1
I am slowly adjusting to normal life after finishing my dissertation in July. Needless to say, completing a dissertation is a long physical and psychological experience. In the coming weeks I will write up some of the thoughts I have had during the final lap of the project.
Looking at my blog activity over the course of the project, it is interesting to note that it can also serve as a “measure” for my research activity. As the graph below shows, my blogging activity has been going up and down following the weather, the number of conferences attended, concerts played and my teaching load. The highpoints seem to coincide fairly well with my major development peaks.
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Clearly, the most productive months (both in terms of blogging and development) where the ones where I was visiting McGill. For me going somewhere else was important not only for meeting new people and being in an exciting place, but also for being able to get away from all sorts of other activities (teaching, concerts, etc.). That made me able to focus 100% on research and thinking new thoughts.