From the very start of the dr.ofwhat blog, I have envisioned writing this particularly post. The story of my PhD. I started my PhD in 2016, I was a 22 year old starry-eyed, passionate student. I have always been innately curious, and my desire to find out stuff is what led me to starting my PhD. I was incredibly excited and felt honoured to be paid (I was scholarship funded) to research an area that I was genuinely interested in. I didn’t really have a clear idea about what I wanted to do long term, but academia was the front runner. I was also excited to have that Dr. title (as superficial as that sounds). Aside from all the positive things that I felt about starting my PhD, imposter syndrome was also very high. It did not take me long to identify how much of a steep learning curve this experience was going to be, academically, professionally, and personally.    I was also lucky enough to be starting my PhD with two fellow students who I had grown close to in honours year and I met a fellow conservation psychology researcher in the office. These three girls quickly became an integral part of my life and to date they are still some of my most favourite people. The first year of the PhD was actually a bit of a drag. I started the year so excited and passionate and ready […]

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