What a journey

How does it feel to be graduating after 6 years?

I arrived in London in August 2019 to start a PhD in Digital Humanities at the School of Advanced Study (SAS). I knew this would be one of the most challenging pursuits I had ever undertaken. First, there was the challenge of moving to a new country I had never been to before, learning how to navigate a giant city safely, and joining a new academic system to write a PhD thesis in my second language. Despite the fear, I was also extremely excited to see a new world, meet new people, and have experiences I had never dreamt of.

Months after starting my studies, I joined the British Library as a visiting scholar to work at the UK Web Archive. It was my first time in that institution, and I remember spending days trying to understand what I could do with that massive collection. Just like the months I spent in the Senate House Library trying to figure out what my research topic actually was. In the meantime, I visited some of the most exciting exhibitions I had ever been to, such as Masculinities; I made the most of my Young Barbican discounts and met several nice, and some weird, people in London. Throughout those first months, I also had my first Python training, my first project trip to Croatia, and my first realisation that interdisciplinary work is exciting but also extremely difficult.

Well, in February 2020, things changed drastically. I was caught in the middle of a pandemic while living abroad. I remember spending days watching the news and being unable to make any meaningful progress on my thesis. I came from one of the countries with one of the worst political responses to the crisis and was living in another that was also at the top of the disastrous list.

The following months were full of ups and downs. Some days I could be super productive; on others, totally incapable of doing anything.

As things became less and less chaotic, I was able to go out again and rediscover not only the city of London but also my own academic journey. The more I walked around and met people, the more I was able to think. SAS was a very special place. I was surrounded by fantastic academics whose generosity gave me several opportunities to learn and develop as a researcher. In the Digital Humanities Research Hub, I found a safe space for experimentation (and failure). I was able to build my own path by attending a diversity of trainings, from machine learning and data visualisation to philosophy and history.

I was lucky to receive generous funding from the Marie Curie ITN, which also allowed me to benefit from costly, but fantastic, trainings around the UK, such as the DH Summer School in Oxford. On the other hand, the three years of funding proved to be too short, at least in my experience, as they covered only half of my PhD. When my work contract with the University finished and, consequently, my visa, I moved to Germany for a fellowship at the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS). This was another fantastic experience that allowed me to further develop my skills and meet other amazing academics. From Germany, I went back to Brazil and spent a year finishing my writing and applying for jobs. My PhD viva was held online via Zoom, and I spent one more year doing corrections.

All of this culminated in the celebration on February 5th. After seeing so many lovely people again, I realised that the best outcome of these six years was actually all the amazing people I was able to meet and get to know through the PhD. Yes, the thesis is cool. Yes, I have learned a lot. But those people… they are awesome! It is crazy to think I was able to create a network of affection and friendship in a huge city known for being a bit cold. At SAS and beyond, I found warmth and kindness.

I’m incredibly happy to have finished this PhD and for it to have taken the time it needed. It gave me more time to expand my network and have more surprising experiences. It was really tough, but it was also fulfilling, joyful, exciting, and adventurous. I feel proud to have continued despite the difficulties and to have had all my studies, since my undergraduate degree in 2012, funded by public investment in education and science, whether in Brazil, the UK, the EU, or Germany. I hope to be able to give something back in the coming years.

What a journey!

PhD thesis: https://sas-space.sas.ac.uk/10186/