The Rules & the Game

**This section will be updated throughout the course of the PhD**

The interview

The thing people forget when they go for an interview is that the people who are interviewing you, you’re also interviewing them. The process works both ways. They have to impress upon you that they have the right skill set, the ability to support and guide you, a similar mindset. 

When I got an interview for a studentship with MMU those things that I was looking for were missing. Five people interviewed me, which in the commercial world would never
happen – its too expensive to take up five peoples time for a whole morning doing interviews. One of the possible supervisors I’d already been in touch with a year or so prior about a different PhD that I wanted to apply for, he never responded to my email, and only spoke to me because I turned up at his office. He paid little attention in the interview struggled when asked by a senior member of staff to ask me a question as he was clearly not paying attention. Would I want this person as a supervisor? I’d already heard when I was on the MA at MMU from peers that he was notoriously difficult to pin down and get help from. This level of unprofessionalism wasn’t out of place at MMU.

The studentship information given was very prescriptive. However, when asked basic questions about the scope of what I would be able to do couldn’t be answered because they hadn’t discussed yet. There were many other issues that put a red flag up for me in the interview, and my experiences of MMU as an MA student there.

Needless to say I didn’t feel disappointed when I found out that I hadn’t been accepted onto the studentship. In fact one of the questions in the interview was what did I think that they could provide me and I couldn’t really answer. At that point the only thing they seemed capable of delivering was a stipend. Instead of giving up and just writing the experience off I decided that I would take this as an opportunity to do my own PhD. It seemed somewhat ironic to highlight the merits of alternative education whilst sitting
on a comfy seat in academia. Doing a self-initiated PhD would allow me to broaden my scope, to have supervisors who are invested in my research and will provide effective support.

Defining the rules

Reading Sam Thorne’s book ‘School’ I realised that I can make up my own rules, and how much I want to stay inline with a formal PhD. One of the things highlighted in the interview for the studentship was that the first six months would be talking about the ethics of the research. I think looking at my ethics should be done continually throughout the research. In terms of interviewing people, this is heavily based on research which I’ve started to carry out, but it is also quite restrictive usually, for research in academia it’s the same questions to each person/organisation to make the research fair, however given the varying scopes of the alternative schools I feel it would do my research a disservice to only ask those set questions. In light of this I will have a series of set questions, and another set which is specific to that organisation.

A lot of alternative art schools start after the BA level, there is still a need for that foundation of learning to be in place. A friend noted that students at university needed to be ‘de-programmed’ from school life, the same can be said for graduates entering the workplace. By blending the professional structure and education together it can be a great way to break down the hierarchy that exists within academia, which is counterintuitive to learning.

As this is self-organised the usual timeframe will be able to be prolonged or constructed, I will be able to be more adaptable, this has been proven by COVID-19, I’ve still be able to continue on as normal, in fact my research and questioning has been improved by additional personal time now available to it.

As part of looking at academia through the business lens I want to look at the idea of success, and how Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of needs’ theory looks within the context of the arts.

I’ve revised my original proposal, as this was to take place with Islington Mil. It sets out my new aims and lines of questioning.

What next?

Picking my own supervisors, someone from academia, an alternative art school, and perhaps after a year or after connections have been made a person from the commercial industry who runs art programs.

I need to find a sustainable way in which to fund myself. This is somewhat difficult given the current climate, but hopefully I can find a way to continue with workshops, events, talks etc. soon. After all this is part of my research, finding a sustainable model outside of academia.

Continuation of research, interviews with alternative art schools and their students. I don’t want to remove myself completely from academia, as mentioned BA level education is still through universities, speaking to lecturers and students.