Moving into doctoral studies as an established lecturer
with Dr Christine Mwebesa
Christine is a PhD graduate from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. She is from Uganda and is part of the NEMRA network (The Network for education and multidisciplinary research Africa).
NEMRA is an independent group of early career and senior academic researchers, practitioners as well as postgraduate research students from across several universities and research oriented organisations in Africa.
More info here: https://www.nemraafrica.org/
About Christine
Choosing to become a lecturer in Uganda is choosing a professional path where you fully know that financial rewards will be small, so deciding to do it has got to be based on your passion.
Gaining experiences in practice prior to working in academia has enriched Christine’s perspective and informs her teaching. Christine spent 10 years working in academia before starting her PhD.
Choosing to do a PhD was an important step in committing herself to progressing on the academic career ladder. It took several attempts for Christine to find a way of undertaking a PhD in a context that could work for her personal situation, but it also took a huge amount of personal and familial sacrifices and support to make it work. The inspiration for her PhD topic came from her own experience as an academic in Uganda.
Read her doctoral thesis here
Words of wisdom
o When choosing which PhD to do: consider all of the parameters of your choice (personal and professional elements)
o Bringing on board your familial support onto your PhD journey will need many conversations so that everyone understands expectations and sacrifices needed.
o You and your family will need to be prepared for the journey and all may need to be flexible.
Tips from Christine about writing
o Identify where your strengths are in writing, maximise these strengths, and build the additional skills you need
o Identify the suitable time and environment for you to write
o Read the work of others to identify good writing approaches
o Experiment with free writing to unblock
o Allow flexibility in your writing
“There’s nothing so satisfying, like looking at your work and even one wonder if you’re the one who wrote it and, and you’ll be like I wrote to this.”
