Hi,

I don't think your being Italian would necessarily put you at a disadvantage if you were applying for posts internationally. I'm in the UK and I have colleagues from Greece and Austria teaching English Linguistics. It doesn't matter where you're from as long as your English is good enough and you can convince the interview panel that you're the best candidate for the job.

Quite a lot of UK universities have closed their modern languages degrees and others are likely to follow, so I wouldn't count on finding a post teaching Italian studies in the UK, especially as Italian has never been particularly popular at degree level.

You might be able to move towards Philosophy through post-doc work rather than starting another PhD. I have seen colleagues move away from their original specialisms into new fields of interest and eventually into different departments. It depends a bit on the structure of the university you end up in.

As far as I'm aware, it's not possible for Tier 4 students to register to study part-time but you could ask whether the timetable of the courses you are interested in would allow you to also do the volunteer work. A lot of master's courses only have classes on one or two days per week. I know students (not tier 4) who worked full-time whilst also registered for a full-time master's degree because their classes were in the evenings. I personally think that's crazy - I found it hard enough to study part-time for a master's degree whilst working more or less full-time - but it should be possible to combine part-time volunteer work with full-time study.

The Birkbeck course looks as if it covers a wide range of areas of Linguistics so if you don't know which area you're most interested in, it should provide some insights. Taking it might also boost your chances of getting accepted for a PhD in Linguistics, but I'm not sure about that. If you're interested in Sociolinguistics, you might find that the course isn't necessary because there's quite a lot of crossover with social sciences and even human rights in some cases. I would talk to the people at Birkbeck and see what they think.

I have sent you a private message.

I started a part-time PhD while working full time and I have not managed to finish. I know that some people do manage it, but it's extremely tough. The only person I know who managed to finish was doing an EdD. I think it's a bit more structured than a PhD. If you want to do a PhD because you've done a master's degree and enjoyed it, an EdD is definitely worth considering although a PhD is probably better if you want to pursue an academic career.

I really wish someone had told me before I started that a PhD is nothing like a master's degree. You don't have the same kind of support from classmates, and because I was spending most weekends working on the PhD, I became quite isolated and ended up struggling with anxiety and depression. I did also go through a very stressful time at work when the future of my department was under review, so the PhD wasn't the only cause of my mental health probIems. However, if I had known how tough it was going to be, I wouldn't have started.

I'm filling in an application form which has this question:

"Please enter details of any RELEVANT training you have undertaken including dates, subject and training provider."

I never know what to put for this kind of question. I do all kinds of training at work, including health and safety stuff, using new versions of Moodle, creating online reading lists, working with neurodiverse students etc etc. Am I supposed to include this kind of training or do they mean training which leads to some kind of certificate? In which case, I should probably just put N/A.

I looked at my university's equalities policy document but it doesn't include the level of detail you're looking for. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's website has plenty of guidance related to the public sector equality duty (which is what universities base their policy on). They have some case studies, but I don't know how much detail there is specifically about discrimination in relation to religion:

If possible I would try to show that I had experience in related areas to indicate that it wouldn't be a huge step to learn whatever the desirable thing is. I'd also say something about being willing to learn it.

Your university probably has systems in place to deal with situations like this. I have put my PhD on hold due to problems with anxiety and viva phobia. I've heard from a friend in a similar situation that I can ask for permission to submit when I'm ready. At the university where I work, the best thing to do would be to make an appointment with the counselling service (now called wellbeing) because they can help you navigate the system, but I'm not sure if all universities offer this. Basically, you just need to explain your situation and ask what need to do in order to be able to submit your thesis. Easier said than done when suffering from anxiety, I know!

Your health condition might be classified as a disability (if it's long term and adversely affects your ability to do day to day activities) and if so you are entitled to reasonable adjustments, which could include a later start in the morning. You should talk to student services or the disability service if your university has one.

I don't understand why the RA is making such a fuss unless your late arrival affects the team's ability to get things done. It sounds as if they're just a crazy control freak.

There's no reason why you can't combine the two. You need to read research articles in both areas and also look specifically for research which has investigated creative arts in special/inclusive education. If there's nothing at all then you have a clear gap which your research can contribute to filling. It's more likely that some people have already investigated some aspects of this topic and then you will need to look for gaps within it or areas on which to build. Good luck!

I think that there are support groups on Facebook for people suffering from anxiety. If you're on Facebook, try a search. Some may allow you to join and post a link to your survey.

If you have a look at some theses in your discipline, you will probably find one or more sections in the methodology chapter where the writer discusses their epistemological and ontological position. I began this section of my research outline for my upgrade by explaining that my research was an exploratory qualitative study informed by social constructivism and interpretivism. Then I explained what these things mean, how they influenced my research design, methods of data collection and interpretation etc., and how they were complementary to the specific approach that I was taking.

Maybe have a look at some of the literature on multi-modal discourse analysis. I don't know much about it, but I think it covers images.