Overview of Stuarte on PostgraduateForum.com

Overview of Stuarte

Signup date: 16 Jul 2010 at 9:43pm

Last login: 17 Jan 2022 at 11:08am

Post count: 14

Recent Posts

Mature PhD for the heck of it - what are the caveats

Stuarte 14 posts
14 years ago

Quote From joyce:

Welcome to the 'old' end of the spectrum! :-).

Thank you for the encouragement and the practical tips. I shall be sure to follow them up.

Mature PhD for the heck of it - what are the caveats

Stuarte 14 posts
14 years ago

Quote From Youngsta:

Hi Stuarte,
Good to hear that I'm not the only "mature" PhD student .... You sound well placed to make a strong start on yours, and wishing you the very best.

Thank you. I just hope I can hold the mature and hold off the mouldy/overripe!

After all these years of working mostly at things I was able to do rather than wanted to do (ability, not interest) I decided it's time to work on something I can do and want to do (ability plus interest). Earning a decent living and raising a family doesn't feel like much of an achievement and now with my wife newly qualified as a doctor at 47, I'm both encouraged and spurred to have a shot at doing something substantial myself - something that's meaningful to me.

If anyone here uses Twitter, I can also be found with @stuarte and website www.richerbusiness.com. But this forum seems pretty responsive in its own right.

Mature PhD for the heck of it - what are the caveats

Stuarte 14 posts
14 years ago

Quote From DrJeckyll:

Wow! I hope I am like you when I turn 55! (up)

You've put a smile on my face! Thank you. I tend to be a bit hard on myself and those few words have given me a different angle.

Mature PhD for the heck of it - what are the caveats

Stuarte 14 posts
14 years ago

Quote From satchi:

hi Stuarte!
you read like you know what you're doing and you're ready to get started!
:-)
best of luck
love satchi

Thank you Satchi - I find it hard to believe I know what I'm doing already, less than a couple of months after taking the decision. Still, I'm aiming to start around Easter 2011 so I guess I've got time to find out.

Mature PhD for the heck of it - what are the caveats

Stuarte 14 posts
14 years ago

Quote From BilboBaggins:

Sounds as though you're well set up then.

Other obvious things, if working from home, include suitable study space (preferably a desk or a table, and a dedicated book case and a filing cabinet if you need printed paper copies) and suitable reference management software (either freeware, or pay like EndNote which I used).

Also make sure you can access university library online things like electronic journals off-campus. Usually that's possible. At my uni I go through the library's website and login with my uni ID to access things.

And just keep plugging away, week after week after week. That's the way to get there. Steady and sure gets there in the end ;)

Thank you.

I've worked at home most of the past 10 years but a year ago I got space in a small hub office two minutes from here. So that's set fair.

One thing that concerns me is "study skills". I've been gobsmacked at how systematic my wife is. Me, I've worked paperless for 10 years and the projects are usually fast turnaround - a week or two maximum - with the emphasis on speed rather than robustness. Anyway, I guess I can tap my wife for the study skills part - mastering them would be a bonus in itself.

Mature PhD for the heck of it - what are the caveats

Stuarte 14 posts
14 years ago

Wow, what a fast response! Thank you.

I work almost entirely on my own at present - just the computer for company - so I'm used to solitude. And being a research-based project focused on interactions, I'm likely to be less isolated than in my "day job". It also helps that the campus is about five miles away, so it's very accessible. A neighbour has done an MPhil in a very different subject and is now into her PhD project.

Regarding hours, I am pretty much master of my time, so I should be able to devote at least 10-15 hours a week to it. Famous last words.... It would be great to bring it in for my 60th, but we'll see.

Mature PhD for the heck of it - what are the caveats

Stuarte 14 posts
14 years ago

======= Date Modified 17 15 2010 14:15:03 =======
I'm 55, self-employed as a writer/researcher/analyst, with a good regular income, and my wife has just graduated from med school, so she'll be earning from August. Earlier this year I interviewed a research fellow at a local uni for a book I was commissioned to write. One thing led to another and I recently pitched a PhD research idea to him. It spans applied neurology and social psychology, two areas of long-standing fascination for me. He thought my set-up was elegant and the overall project had potential applications. He even said he would be willing to supervise me.

I would be self-funding for a part-time research-based PhD (£2,200 a year at current rates), I have no particular time horizon and I don't need a job in academia at the end of it. I anticipate that the actual research and learning will feed into my work as I go and beyond.

I've been out of academic learning since I graduated in Italian and French in 1978, but have been busy learning things and researching on my own account ever since. At this point, I would really like to bring some academic rigour to my research and thinking, bone up in depth on my subjects and conduct some original research.

There must be a load of things that I just have thought of or just down know about as I shape up to make my application. Any tips, suggestions, observations and caveats will be most appreciated.