UKZN – PhD Winter School, 2020

UKZN – PhD Winter School, 2020

 

I had the privilege of attending the UKZN PhD Winter School Class of 2020, South Africa the last couple of weeks. I would like you to know that there are few things in life that come along, change your perspective, shake up your reality and give you courage to move on in life. This course was like that. It was a horizon to horizon experience that, like pilots say, allows you to see tomorrow. There is no way I could thank all those people enough who put all this together and Tembisa knows it is true. But to the Class of UKZN-PhD Winter School 2020, just know you are all the best! I wish I had a picture, a signature or certificate, but that don’t matter now because I got things in my head I can never forget. There is so much more I could tell, but here are 14 things every PhD student in the World should know;

1.  A PhD is a research degree, you are the PI, Langba
2. Buy a book, you are a PhD student, Langba
3. Do what your professor says; you can save the world later, Turnage
4. How did you generate this data? Smit
5. I don’t know everything, but I know enough to be dangerous, Paguyo
6. Immerse yourself in your topic, Perry
7. Look for a wedge in your topic to find the research question, Sundaram
8. Numbers don’t tell you everything, Richardson
9. The more you read, the better you write, Williams
10. The researcher IS the data collection tool, Dyson
11. What are you passionate about? do that! Marshall & McClinton
12. You are a scholar activist, Banks
13. You are an inside outsider, outside insider, Alexander
14. You just don’t write essays, you produce knowledge, Banks