As a first year PhD candidate, I had imagined my first year to be focused on interacting with people in the lab and other postgraduates to familiarize myself with the ‘new’ environment. Fortunately, and unfortunately for me, I have started this new PhD journey at a new university, hence my expectations. Fortunately, because I always like seeing new faces and interacting with new people hence, I decided on the change of universities. Unfortunately, the pandemic erupted and I had to navigate my way through everything and anything under very different circumstances to what I had expected.

Part of the journey in blogging for SAYAS is filming a video of a day in a life of a PhD student. Being a first time vlogger, the process has been very interesting and allowed me to learn through the process. I had every intention to film almost all of the activities that I do during the day and provide insight as to what has become routine most days. My life does have a pretty good routine, because I am in the beginning stages of the process, writing my proposal and literature review. I was lucky that I had a friend help to film the snippets and pieces of my day which summarize all I do in a day.

The proposal has been a challenging process but has taught me a lot about my research. This is mainly because my PhD topic is a continuation of the research that I did for my Master. I have therefore had to think outside the box to frame how it can be different and contribute to knowledge. This has also widened my perspective of my research to dig deeper and have a clear and more congruent understanding of my work. I now feel pressure that now I know what I am doing and I am expected to exceed my supervisors expectations, but… I will go through it, it is a doctorate degree after all.

Following the proposal and review writing will be the ordering of chemicals and then the lab work begins. I am almost done with my proposal as I had started it last year, and I am now completing the final touches.

As I mentioned before, I am also navigating living in a new place. I am now living in Pietermarizburg, a small town in KwaZulu-Natal, just 77.9km from Durban. I had very low expectations for the place it is very beautiful. It is a quiet town and good for studying and taking on extra activities outside academia. I am looking forward to exploring the area more in times when I am not caught up being a chemist in the lab. For now, I enjoy the little walks that I take midday and in the afternoon to refresh my mind and just to bask and marvel at the beauty of nature.

A day in any researcher’s life is different, the next video will show a day in my life in a different dimension, just to show how diverse the life of a researcher may be. As the year goes by, I will show more practical aspects of my PhD. Part of being a postgraduate is to be a tutor for undergraduate students or even a laboratory instructor. But that has not yet started as we are in the first few weeks of the postgraduate academic calendar and most undergraduate students have not registered yet.

The research life can be interesting and fulfilling with the right mindset. Most importantly it helps you to grow, not just academically, but as a holistic human being. That is what I always look forward to – growth.

Vulnerability – willingness to show emotion or to allow one’s weaknesses to be seen or known; willingness to risk being emotionally hurt

Let me tell you something: putting your life out there is not easy. If you do this for a living, I imagine it’s a completely different scenario. I’m not afraid of the camera! I have a YouTube channel, am active on social media, and interact with the media on occasion. A day-in-the-life vlog, on the other hand, is an entirely different challenge!

This video came together as a result of meticulous planning — as I’m sure I’ve stated before, I don’t do anything without a plan! Anyone who came to see me before this formal process began would have assumed that I was starting a new research project. On Microsoft To Do I methodically listed my tasks, and on TimeTree Calender I planned time for editing. After that, Petnanny, My Online Therapist and SAGE Pilates all gave their informed consent. Finding more content (videos, music and images) took the longest period of time in this whole process, but once it was done, the recording process could begin. Isn’t that how the research process works as well?

The steps leading up to the final data gathering can seem tedious at times, but without them, you won’t be able to complete your project. I had a lot of fun filming and editing the vlog. This was not surprising, because I enjoy data analysis as well. I was about 75% done when I melted my computer’s brain – or maybe the computer melted my brain, I’m not sure.  All of my carefully prepared adjustments were lost when the application crashed. While agitated, I remembered my supervisor’s statement that there will always be unplanned parts in a project’s final phase. Whilst participating in a free online Pilatus session I took a few deep breaths. I convinced myself that I now know exactly what I want to do, where I want things to go, what the timelines should be, and that the previous time was just a preparation. With that in mind, I continued the editing process and was blown away by how quickly it all went.

The vlog, like my research project, was completed and is now at the stage of waiting for feedback. While I’m waiting, I have the opportunity to consider the prospective feedback, which is where the vulnerability comes in. I agree with Brené Brown who claims that there are power in vulnerability. The term that comes to me is ‘bravery.’ It takes courage to put oneself out there and try something new, whether it’s a vlog, a project, or something else entirely different.

Let’s celebrate our bravery in the upcoming month!