In this episode, Anne is interviewed by her former student Cian Egan about expectations vs. reality when it comes to starting a PhD programme. We talk about how Anne’s actual PhD experience differed from her expectations, what unexpected challenges and mental blocks she experienced, what admin work really looks like, and if it’s worth it to teach when doing your PhD.

About Cian: Cian Egan is a recent graduate of the BA in English programme at UCC. As an academic writer, his interest lies primarily in the intersection of feminist literary theory and the Gothic. For his undergraduate dissertation, he wrote on how the depiction of female madness in the Gothic genre has evolved over time to reflect changing attitudes towards women and their mental health. He will be going straight into a master’s degree next year, specifically the MA in Modernities course in UCC, where he hopes to conduct further research in this general area. He hopes to continue his third level education to PhD level with the ultimate goal of becoming an active academic and lecturer.

This episode of PhD Pending was written and produced by Anne Mahler. Get in contact with PhD Pending on Twitter and Instagram @phdpendingpod or write an email to phdpendingpod@gmail.com.If you like our content, support PhD Pending by subscribing to our Patreon page: https://www.patreon.com/phdpendingpod, or heading to our Buy Me A Coffee page for a once-off donation: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/phdpendingpod. Jingle by Scott Holmes ("Our Big Adventure," licensed CC BY-NC 4, available at www.scottholmesmusic.com, free for use, copy and redistribute in any medium or format, under Creative Commons).