Emily chats with Henry Powell-Davies, who opens up about how the isolation he experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic, and associated lockdowns, led him to question and ultimately redirect his career path.

This episode covers:

·  How Henry’s experiences have made him who he is today

·  What led Henry to research & the alternative paths he considered

·  How being visually impaired since birth has impacted Henry’s life, within and outside academia

·  How disability doesn’t define Henry, but he’s accepted it as a part of him and tries to ask for appropriate support

·  Moving to a new city for a PhD

·  Isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown

·  Exiting a PhD with Masters and the difficulties of letting go of what might have been

·  How it has become clearer to Henry that the worth PhD students provide is undervalued

Resources:

·  Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear

·  App: Headspace for meditation

·  Podcast: ChemConvos

The full transcript of the podcast is available here, with many thanks to Dan Ranson

For mental health support, please contact your GP or use the appropriate support for your country at https://checkpointorg.com/global/

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Recorded 09/07/2021.

Sound: Mindset and Something Beautiful by Ketsa are licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, available through Free Music Archive.