Edinburgh Fringe 2015 Top Tips

A fuller, more reflective blog post to follow but time for my Edinburgh Fringe top shows after a fun week. 

Best Theatre was Every Brilliant Thing for taking me on a journey through depression, laughter & tears. 

Best Theatre runners up: The Christians for discussing church division & Jesus Queen of Heaven for raw spirituality.  

Best Comedy was NewsRevue for a returning format but up to date, topical, musical comedy.

Best Comedy runners up were Daniel Sloss for discussing death wisely & Ed Gamble for neat free show. 

Misses included: Invisible City as I didn't quite get the lemons. Tiernan for unstructured rant. 

Other Edinburgh tips: Scottish Parliament for engaging free tour. Mosque Kitchen for tasty curry.

Next blog post will reflect on brilliant first Fringe experience, an awesome country/culture & lovely conversations with friends.

24 Shows, 22 Venues, 12 friends, 8 days, 1 great festival & Edinburgh. #EdFringe over (for me) for a year.

Learning to Relax: Post PhD Submission Life

After six years of studying I am slowly learning what life looks like without a thesis to dominate every waking hour. 

Don’t get me wrong, I know it is not over and there is still a large task remaining with both the viva and any possible re-writes facing me but it is clear that the thesis is entering a new phase.  And I am preparing for the viva, practicing the arguments that I will need to use. 

Much of the last three weeks, however, I have spent time relaxing, forgetting the thesis and trying to work out how to fill me time: catching up with friends and family that I have not seen in a while; catching up on theatre, music and box sets that have not been possible; catching up on sleep. 

But, throughout, there is that nagging feeling that I should be doing something, that I am not doing enough.  As several people have pointed out, I should allow myself time to relax and knowingly take some time off.  However, this is surprisingly hard and I am wondering what element the PhD has to play in all of that. 

PhDs require a certain type of person who is willing to keep being busy, who is prepared to sacrifice their personal time and who has the project management skills in order to complete the work on time.  These skills are by no means exclusive to those with doctorates.  However, the individual nature of a PhD contrasts significantly with a lot of current jobs which are based on collaboration and team working.  The assessment of the PhD via thesis and viva is designed to ensure the individual can stand alone and justify their place amongst other acacemics. 

And this is part of why it is so hard to switch off from a PhD.  It is your work and your work alone.  There is no-one to share the load with.  The individual student or researcher is the one who has to complete and defend the work. 

So perhaps, I need to relish the fact that I cannot switch off rather than being guilty about it; perhaps this is a fundamental part of becoming a researcher.  For now, though, I will also relish the opportunity to re-connect with those around me and prepare for the challenges that still await me on this journey to being a Doctor.  

Greece & a PhD, Social Capital & Soft Power

Six years ago as I began a PhD looking at Europe, the economic crisis was just biting. As I started my research, I joked that I didn't know what Europe would look like when I completed the work. Progress on the thesis and the European economic agenda has been slow but, coming full circle, both issues are reaching a critical point this week.

My thesis looks at why the European Union funded an initiative in Higher Education. I suggest that the EU is drawing on 2 theories with this initiative: Soft Power and Social Capital. Soft Power is defined as the ability to influence others through attraction rather than the hard power of military or economic sanctions. Social Capital theory looks at the development of networks of reciprocity: that by building relationships, people are more likely to support each other. 

Now the EU is well placed to facilitate both Soft Power and Social Capital, and this can be seen in the current Grexit discussions. Greece was attracted to join the EU because of its economic, cultural and socio-political values; the Greek government hopes to emulate these. In turn, the EU wanted to influence Greek behaviour to guarantee both parties long term success, particularly economic success. In other words, Soft Power was at work. What can be seen as  emerging during this crisis is that attraction has waned. The values that attracted Greece to the EU don't quite match, say, Germany's economic prudence. The cultural behaviours of Mediterranean and Scandinavian countries aren't always complimentary, for example. So, in a crisis, cracks start to appear. 

And this is where Social Capital should have helped. The members of the EU had networked and learnt of the value of being a union over many years. The peace and stability the EU has played a part in creating can be explained by the networks of reciprocity and of trust which are seen as defining elements of Social Capital. Instead, the differences in values and views of the EU, as well as different democratic and negotiating styles, has lead to the Social Capital decreasing. It's decreased to such an extent that these recent negotiations are fractious and lack a common vision for the direction of the EU and its constituent states. 

Based on my research, none of this is a surprise. My PhD research showed in a specific initiative funded by the EU that students struggled to identify common European values and that Social Capital can disappear quickly if it is not constantly invested in. My research also found that, in this small group of students, the Soft Power, the attraction, of the EU was founded largely on economic principles rather than cultural ones. 

Now I'm not saying that my research explains the Greek crisis or can be generalised to work at EU level. However, my work does lead me to wonder that if the EU is based on an economic vision then in times of crises, such as the current one in Greece, there is a lack of common bonds or Social Capital to rescue the situation. 

So just as my research concludes, so does the EU situation worsen. But these questions and debates about the role of the EU will continue long beyond the end of my studies as, to my mind, the issues at stake are how different nations and cultures work together and influence each other; issues which the ministers in Brussels cannot solve in a single weekend.