It’s so important to make the most of all the amazing opportunities to do extra activities outside of your own research, and recently I was able to participate in a day trip down to Cambridge to take part in a seminar on Feminist Classics Revisited, discussing Ann Oakley’s Sex, Gender and Society. It was a long but brilliant day out. I have also been lucky enough to attend the Visualities Research Group field trip to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (see pics), which was a great day out and a good opportunity to reflect on the impact that the visual can have and how powerful it can be in provoking emotions, reactions etc. This can of course be linked back to research methods, where visual prompts might be used to elicit certain emotions and responses. I am still debating whether I am going to use visual methods in my own focus groups, just trying to work through what exactly I want the focus groups to achieve and whether there is a rationale for use of visual materials in this setting.

Can’t be having too much fun though (haha!) and PhD work rumbles on alongside these fun days out. I’ve done a couple of interviews with local women in the last few weeks which has really helped to develop and progress the research and add an interesting new dimension. Hopefully there should be a couple more this month as well. Recruitment is still ongoing, and I’ve managed to get a route in to Newcastle College hairdressing, popping into the salon next week to talk to some of the students, which is great. I’m also developing links with local cinemas with ‘mum and baby screenings’ and with a dance school in the area, so hopefully these will come to fruition too….