Since the last post I made, where I let you all know that I have at least progressed to the second year of my PhD, I have been very busy. Crucially, I have been trying to resolve quite what I am going to do next year, now I know it’ll definitely happen. To that end the past month has been a great opportunity to think about some of the details of conducting my PhD fieldwork and trying to anticipate the problems I may encounter. This update shall serve as my own account of what I did in planning my fieldwork and what issues I encountered and/or resolved. When I look back on my research, having hopefully completed my PhD, I shall discover that this is where everything went well and the project took real shape! (Or if I don’t pass, this is where the project started to unravel and it was down hill from this point onwards!)

Now at the start of June I had a summit meeting with my three supervisors to discuss my research design and what work I shall do between now and September. That meeting also served as a debriefing of my first year as a PhD student and the feedback was positive in that respect. The main outcome of the meeting was that I trot off into the sun and think about how I am going to operationalise my research questions. I need to get a clear idea of what I am going to achieve in my fieldwork, partly so I know what questions to ask and who to ask them to, but also to have a detailed plan of attack for the fieldwork, detailed enough to impress potential sources of additional funding so that I can get some extra cash to cover my flights, accommodation, steaks, mussels, beer, waffles, pasteis de nata etc in Lisbon and Brussels (mmmm can’t wait!).

Now the great thing about being detailed with this task, as opposed to writing a literature review or writing-up chapters, is that actually I don’t have to do that much. In fact it is preferable to DO very little! Not that I have been idle or concentrating on other things, but working through issues of research design requires the time off to get things clear in my own head. I have used the past few weeks to refine my research questions, think up some interview questions and look into the practicalities of getting to Lisbon. Where can I be based? Where is cheap to stay given that I’ll be there for 3 months? All these kinds of things can, with a bit of luck, be resolved simply by sitting in the garden and soaking up the sunshine. I’m a firm believer that those extra vitamins absorbed have helped me improve my research design! And with the joys of having a laptop with a decent battery life and wireless internet, I can do my work in the garden – surfing for books to buy, downloading some journal articles and searching for Lisbon halls of residence.

So I have appreciated having the head space to think about these issues but I have also had a few pressing matters. I have made new contacts with Portuguese people who will help me get this fieldwork sorted and have also completed a funding application to the Instituto Camoes, I shall have to wait and see as to whether I get lucky there!

Alas only another week of enjoying the luxury of having head space before I meet my principal supervisor and she brings me down to Earth and tells me to buck my ideas up! I expect I will need shaking out of my lazy summery daze.