In today's episode, we interview Chantelle Taylor. Chantelle is a second year Phd student at Loughborough university. She is the mother of 3 boys and uses her experiences of mothering as a springboard for her research. We learn how motherhood influenced her choices with regard to studying, and going for a PhD, as well as how her research is influenced by her own experiences with postnatal depression. We also learn about the institutional and personal support she has received from her university as a mother, and as a mother of children with additional needs.

Chantelle’s interest in self reflexivity and autoethnography as well as her critique of what it means to be a mother has led her to a fascination of challenging the unchallenged both in terms of motherhood and good academic research. We learn about the methods she uses for her research, and the entanglement of feelings of adequacy surrounding doing a PhD and motherhood.

We also learn more about the length and format of the PhD at Loughborough, and how the annual review takes place.

Finally, we round off with learning about Chantelle's best advice for PhD candidates, how she sets boundaries around work, how COVID-19 impacted her daily work, and what a day looks like in the life for her.

References

• Loughborough University
• Chantelle's Twitter profile