Dear Laidlaw Network,

This week, I began my Research Summer, which represents the preliminary phase of my program. I've been assigned to a group focusing on the impacts of different types of co-curricular activities on student performance, and our main tasks for this summer are a literature review of prior work on the subject and an original paper covering our own discoveries from working with stakeholders. We've delved into some writings on the philosophy of education and economic modeling of resident preferences about schools, which has been fascinating, as well as working on building relationships with the communities in Blackbird-Leys where we will be gathering data. We met with our supervisor, Ben, whose long career in education and academic administration is an invaluable source of wisdom for us, and who encouraged us to focus on the limits placed on teachers in the modern UK as we try to build relationships with them as stakeholders. I am very nervous to begin working with school administrators, as I am new to this country and culture and had a very unconventional education in my own upbringing. I also anticipate challenges building rapport and open communication due to the history of exclusion and conflict between the University of Oxford and the city. I hope that my newcomer's perspective and support for residents' aspirations will be helpful in transcending this, rather than reinforcing the distrust that already exists. I've had quite a bit of success with this kind of patient, cooperative dialogue in the political arena in my home country of the USA, where I regularly called voters, but I'm intimidated by the millennium of inequality we are trying to overcome.

Socially, I've had an excellent time making friends with my groupmates, who have been extremely helpful and patient even as I've been limited by my injury. One of them even kept me company at the hospital because I hadn't been before. I am so grateful to be a part of this community and get to learn from and with these people.

In the week ahead, I am hoping to find more highly relevant quantitative studies and improve my skills at meeting project partners in the urban community where they are, rather than imposing my concerns and presuppositions onto our relationships. This week, we will engage in direct trips to Blackbird-Leys, and my health will have improved enough by then for me to join. I am excited to learn more about fieldwork ethics and meet new people whose experiences are wildly different from mine.

Best,
Peter