08/09

This was the first week of our research project back in the SDG impact lab in Oxford. It certainly flew by! Having had the summer off, it felt exciting to get back into academic work, and I am particularly grateful for this opportunity to work out how I want to balance my work-life commitments to prevent myself from being too exhausted. It was great to be back in the company of the other scholars, and I felt myself get to know many of them much better, reminding myself what an inspiring group of people I am surrounded by. 

The week began with some clarifications about our research design, and I was thrilled to discover that my group would be looking at the impact extracurricular clubs could have, with my group deciding to focus on their role in curating a sense of belonging. Conducting reviews of literature and speaking with my cohort more I was reminded how lucky I was to have my school experience, both socially and academically. I will certainly use this gratitude to motivate thorough and thoughtful research throughout the upcoming weeks. I was intimidated but also so excited to learn the significance of our work - this year’s cohort will be laying foundational groundwork for future research into extracurricular club design and provision. Having led a privileged upbringing with access to a wide variety of activities, I am eager to acknowledge the ways this has benefited me and make these opportunities more widespread. 

I think the research programme will also help me develop many personal skills that have demonstrated themselves to be areas of growth. Used to individual work in academic settings, the group project offers an opportunity to become comfortable with trusting other members of the team and acknowledging the need to divide tasks rather than control them all myself. I am looking forward to listening and improving my abilities to listen and respect the ideas and contributions of other members of my team, in turn becoming more adaptable. 

One of my favourite parts of this week was hearing from senior members of the SDG impact lab and learning about their work in local engagement. Not only did it provide inspiring material for our project, but the projects they described prompted interesting thoughts and excitement about the kind of careers and activities I could engage with in the future. 

13/09

This week our main focus was tidying up our plan for research: what we would want to investigate and the methods we would need to achieve this. I have particularly learnt the importance of focusing on the task at hand rather than being too widespread and exploring ideas that are unrelated or goals that aren’t particularly relevant. Within the field of factors affecting educational outcomes there are so many intersecting issues and drivers that I found it hard not to get carried away with the scope of what I wanted to achieve through this project. Liaising as a team and with our academic supervisor were important opportunities to reduce the risk of doing too much, and now we have a much more focused and achievable research project. 

Another important lesson when progressing through our research design was appreciating that any past ideas or time spent exploring aspects that are no longer as important were not ‘wasted’. Even though we are not necessarily using these ideas anymore, these discussions still allowed our group to cohesively work together and understand the research that already exists around the field we are going into. 

I am excited to go into the schools next week albeit a little nervous. I am finding myself preemptively stressed about the additional work that will be produced from this: there are some tasks on our to-do list that can only be achieved once we have run these initial sessions (e.g. planning the next one, organising the logistics of the pantomime performance), and I am worried about feeling overwhelmed once these aspects are all suddenly unlocked. This has been a useful reflection though as I am getting more familiar with certain aspects of my character, namely my very strong desire for control that manifests as doing tasks immediately so that future me doesn’t have to feel stressed and worried! However, healthy discussions with other members of my group and cohort have highlighted that doing things immediately is not necessarily always the most helpful and may actually create more work longer term. Rather, slowing down can give ideas time to settle and develop on their own.