The conference was an excruciating experience. We had travelled to Sheffield with such high hopes, but here we were stuck towards the back of the lecture hall appalled at the poor standard of presentation. Even the supposed ‘big names’ failed to deliver.

The local PhD students made an attempt at comedy in the final session. I cringed in embarrassment at their costumes. When they started to make puns about recreational drug consumption I could bear it no longer. Like everyone else, I knew that I had to leave.