Tag Archives: PhD

A mother’s secret career and further clues of the Baby Ted graveyard (Rousse)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The party of external examiners included an elderly man from Sheffield University, a woman from Loughborough, and a dark-haired systems librarian called Mike Hirst. They all seemed friendly enough although none were interested enough to acknowledge (or perhaps question) who … Continue reading →

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Bad behaviour and an F1 fireball kill conversation (Rousse)

Posted on December 10, 2011 by Dreamaticus

The conference launch event was a Victorian-Edwardian music hall concert in the style of BBC’s Good old days show. I thought this a bit OTT for a librarians’ conference, but this was the US, and it did make a change … Continue reading →

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John Lewis suitcase switch and Tiffany diamond haul (Rousse)

Posted on December 3, 2011 by Dreamaticus

In a flashback to the heady days of dot.com boom TPR and I flew to South Africa for an all-expenses paid incentive holiday in Pretoria. I was looking forward to comparing the twenty-first century experience of corporate excess with that … Continue reading →

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How to find love: happy relationship remarriage (Rousse)

Posted on September 7, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I trailed the country as a guest at numerous weddings as all my school and university friends signed up to the new craze of “happy relationship remarriage”. This wasn’t about finding a different life-partner, nor renewing vows with any incumbent … Continue reading →

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Stephen Fry scoffs (Rousse)

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Stephen Fry raised a haughty eyebrow and sneered “They gave you a PhD for that?!” Despite his reputation for erudition, he was clearly unfamiliar with the notion of technology implementations as inanimate actors as conceived in sociotechnical studies.

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Smoking, stress, dress-making and gypsies (Rousse)

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Dreamaticus

PhD student VW held out the cigarette and I made a grab for it. Smoking would cure my stress. JA, also completing a PhD, accompanied me to the market to buy dress-making material. Later on I had to deal with … Continue reading →

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Rousse’s qualifications quandary

Posted on May 8, 2011 by Dreamaticus

I spent almost an entire academic year pining for TPR in a tiny hall of residence room at the University of Birmingham, with only my Mac for company. Permanently logged into e-mail, I lived for his messages from the other … Continue reading →

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Radio 4 tested as a barometer of social class (Rousse)

Posted on April 21, 2011 by Dreamaticus

Identifying suitable time-slots to see each of my PhD students was already a problem, and now finding a physical space in which to meet was a further challenge. RI and I settled down to chat in a corner of a … Continue reading →

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The Glasgow School of Spelling, David Bowie, Andy Warhol, Limmy and a retirement home for celebrities (Rousse)

Posted on February 21, 2011 by Dreamaticus

It was very sweet of the organisers to remember me, but I really didn’t deserve any recognition at all at the engineering teaching awards ceremony. I suspected that BB was behind this. The biggest clue was that it was one … Continue reading →

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Tsunami hits north west England (Rousse)

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Dreamaticus

All the EdCM girls were billed to speak at the Manchester conference, so I was really looking forward to it. However, by the time I reached my destination Manchester had transformed into the Liverpool docks (pre-investment), the conference was no … Continue reading →

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