
I am very grateful to have been nominated by a wonderful blogger, Emily, for the Sunshine Blogger Award. Emily is a PhD student in genetics, and her blog, harperphd, is fantastic! It’s a real honour to have received her nomination.
The Sunshine Blogger Award is given by one blogger to another in recognition of their inspiring, creative and motivational blogs. There are a few rules for accepting the nomination:
- Thank the blogger who nominated you in a blog post and link back to their blog
- Answer 11 questions the blogger asks you
- Nominate 11 new blogs to receive the award and write them 11 new questions
- List the rules and display the Sunshine Blogger Award logo in your post and/or on your blog.
These are the questions I was asked:
- What is your favourite thing about blogging? I love reading through previous posts and thinking about how I perceived people and things around me… and realising how much I have learnt from many experiences. If I didn’t record my memories, I would forget a lot and might not even remember each step of my progress.
- Is blogging something that comes naturally to you? Or is it more of a challenge? It comes naturally and it’s part of my daily routine. Mostly, I update my weekly diary on a Saturday, but I’m constantly updating the draft version of my post with ‘achievements this week’ and ‘goals for next week’.
- Why did you decide to take on a PhD? It’s a long story. The short version is that I am addicted to both study and coffee.
- What motivates you to keep on going when PhD life gets tough? During the two years, I have been working on my PhD, there have been many times when writing has been difficult. I try to share such feelings and struggles with my colleagues or write on my blog. Fortunately, my colleagues give me great advice. That motivates me, always.
- What is something that is commonly misconceived/misunderstood by the public in your field? My field is Health Communication, and my focus is patient-centred care in primary care settings. The field has been broadly and varyingly defined – not only by academics, but also by the public, which always surprises me! We cannot talk about it as one broad concept.
- How different was your life a year ago? During the first year of my PhD, I did a lot of teaching. I was very busy creating teaching materials and responding to students’ questions. I did not teach in my second year because I was away doing my fieldwork. Now it’s the summer break, so I can relax a little bit and focus on my research.
- What movie title best describes your life? Roman Holiday. I am not a princess, but doing a PhD is a time of such pleasure and adventure.
- If you were given a robot to take over a single aspect of your life, what would you ask it to do? Sleeping.
- What is worth spending more on to get the best? Books.
- What are you most likely to become famous for? Hard to say, but hopefully my work in my field.
- What is the one piece of advice would you give to those aspiring to take on a PhD? As soon as you start your PhD, create a routine for writing.
My nominations
Here are my nominees for the Sunshine Blogger Award. These bloggers are a real mix. Some are PhD students in different fields, others are influential professionals in education, food and business. They all inspire me!
- Melanie and the typewriter
- Harriet Lowe
- My story in a blog
- Curiouser and curiouser
- Experience PhD
- Ash Schwarzer
- Milk, Chai & Honey
- KIRAANNJAPAN
- The Godly Chic Diaries
- Program Success
- PhD Talk
Questions for the nominees:
- Why did you start blogging?
- Spring, summer, autumn, or winter?
- If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
- What is your favourite vacation spot?
- Where is your dream place to live?
- What is one way you relieve stress at the end of the day?
- If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?
- What is your favourite movie?
- What qualities do you look for in a friend?
- Where do you find inspiration for your blog posts?
- Do you own any pets?
I always love reading the blogs of all my nominees, and I am looking forward to hearing your answers. Thank you again, Emily!
Aaaaah, thanks for the nomination, it’s crazy to be called inspiring! I really enjoyed reading your answers, it’ll be good fun answering your questions (but maybe in a day or two as I am currently conferencing)!
Oh good luck with conference! No pressure! I can’t wait to read your post about the conference and your answers!
I managed to find some time on the train to London (where I’m seeing friends), thanks for the questions, they were good fun to answer! Conference things coming soon 🙂
Congratulations, Katie!
Thank you, Padmasandhya!
Love your answers! And it’s really interesting to see that your favourite thing about writing your blog is recording the memories you’ve had – I’ve actually never thought of it in that way before. You’ve inspired me to go back and re-read some of my older posts and it’s also helped me to see how far I’ve come since my first blog post. Thank you! 🙂
Aww thank you for your lovely comments, Emily! Have a wonderful week ahead! 🙂
You too Katie, I hope it is a great week! 🙂