Student Profile: Megan

PhD Topic
My topic is Vagrancy in the Midlands between 1832 and 1896. 

Where did you study your undergraduate/masters?
I studied a BA in Modern and Contemporary History at Bangor University and an MA in History at Bangor University. 

What have you chosen Leicester for your PhD?
I chose Leicester because it has a great concentration of scholars researching areas related to my topic and because my Supervisor, Professor Steve King has written a lot around the Poor Laws, which my topic encapsulates so I knew i'd have support. 

Why have you chosen the Midlands Graduate School?
I chose the Midlands Graduate School because the links between universities are fantastic and my collaborative studentship means I interact with Leicester, Nottingham and the National Archives under one topic and it has a great reputation for interdisciplinary studies, which I am interested in.

When did you decide you wanted to do a PhD?
I decided I wanted to do a PhD at the beginning of my MA in History. I knew I wanted to work in a university setting and that lecturing was a career goal of mine, so I began researching PhD's and projects. 

Why did you decide to do a PhD?
I spoke to a few researchers across different universities about potential topics, all based around poverty in the 19th century and I was introduced by Professory Julie-Marie Strange at the University of Manchester, to Dr Elizabeth Hurren at Leicester who set up a meeting with myself and Professor King. In this meeting we talked about topics and funding and a week later, Steve sent me the details of the ESRC advert. 

How did you go about looking for a PhD place?
I found out about the MGS/Leicester through Steve King and Elizabeth Hurren.

What do you think will be most enjoyable about your PhD?
I am most looking forward to researching in the archives and making connections across universities, departments and insitutions as I do really enjoy engaging with new people and learning about different research projects.

What do you think will be the most challenging about your PhD?
Most challenging for me will be writing up and forming a solid thesis as I struggle with structure and simplifying my ideas on the page. But, I already feel after the MSc training year that I have improved lots in this area so I look forward to working on this more over the next few years. 

Do you have any plans for after your PhD?
I am open to many things after my PhD. I would definitely like to stay on as a postgraduate researcher, but after that I am interested in social research for policy in the government or perhaps working alongside a publishing company, so very different things at the moment.