‘Why on earth would you do that?’ On leaving your job to start a PhD.
Just over a month ago I turned 34. Not only does this mean that I now get the odd twinge in my knee when tackling stairs, but it turns out that this also puts me at exactly the average age for an Australian starting a PhD. Four and a half months ago, I left a career in the social services that I had spent nearly a decade establishing and enrolled in a PhD about Antarctica. To me, this was a huge thing. It felt risky, and I was acutely conscious that I occupy that hairy part o