Welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast from the University of Exeter Doctoral College! The podcast about careers and all the opportunities available to you... beyond your research degree!  In this episode Kelly Preece, Researcher Development Manager is interviewed by Dr. Charlotte Kelstead, University of Exeter Doctoral graduate about her career in research and Higher Education.

Music from https://filmmusic.io ’Cheery Monday’ by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses

Transcription

1

00:00:10 ,880 --> 00:00:23 ,790

Hello and welcome to the Beyond Your Research Degree podcast by the University of Exeter, Doctoral College.

2

00:00:23 ,790 --> 00:00:29 ,550

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of Beyond Your Research Degree, I'm your host, Kelly Preece for this episode.

3

00:00:29 ,550 --> 00:00:34 ,800

We're going to be doing things a little bit differently. I'm delighted to be joined by Dr Charlotte Kelstead.

4

00:00:34 ,800 --> 00:00:41 ,310

Charlotte graduated with her Ph.D. in history from the University of Exeter recently and is

5

00:00:41 ,310 --> 00:00:46 ,740

currently working as an event coordinator at the European Centre for Palestine Studies.

6

00:00:46 ,740 --> 00:00:49 ,200

But I'm not going to be talking to Charlotte about her career.

7

00:00:49 ,200 --> 00:00:57 ,690

In fact, we're switching around and instead Charlotte's going to be interviewing me about my career in research and higher education.

8

00:00:57 ,690 --> 00:01:02 ,550

So take it away, Charlotte. OK, fantastic so

9

00:01:02 ,550 --> 00:01:10 ,140

I have lots of questions for you because I feel like you've been part of my experience at Exeter for quite a long time.

10

00:01:10 ,140 --> 00:01:19 ,890

So I remember when I was when I was back doing an undergraduate doing the Exeter The X Factor introductory thing about seven years ago.

11

00:01:19 ,890 --> 00:01:23 ,370

I remember you being there and having a wonderful personality and brightening up,

12

00:01:23 ,370 --> 00:01:31 ,170

brightening up the end of the day when we were all starting to flag a bit. So I'm just really interested to hear all about your career,

13

00:01:31 ,170 --> 00:01:40 ,080

especially because I've just submitted my corrections and I'm now starting to think about careers beyond academia and within academia.

14

00:01:40 ,080 --> 00:01:46 ,110

And I'm just really interested to hear today about how your career has progressed, things that you've learnt along the way.

15

00:01:46 ,110 --> 00:01:51 ,330

Any advice you might have and how it's all come together to be where you are now.

16

00:01:51 ,330 --> 00:01:56 ,320

So perhaps you could start by just giving us a bit of background on your career.

17

00:01:56 ,320 --> 00:02:05 ,220

So how you got to where you are now? Yes, so am I.

18

00:02:05 ,220 --> 00:02:16 ,950

I always say, like my, my career has been incredibly eclectic in every possible way, so I actually started working professionally when I was 14, I.

19

00:02:16 ,950 --> 00:02:22 ,080

So I was a theatre kid in all of its stereotypes.

20

00:02:22 ,080 --> 00:02:24 ,330

And I was a dancer and an actor and a singer.

21

00:02:24 ,330 --> 00:02:31 ,560

And so I was in the the youth company actually at the Northcott Theatre on the University of Exeter campus when I was a teenager.

22

00:02:31 ,560 --> 00:02:37 ,570

And so I was working all through secondary school and then.

23

00:02:37 ,570 --> 00:02:43 ,160

Decided kind of had a decision to make between going to stage school and going to university, I was always quite academic,

24

00:02:43 ,160 --> 00:02:52 ,720

so I thought I'd go down the university route, but I did a degree in dance and theatre, perhaps unsurprisingly.

25

00:02:52 ,720 --> 00:03:02 ,290

And I always say, look, that within about a week of starting my undergraduate degree, I met a Ph.D. student who I just actually,

26

00:03:02 ,290 --> 00:03:10 ,070

I think just passed his viva called Martin Hargreaves, who was one of our what at Exeter would be a PTA,

27

00:03:10 ,070 --> 00:03:15 ,100

I guess, but he was our seminal teacher and one of our modules and.

28

00:03:15 ,100 --> 00:03:23 ,260

He was great, you know, made a really great impression on me, but also he talked to us about his Ph.D. and about his research.

29

00:03:23 ,260 --> 00:03:29 ,920

And I had this kind of moment of of clarity, you know, like clouds parting kind of aha.

30

00:03:29 ,920 --> 00:03:34 ,840

Where I went. Oh, so this this you know, this discipline, this art that I love,

31

00:03:34 ,840 --> 00:03:39 ,630

I can actually combine that with kind of my love of learning and my love of knowledge.

32

00:03:39 ,630 --> 00:03:47 ,980

And I could become a researcher and I could become an academic. And even though I was going to university to do a degree in in that subject,

33

00:03:47 ,980 --> 00:03:53 ,380

it hadn't occurred to me that that was even a job that somebody could have say.

34

00:03:53 ,380 --> 00:03:54 ,460

Right, right.

35

00:03:54 ,460 --> 00:04:01 ,720

From that beginning point in my undergraduate degree, I was like, right, I want to be an academic, wanted do a PhD, want to teach at university.

36

00:04:01 ,720 --> 00:04:10 ,600

That was kind of so I made that decision really early on. And I'm kind of I'm quite a quite stubborn and relentless.

37

00:04:10 ,600 --> 00:04:15 ,880

So, you know, once I make a decision to stick to it. So, you know, I I did my undergraduate degree.

38

00:04:15 ,880 --> 00:04:20 ,650

I did a research master's, and then I got a post at the University of Leeds,

39

00:04:20 ,650 --> 00:04:28 ,180

which was to do my PhD part time and to be a member of academic staff in the department part time.

40

00:04:28 ,180 --> 00:04:34 ,710

They called it a research associate and and.

41

00:04:34 ,710 --> 00:04:38 ,520

And yeah, and that's how I that's how I became an academic, really.

42

00:04:38 ,520 --> 00:04:45 ,110

And so I did that for six years. And during those six years, I.

43

00:04:45 ,110 --> 00:04:52 ,460

Did a myriad of things, I ended up leading undergraduate degree programmes and developing master's programmes and moving institutions,

44

00:04:52 ,460 --> 00:04:57 ,680

but the one thing I didn't do in that period is complete my Ph.D.

45

00:04:57 ,680 --> 00:05:04 ,750

So I. Really struggled. And with.

46

00:05:04 ,750 --> 00:05:17 ,430

Work life balance and mental health and wellbeing, and worked far more than a 1.0 on kind of 0.5 research, 0.5 teaching,

47

00:05:17 ,430 --> 00:05:31 ,980

and made myself very poorly and as a result, decided to withdraw from the PhD and concentrate on on on my teaching and.

48

00:05:31 ,980 --> 00:05:41 ,560

And. That's sort of over time, I kind of I think I naively thought if I kind of let the structure and the time pressures of the PhD go

49

00:05:41 ,560 --> 00:05:48 ,940

it might alleviate a bit. But it didn't because there's a cultural issue in He but  there's also a me issue in this.

50

00:05:48 ,940 --> 00:05:56 ,740

I am a perfectionist. I am an overworker and I'm not very good at work life balance.

51

00:05:56 ,740 --> 00:06:03 ,320

And so I. Ended up in that position again once I moved to the University of Northampton, I did the same thing.

52

00:06:03 ,320 --> 00:06:13 ,370

I was on a four day week lectureship and I was working. Six, if we're being conservative days a week, you know, eight in the morning till eight,

53

00:06:13 ,370 --> 00:06:20 ,960

nine at night, and I did the same thing, I worked myself until I was ill and completely burnt out.

54

00:06:20 ,960 --> 00:06:26 ,060

And it was that second time that I had to take a step back and go, something's not working here.

55

00:06:26 ,060 --> 00:06:29 ,570

I love teaching. I love research. I love working with students.

56

00:06:29 ,570 --> 00:06:34 ,940

Love, love working in HE. But something about this just does not work for me.

57

00:06:34 ,940 --> 00:06:41 ,390

And it brings out qualities in me that make me unwell, you know, those kind of perfectionism and that sort of stuff.

58

00:06:41 ,390 --> 00:06:51 ,020

So I. Oh. Sorry, cats just appeared and she wants to get involved I yeah,

59

00:06:51 ,020 --> 00:06:55 ,900

so I kind of I reached this kind of crisis point and I always say, like, these things aren't just professional.

60

00:06:55 ,900 --> 00:07:04 ,450

These are personal as well as a part of that crisis point was that my my grandmother, who pretty much raised me, passed away unexpectedly.

61

00:07:04 ,450 --> 00:07:12 ,430

And I was, you know, on the other side of the country marking undergraduate essays when I could have been with her.

62

00:07:12 ,430 --> 00:07:19 ,620

And I think the whole thing kind of came to a head and I realised that I was doing the wrong thing.

63

00:07:19 ,620 --> 00:07:28 ,510

And so I started to kind of have an existential crisis of, you know, I said when w