Dear CHASE Doctoral Researchers
With just a few days remaining in my role as Director of CHASE, I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you the very best with your doctoral research – whether you are about to start, are just getting stuck in or are working to an imminent submission deadline.
One of the highlights of my job as Director over the past three years has undoubtedly been meeting YOU. Year on year, I’ve been struck by the engaged and intellectually adventurous ways that you approach your research and by the impressively varied and ambitious scope of your research projects. I’ve also been struck by the care with which so many of you attend to the tricky political, personal and cultural implications of what (and why, and how) you are researching. Presentations and conversations at Encounters Conferences have repeatedly demonstrated the thoughtful ways you navigate across personal, local and global concerns – a reassuring antidote to the prevailing currency of walls, borders and entrenchment and a clear signal that Arts and Humanities Research is in robust health.
I’ve also been impressed by the way you have worked to put inclusivity at the heart of all the various student-led initiatives in CHASE. Whether it’s the Feminist Network or Brief Encounters or any one of the many training events, retreats and conferences, the commitment to being expansively welcoming has been salutary. You also have style: I loved that, while you were responsive to my call at the Barbican Encounters to march on Westminster, you agreed that the revolution had to wait till after bubbles and canapés!
From the first of August, Professor Kate Lacey will take over as Director of CHASE, so you will be in excellent hands. And of course, she’ll be working with the lovely CHASE Team to ensure that you continue to be fully supported in developing your research and refining your skills for whatever career paths lie ahead.
Wishing you the very best with your research projects – and for the summer break.
Denise