Progress Review, feeling a little disappointed

I have been registered on my research degree for a year now (though the college haven’t sent me a bill yet!). I originally registered with a view and a desire to complete a Phd. The college registered me on an MPhil with the possibility of upgrading.

I kept in mind that I would like to do a Phd and decided to keep working towards it as though it was a Phd. In my review today, we agreed that there wasn’t a convincing potential to turn it into a Phd. The original idea (here) didn’t work and I need to submit a revised proposal with an explanation as to why it didn’t work. I have now two years to complete which fits in quite nicely with my upcoming sabbatical in 2010.

I confess to being a bit disappointed, but not much. I would have liked to reach a Phd without having to have done a second degree, but I am quite happy to accept that you can’t always take short cuts in life! The good news is that I should have completed by the end of 2010 instead of the end of 2013 and that it is the research that interests me more than the degree.

I have come up with a fairly tight schedule running up until the end of the year:

6th November : the research Comittee will review my revised proposal.
6th December : to have completed a pilot of data gathering, concentrating on the North West of England.
6th January : need a 5000 word paper describing and beginning to analyse my initial pilot research gathering.