When starting a doctorate, we only know one thing: we have to develop a research project. Those little words, research project, will occupy a huge space in our minds and will use up practically all the available time in our lives, only to be tested after a year of work.
I started my PhD having a vague idea of what I wanted to research. Through a series of classes, which carefully introduced concepts, ontologies, epistemologies, methods and strategies, my research was shaped to become a passion.
Surprisingly, in academia, passion was a word I heard over and over again, from all my professors and colleagues at some point this year. To do a PhD, passion is fundamental. Passion for science, and for a specific idea, with enough intensity to last at least four years.
Dedicating yourself so hard to an idea and turning it into a project is an arduous task, a work of goldsmithing, where the result is presented in the form of a Research Project.
But science is intense like a roller coaster, and after so much effort we have to go through a debate session with directors, supervisors, and experts in your theories. The tension of this moment is great, proportional to the effort and seriousness of an entire year of study.
Having your project judged in a one-hour session is for the strong, but I learned a precious lesson: we need these moments. It is debates like these that sustain the quality of research, strengthen us for the years of work we will have, and provide a good feeling of being part of a community of people who seek to study ideas as a way of life.
Well then, I followed the good fight and passed that test. And at this moment I found myself as a researcher. It was impressive for me to see the result of my words and the potential of the expected results. Everything around me has been resignified, and now I’m on a new path, fascinating for me.
Project approved, now the challenge really begins. Let’s change the world.
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