Module 6: Fear
Module 7: Curiosity
The course tells us a little about the psychology of curiosity: it is undoubtedly important for research, and so it will help both PhD students and their supervisors to understand something of where curiosity comes from, and what it leads to. Channelling curiosity and maintaining it in productive ways, avoiding all the marvellous distractions in the library (can you tell I’m a librarian, originally?!) and yet not missing anything relevant is a typical challenge for researchers. Likewise, there is a view that PhD students need to avoid the seductions of research from other disciplinary cultures, which might lead them into unacceptable habits from outside their own discipline. I’m very much looking forward to next week’s live chat, as we debate the need to establish fences and police disciplinary boundaries: Piirus is all about crossing such boundaries, of course. I think there’s nothing wrong with a pretty garden fence if there’s a way across it, and sometimes one large garden is better for all the neighbours, but I definitely don’t like massive walls with armed guards!