‘Mummy Is just Doing a PhD!’

April 2, 2017April 23, 2017 / borowska / Leave a comment

At George’s Cafe, church and cafe at the same place

This year for the first time in my life I felt that Mother’s Day was my day too. Here in the UK it is celebrated on 26 March. As a young mum, I want to share my experience of combining the greatest projects in my life: being a mother and doing a PhD.

While not with my family, I am studying in the library. Here in the picture, I am in the newly discovered cafe in the centre of London, George’s Cafe. It is on the premises of an Anglican Church that holds regular Sunday services and runs the primary school.

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Giving my First Academic Paper Presentation

October 7, 2016April 23, 2017 / borowska / 2 Comments

Source: eurobelarus.info

So here I am in Kaunas, Lithuania. I am attending the 6th International Congress of Belarusian Studies, an academic must for researchers studying Belarus. I am here for the first time in a capacity of a PhD student and want to share my work-in-progress.

Feels a bit excited and I do not know what to expect. Well, I need to give a presentation of my paper, that is for sure. There will be some discussion afterwards, that is for sure.

“PhD tends to isolate, to some extent”, I remember I heard that a lot last year, when have just started my PhD programme. Yes, it does, indeed. We often spend hours in libraries, or at other intellectually-friendly places, studying others’ writings. I consider myself lucky, because my research draws on ethnographic methods and I can work with people, and learn from them.

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Reflections from a Field Trip to Belarus

September 28, 2016March 18, 2019 / borowska / Leave a comment

kineticcreation-com This summer when I was doing my fieldwork, I explored a bit a Baptist church located in the sleeping area of Minsk. That was the biggest church I have seen so far. It was built in the 1990s, when Protestant communities did not face such building restrictions as they are in place today.

It was Saturday. I entered the church building. It looked quite impressive inside.

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Getting to Belarus

July 6, 2016April 23, 2017 / borowska / Leave a comment

The good news is that I got ethics approval from King’s College for my PhD research. Visa, health insurance obtained and tickets purchased. “Now it is time to start my pilot study in Belarus!”, I thought enthusiastically.

The travel itinerary of my trip was simple: Bialystok – Chopin airport in Warsaw by bus and then Warsaw-Minsk by plane.

Unfortunately, a few hours later it turned out that I missed the flight due to visa issues – and that has utterly complicated my further trip to Minsk. Had to change it diametrically the same day.

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