Making Time (and Space) for the Journey

Abstract

The doctoral journey often requires a revision of previously held paradigms—ontological, epistemological, methodological, axiological and rhetorical—as new thought creates new knowledge. A PhD is, after all, a Doctor of Philosophy, and thus requires deep sustained cogitation to contribute to knowledge. Such deep thinking requires dedicated time; the Ancient Greek philosophers knew this and valued it accordingly. Think Archimedes, and the epiphany he (allegedly) had whilst bathing which resulted in a principle of how to determine the volume of an object with an irregular shape. Indeed, some of the most revolutionary theories of our time, such as Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, were born not only from periods of sustained observation but also from periods of sustained thinking. Making time to think is a very individual process: for Darwin, regular walks around his property were how he made the time to think, and to ruminate on what he had observed, studied, and or researched, and in such relaxed synaptic meanderings, new thoughts had the space to evolve. This chapter looks at the ‘time’ available in the typical doctoral journey and suggests ways to manage it, to suit the nature of the researcher, and to make time for the poetic nature of research, the realisation of the new. The following chapters are contextualised in terms of this conceptual grounding.