Home HEIs:Â University of Stirling;Â University of Glasgow;Â University of Edinburgh
Host Institution: University of California, Berkeley (English Department)
Duration of VDR: 1 month
PhD Title:Â Representation and Response: A Study of Novel Reading and Improvement in Scotland, 1800-37
Why did you decide to take part in the VDR scheme?
My VDR trip to UC Berkeley (UCB) was something that my supervisors and I wrote into my original SGSAH application before I actually began my PhD. The nature of my research project (which sits within Scottish Romanticism, with a specific emphasis on the novel) is such that there was one academic in particular, Professor Ian Duncan, who immediately sprang to mind as someone who would be invaluable to work with if I was able to secure funding to undertake my PhD. Duncan’s work on the novel in Scotland during the early nineteenth century was fundamental in shaping the parameters and objectives of my own doctoral research project, and so it made sense to build a trip via the VDR scheme into my prospective plans.
Where did you go for your VDR stay and what did you do?
Very luckily for me, my application was successful, and I was able to spend a month at the University of California, Berkeley (a little bit outside San Francisco) at the end of 2023, just as I was entering the third year of my PhD.
The main objectives of my trip were agreed before I arrived; these were to continue work on the two chapters of my thesis that my supervisors and I felt would benefit the most from Duncan’s supervision. I had already drafted these chapters before I travelled to Berkeley, and so my time there was spent meeting with Duncan to discuss feedback on this work, and then implementing his suggestions. I also started work on a journal article whilst at Berkeley, which originates out of one of these chapters, but expands to include material not included in my thesis.
What aspects of the VDR did you find most rewarding?
I think the timing of my VDR trip made it especially rewarding in terms of my own understanding of my project. The original plan had actually been for me to go to Berkeley earlier on in my PhD, about halfway through my second year; visa delays meant that I ended up going later on in the process than first anticipated. In hindsight, though, I’m grateful that I ended up travelling once I was further into my PhD; even the difference of an extra few months meant that I embarked on my VDR trip with a much clearer sense of my own research, of the progress I felt that I had already made, and of the direction in which I anticipated the rest of the project going. The timing was rewarding, then, insofar as I felt that I was able to make the most of my access to external supervision in a way that I might not have done had I been earlier on in the process.
In terms of the VDR scheme itself, another really rewarding aspect is the access that it provides you with to work in genuinely world-leading and field-defining institutions and research facilities. Whilst in Berkeley, I especially enjoyed being able to spend time at the Bancroft Library, UCB’s Rare Book Collection, where I viewed a selection of first editions of some of the Scottish novels I work on.
Has the VDR influenced your research project or future plans? How?
My VDR trip certainly influenced my research plans directly in terms of outputs. I mentioned that I began work on a journal article whilst at Berkeley; I’m hoping that this will be ready to publish soon, and when it is it will be a nice memento of a project that grew directly out of discussions during my time there.
In terms of the PhD thesis itself, all the feedback that I received from Duncan in Berkeley has been instrumental in continuing to shape my chapters (including those I have written since returning home), particularly now that I am at the stage of editing the full thesis. It’s been nice this week, for example, to revisit old feedback, considering how those comments helped to shape what I’ve written, and if there are further edits to be made with these comments in mind.
What are some of the skills you have improved or opportunities which have come out as a result of your stay?
I’d like to say writing – I think it’s always useful having someone else read your work and offer feedback from an external supervisory perspective (and also from a different institutional perspective), and so I think my VDR experience was valuable on that front. I’d also say archival skills and working with manuscripts; my time spent at the Bancroft was formative in helping me to make the transition between traditional textual analysis (which is what the first four chapters of my thesis are based on) and archival research (which is what my final, and most recently completed, thesis chapter centres on). In this sense, it was nice to be able to start honing those methodological skills during my VDR stay so that I was better equipped to begin the second stage of my research on my return home.
In terms of opportunities, the other rewarding aspect of my trip was the fellow PhD researchers I met whilst there; I’m hopeful that an event or two may come from those connections!
Do you have any tips for researchers looking to take part in the VDR scheme?
I would definitely recommend planning as early as possible. Doing so affords you more time to consider what you’d really like to get out of the opportunity; as mentioned, I found it really valuable to build my VDR plans into my original PhD proposal, and I think my research benefited from me doing so.
This is by no means to suggest, however, that worthwhile trips or opportunities can’t be planned once you’ve already begun the PhD. On a related note, I would also recommend thinking about when in your PhD would be most valuable for you to go – of course, a lot of this depends on personal circumstances, the nature of your research, plus your own availability and that of your host. As discussed, I found the experience of travelling a little later on in the PhD beneficial insofar as it allowed me more time to get to grips with the project itself, but for other people the opposite may be true. In any case, I would wholeheartedly recommend pursuing the opportunity when it presents itself – my own trip has definitely been a highlight of my PhD (not least because of the San Franciscan beaches, sunsets, and Christmas scenes)!
Where can people find out more?Â
More about my research can be found here:Â https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1760382
More about UCB’s English department can be found here: https://english.berkeley.edu/home
More about the Bancroft Library can be found here:Â https://www.lib.berkeley.edu/visit/bancroft
To read more about my research findings at the Bancroft, click here:Â https://borrowing.stir.ac.uk/the-bancroft-chronicles/
CONNECT WITH CLEO (she/her)
Email: Cleo O’Callaghan Yeoman
Twitter/X: @cleo_ocy
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