I don't think my MA experience and subsequent drive to do a PhD could've happened without the role of my tutors.

Before this Masters, I have been working in Supply Chain & Logistics since graduating from the University of Sheffield in 2018 with a degree in Economics (BSc). For the last 6 years I have been with M&S and I took a career break to pursue my MA in Education and Psychology. With it being a course completely different from my previous degree and from my career so far, I didn't really know what to expect. It seemed like a random choice at the time, to try something different but it has resulted in such an important turning point in my life. I absolutely loved the course, and whilst I am back at work with M&S right now, I have accepted a PhD place to return to the School of Education in October 2026. 

Looking forward, I am taking my experiences from my employment and the skills it has helped me to develop in order to pursue a PhD. These skills also proved incredibly fruitful when returning back to academic study after such a long break post my undergraduate degree. During my Masters I was immediately incredibly taken by the critical work on what it means to be an educated subject, and what the function of education is in a contemporary society. This has linked into my own reflections on my education journey and into employment (which I consider to also be a kind of education) where I have been "successful" but have also left feeling wanting of something more. I have grown more questioning of my own journey of what it means to be educated, whilst taking account of the material privilege (e.g. the salary), that it has the potential to lead to a sort of 'indebtedness' to a system that can never be resolved. My PhD topic focuses on this indebtedness as a framework for thinking about the role of education and how it extends into the modern workplace.

Whilst my previous education had led me to a place that was "successful" (in a particular way it can be defined), and in that sense the education was "worth it", I additionally had an increasing sense of unease. I truly did not realise that studying Education and Psychology would provide me the mode and avenue for thinking around these questions as it did, and for that I am incredibly grateful. I think in this case my experience is rare, as I did not pursue my MA for any other reason rather than an intrinsic curiosity and the chance to learn something new, even if it led to nothing more. Of course this means that my MA does not have explicit links to my career in Supply Chain, but it has allowed me to return to work with another way of seeing the world, and a more balanced approach for what it means to drive outcomes in the work we do and how we treat each other. 

I don't think my MA experience and subsequent drive to do a PhD could've happened without the role of my tutors. I was very well supported by all of them, I am very thankful for their investment of time and attention as well as their kindness. This particularly applies to my academic tutor who also happened to be my MA dissertation supervisor Dr Ansgar Allen. I suppose it is serendipitous that his work around the critique of education and the educated subject provided that avenue and mode of thinking for me to reflect on my own education and its impacts. I have been very grateful for his support throughout the course and his encouragement of my ideas. I am additionally really pleased to have both Ansgar and Dr Jamal Lahmar on board as my PhD supervisors, their support already just with the PhD application has been immense.