Silvia Nassar-Mustaklem – a recipient of last year’s Dean’s Commendation for Academic Citizenship – talks receiving recognition as she navigates the closing stages of a challenging PhD
Silvia, tell us about yourself and your PhD research
I am a Palestinian teacher and consultant who moved to the UK to pursue my education. I just completed my PhD in Education, focusing on creating professional development programmes for teachers of English as a foreign language in my own context, Palestine. I submitted my thesis last October and passed my viva in December.
Congratulations! You’ve faced many challenges on your journey including parenting in a new country and the terrible impact of war back home. What insights can you share?
I relied a lot on time management and organisation skills – I wouldn’t have done it otherwise! I would prepare a weekly agenda and categorise my work- research, modules, teaching prep, teaching, writing – and put everything on my calendar. I’d check my calendar on Sunday night and see what I have for the week and then every night I would check the next day to confirm. It helped me to stay on track. It wasn’t always successful. Some days will be better than other days.
It was important to not forget that we, PGR students, are part of this bigger community and it is there to support us. PhD life could make us feel very isolated. In the School of Education, it felt like a community, a small family. We’re mostly internationals, many of us have children as well, so we have more things to talk about if we don’t want to talk about research, such as the struggles and everything that comes with the life of mother, balancing our duties, and so on. So, that helped a lot in my experience. During my PhD journey, I was given the opportunity to teach at the university, to travel to conferences and present, and to help in organising conferences. I also tried to volunteer my time to feel like I’m giving back. It was important for me to keep reminding myself that I am doing many things at the same time. I just needed to push myself to go – when I did, I never regretted it.
The outbreak of war back home in Gaza and the escalations in the West Bank had a tremendous impact on me. I had to ask for six months extension because I just couldn’t produce, but I was given only three. Support from the University’s wellbeing team helped me in navigating the grief and the anger. They were very understanding of my situation, and that validation helped me regain self-belief. I was also lucky to have had great continuous support from my supervisor, Prof. Salah Troudi, and some colleagues who were close friends, too.
Eventually, I felt: I’ve come so far. I want to finish my PhD. I had to move my country for this. It was really hard. But talking to friends here, and close ones back home, empowered my resilience and helped me not to give up. Ultimately, I managed to tackle the obstacles I was facing. I didn’t want to let myself down.
It’s remarkable to hear how you’ve walked through such difficult things and still contributed so much to PGR life. What led to your Dean’s Commendation for Academic Citizenship and did the recognition matter to you?
When I first read the email, the amount of happiness that filled my heart was tremendous. My supervisor later told me it was for multiple things: publications, my work ethic, feedback from my teaching, and supporting and sharing my learning with colleagues. That has been reciprocal, they’ve supported me a lot.
Receiving the acknowledgment and the award gave me that that feeling that I want to give more. It’s very motivating and very validating of all the obstacles that have come my way, which despite them, I was able to achieve my aims! It was amazing to receive it and to hear all the other stories from colleagues who were given the commendation. Everyone was doing things not because they wanted to get something in return, or because they were aiming for this. It’s their nature, their dedication, their passion, their hard work and these are amazing traits to have.
As PhD students approach the end of their studies, fears often build about the examination process. What insight can you give us from your viva?
It went so much better than I thought! I think it’s mainly because I felt like I’m very well equipped. I got the chance to present my research throughout all four years in different conferences in the University and nationwide and work on any feedback given. Even in small groups within my cohort, presenting at the Doctoral Research Forum organised by my supervisor, helped me to feel confident when I arrived at my viva. Guidance and constructive insights from my supervisors were very helpful as well. On viva day, it felt like I knew my thesis by heart. I’ve done so much work on it putting my heart and soul into it.
What I also think really helped was the fact that I had been involved in other areas of academic life throughout my PhD journey which shaped many skills. For example, I got the chance to produce a few publications which helped me understand what is needed to be able to publish and how to approach it. I learned that it’s OK for an article to get rejected. That experience supported my volunteering time in peer revision as well. I’m also passionate about teaching. So being in the field, preparing and delivering workshops to students, listening to their questions, learning from them enriched my experience. Collaborating with colleagues and students gave me different perspectives, knowledge, and skills that were useful when I got to my viva. It felt I made use of the resources that were there, and I worked hard. It’s an up and down journey. It’s not linear and it’s not easy but, from my experience, it was all worth it.
Silvia Nassar holds a PhD in Education from the University of Exeter, UK, where she also works as a Postgraduate Teaching Associate. She is a teacher and teacher trainer with extensive experience in education, research, and professional development. She has been teaching at INTO University Partnerships and is actively involved in educational consultancy and research projects focused on Palestinian education. She holds a Master’s degree in TEFL from Birzeit University in Palestine. Ms. Nassar’s research interests are the professional development and teacher training programmes for EFL teachers on which she has publications in Springer, Routledge, Malta Review of Educational Research Journal, and others.
Silvia was interviewed by Ruth Moore, HASS PGR Blog editor. The interview has been co-edited for length and clarity.