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Katie's exhibition and working with Katie

Today we have been to the opening of an exhibition by Katie Forrester, my colleague and friend. We share the same office and taught in the same architecture studio last year. While my PhD looks into children's outdoor learning environment, Katie investigates children's story book illustration through design. Because of our shared research interest (though in different fields), we found the ground to interact and share our experiences related to researching on, with and for children. Afterwards we co-devised an innovative learning week event with children and it was an enlightening experience.  So, when I first heard of the exhibition, I was very excited and wanted to be there the moment it would open. Courtesy: Katie Forrester Katie thrives to create a universal language for children's story book illustration with which children from any part of the world can relate themselves and therefore project them in the characters of those stories. As an architect I am awar
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Window view: Can it reduce (PhD) stress?

Few months ago, I was struggling with exhaustion and fatigue. My colleagues were saying perhaps I was stressed due to PhD. However, I was wondering why I am facing such exhaustion at that moment rather than the time while I was working almost 24 hours a day building the schoolyard in Bangladesh during my field survey. I also did not feel such fatigue at the early months of my PhD while I did not know whether I would be able to manage the fund to build the schoolyard. Nevertheless I was trying to reevaluate my everyday life, my home or work space. I was advised rest but what I could see from the living room window is this..... View from the couch of my living room at Wardlaw Place Well, the bouquet was a gift from my husband to cheer me up but what I could see is the view of the building opposite our flat. I did not want to stay at home from where I could not see the sky or green, yet the wet gloomy weather did not let me go out. I was missing staying at out first flat in Ed

The ‘Thinker’ hat of mine

On the verge of being overwhelmed writing my PhD thesis, I decided to go for a short writing retreat in Berwick upon Tweed. I enjoyed the quiet environment of the small town and wished I could prolong that period. It was hard to believe when I got the news after coming back from Berwick- yes I have been awarded SGSAH’s thinker in residency to work on something related to my PhD research for three weeks at Deveron Arts based in Huntly. Looking closely at the map of Huntly in Google earth, I knew no other place can be more appropriate for PhD ‘thinking’ for three weeks. This report is an account of my experiences in Huntly in those three weeks and also my reflections on that experience. Week 1_Settling down and setting the expectations I was welcomed by Sophie, Intern at Deveron Arts and my room-mate for next three weeks at the train station. Though the Google-map said that the house was really close to the train station but I could not imagine how close it was. In fact, nothing

Review: Outdoor Environmental Education Research Seminar 2016

I attended the Outdoor Environmental Education Research Seminar 2016 at Broomlee Outdoor Education Centre from 13-15 April 2016 organized by the PhD students based in Moray House School of Education, the University of Edinburgh. Different people have different interests and they pick different things from a seminar or talk. This is my account of what I learnt from the Seminar which might not be the same as other participants. However, I enjoyed these three days to the fullest and would like the conversation to be continued. Based on my perceptions I grouped my learnings under several headings- impact of outdoor environment, teachers' perceptions, research methods, learning for sustainability, policy impact, publishing research and outdoor activities. Figure  1 : I enjoyed the food in Broomlee Outdoor Education Centre- they kept in mind individual choices and preferences Impact of outdoor environment- Matluba Khan, Aristea Kyrikou, Jamie Hamilton Me and Jamie explore