Students and Graduates!
What if the best model for a resilient, fulfilling PhD is older than the lab coat? Do you consider yourself as a Renaissance Scholar when you produce knowledge towards PhD success?
In this Late-Night Solo Session, I combine the thoughts of current trend of the Renaissance Man or Woman as a useful frame to your PhD milestones through the following trifecta effect:
—> Curiosity about new knowledge
—> Proactivity in shaping your research and seek opportunities
—> Harmony with yourself and by valuing your closest ones
If this conversation helps you see your PhD with new clarity, share it with a fellow researcher so others can find PhD Lounge! What trait—curiosity, proactivity, or harmony—will you lean into this week?
Thank you all for tuning in, it has been a pleasure!
Bibliography:
Heller, A. (1978). Renaissance Man. Routledge & Kegan Paul Books.
Chakrabarti, T. ., & Patel, H. (2017, July 30). Stoicism in the Renaissance and Shakespeare. Smart Moves Journal Ijellh (SMJI). Retrieved from https://ijellh.com/index.php/OJS/article/view/2108
Read the transcript
Hello students and graduates.
Welcome to PhD Lunch, the
podcast of late night talks in
which PhDs have a drink and talk
about their research topics.
You've likely heard and read
about the modern trend of the
Renaissance man or woman.
There's this romanticism to go
back to the peak times of the
Renaissance that had its birth
in Italy and spread across
Europe between the 15th and 16th
centuries, where wealthy Italian
families like the Medici
patronize the arts, culture, and
sciences.
Like other trends, the modern
person feels that desire to
return to this historical period
and advertise it with individual
goals without defaulting to
technology.
That includes reading The Iliad
of Homer, crafting jewelry, or
writing an essay about a topic
that sparks your curiosity in
the PhD.
It is fair to argue that you are
a Renaissance individual
yourself as and there's no need
to contextualize it into this
modern trend when you research
sources and write your
dissertation.
Here are three reasons that the
intellectuals of the Renaissance
period had and are transferable
into you as a pH D candidate #1
curiosity.
This characteristic is crystal
clear.
When you decide to study for PhD
degree, You subconsciously
awaken your curiosity to learn
new topics, research sources,
and write your own thesis.
Whether you're a STEM or an Arts
and Humanities PhD, you seek
more knowledge and argue new
approaches to research themes
that interest you.
You question the why, how or
what if multiple times to reach
new outcomes and propose
alternative methodologies and
arguments to debate your thesis
with your supervisors,
examiners, and peers.
That curiosity that sparks in
you throughout your PhD is the
equivalent to a Renaissance
individual #2 proactivity.
You're fully committed to design
your doctoral journey whilst
working alongside your
supervisors.
It is a relationship between you
and your thesis and you'll
become proactive to try to solve
research gaps by seeking not
just the sources as well as help
from your supervisors, but also
developing your own strategies.
Having adaptability to research
events that may influence the
course of your research and seek
related experiences that can
fulfill your PhD experience,
including conferences,
internships, and writing blogs
and #3 Harmony.
In the Renaissance, polymaths
sought balance and meaningful
lives in relation to
Christianity by reviving
Stoicism through living a life
of wisdom and virtue in civic
duties and Epicureanism.
Regarding the moderation of
pleasures in your PhD, you too
have to find harmony, meaning
you have to manage your time
between your thesis and your
hobbies, as well as family and
friends.
The modern Renaissance trend is
taking over the Internet, and
people take inspiration from the
intellectuals of that time
period to Start learning new
skills or mastering their
current crafts.
As a PhD, you're already
enhancing current skills while
developing new ones, and as you
complete each chapter of your
dissertation, it becomes various
pieces of knowledge that you
obtained and shared around the
world while being curious,
proactive, and having harmony
with yourself.
Thank you all for tuning in, it
has been a pleasure.