Dr Dishil Shrimankar - Life as a SeNSS Post-Doctoral Research Fellow
The post-doctoral fellowship is a great opportunity for early career researchers like myself to consolidate their research, and build new networks and professional relationships.
What do you actually do on a daily basis?
At the moment, I am simultaneously working on three different projects. The first project involves working towards the key milestones set forth in the fellowship proposal. The primary aim of the ESRC post-doctoral fellowship is to consolidate my PhD research. In the workplan submitted as part of the fellowship, I had envisioned working towards collecting data for the key concept of my research question during the first three to four months of my fellowship. Specifically speaking, the day-to-day activities involve conducting short pilot tests of the empirical data to check whether they confirm to the main theoretical concept, cleaning the data of any irregularities, and making it compatible for the machine learning algorithm.
I am also grateful to Prof Oliver Heath, my mentor at Royal Holloway. Weekly meetings with Prof Heath provide me with short-term deadlines and targeted objectives. This keeps me motivated and focused in working towards achieving the key milestones set forth in the workplan.
Secondly, I am also taking this opportunity to work on a paper with my mentor, Prof Oliver Heath. Finding common research interests in the field of incumbency effects in India, we have already begun framing the paper, where I have spearheaded the data analysis side of the project.
Third, the fellowship also provides a great opportunity to finish on-going projects that I began during and after my PhD. Currently, I am in the final process of finishing a paper on the effects of the world’s largest workforce programme on the empowerment of lower caste men and women in India. My co-author and I are very close to submitting the paper to a high-impact development studies journal.
Alongside the three tasks, I enjoy attending the weekly departmental seminar series held in the Politics Department at Royal Holloway. In addition, I am also involved in the quantitative political science reading group in the Department, where we read and provide feedback to working papers of colleagues.
Finally, I am also taking this opportunity to interact with new colleagues and PhD scholars in the department. I enjoy going on lunches, coffees or after work drinks to socialise, interact and communicate with a fascinating group of researchers in the Politics Department at Royal Holloway.
How does it differ from being a PhD student (if, indeed, it does)?
The PDF is similar to the PhD in terms of the time and flexibility available to plan the day. However, the key difference is that while in the PhD it involved conducting new research, the PDF is more about consolidating existing work already been done. The other key difference between the PDF and the PhD comes as a consequence of the hard work put in during the PhD years. The years of training and professional development during the PhD helps make the PDF more focused and rigorous, with more value for time. Personally speaking, having gone from a PhD to a teaching-focused position, and then back to the PDF, I incredibly value the time available for research and thinking.
What do you most enjoy, and why?
I thoroughly enjoy having the time to consolidate my PhD research and finish the on-going research projects. I am also very much enjoying learning new methods and methodological approaches in quantitative political science, which also adds to my professional development and skill set.
Finally, I am very happy to meet new colleagues with whom I discuss new research ideas and potential for further collaboration.
What is most challenging, and why?
Since it is a yearlong fellowship, I have to be on the job market again very soon. Managing the key milestones and applying for jobs at the same time, is, in my opinion, one of the major challenges I am facing.
Has being a PDF been what you expected it would be?
My primary expectation from the post-doctoral fellowship were to have time and space to consolidate my PhD research. To that end, the flexibility, research environment, and an extremely approachable mentor has made my experience as the PDF in Royal Holloway incredibly enjoyable and fruitful up until now.