PhD'ing?

Before I started my school year at UEA, my intention to continue with a PhD was certain. The idea was to get a PhD and then move on to teaching at university level (being an "academic"). Around mid-October, I started to question that idea. Started thinking about the possibility of jumping into archiving after my MA dissertation was done. If, for example, the archive at which I do my internship offered me a job and I would take it. As I tend to do, I've been ruminating on this since then, but I have not committed to a decision. And I still don't think I can.

I was just at a meeting today regarding PhD work (how to apply for funding, tips for writing a proposal, etc.). I thought the meeting would help me come to a conclusion more quickly, but I'm still a bit on the fence about it. Perhaps not "on the fence", but more just unsure of which path I'd like to take. OK fine... I'm on the fence!

There are two ideas that I've been considering for PhD research. Both of them are of great interest to me and also timely/important projects (I'll refrain from divulging them at the moment... the internet is not a private place!). Both are technical, as opposed to theoretical. One of them is in regard to the future of cinema and the other is in regard to the past. But they are both projects that I'm interested in doing just because they are important bits of research. In some sense, the PhD would just be a bioproduct of the research.

The thing is, I'm not sure I want to be in "academia". I'm not sure I want to teach... at least not formally. So what would I do with a PhD except run around calling myself Dr. Pedersen? The project about the future of cinema moves away from archiving, while the one about the past moves towards archiving (along with other forms of obsolete or going-obsolete technology). My point is, if I do a PhD, I will be off the job-market for at least three years. If I then decide I want to work in an archive, I will be starting almost from scratch because any contacts I've made by the end of my MA will have "gone stale". Then again, if the PhD was the undisclosed historical project, it would bring me a stronger connection with archives.

I spoke to UEA's archiving guru and, luckily for us, the teacher of the course, about this and he said that I should definitely take a job if it's offered to me. He also thought the archiving PhD idea was worthwhile and mentioned that I don't necessarily have to be at a university to do PhD research. Good point.

Another angle on this... at the meeting today, we talked about how to get funding through the AHRB (Arts & Humanities Research Board). For a PhD student, they award between £10,000 and £12,000 per year (sometimes more). Not only would that put me through the three years, it would help me pay off the FAFSA loan I took out this year and perhaps some, if not all, of the loans from undergrad which are still loitering around. A bit enticing. It's not easy to get these awards though. Statistically, 1 in 5 applicants are awarded. These odds can be reduced by filling out the forms correctly and having an enticing research proposal (which I think I do).

So... what to do?. The funding board does not notify until July at the earliest, but the deadline is May 1st (around the time I would be at my archiving placement). I can apply for funding and then choose one of the following scenarios as my "golden path" (in no particular order):

1) Receive funding and continue with a PhD -> teaching at uni or working in archive
2) Receive funding and a job offer at an archive -> take the job instead
3) Do not receive funding, but DO receive a job offer -> take the job
4) Receive neither funding NOR a job offer -> apply at other archives

The choice is not simple, but I feel like this is the only way to go about it. It's an amalgamation of a Lebowskian "tumbleweed" approach and a structured 3-year plan.

-RP-