Today’s blog is from Marianne Cranwell, who in undertaking a PhD at the University of Dundee. Marianne talks about her PhD journey, and the changes that have happened along the way.

Hi, my name is Marianne, I am an ESRC funded PhD student in the school of Education and Social Work at the University of Dundee. I am in my 4-5th year of a part time PhD and my area of research is looking at the experiences of informal carers of people living with dementia, when paid home care begins. I am interested in hearing about how it feels for carers, when the type of care the person they support changes.  

Around 15 years ago I was desperate to leave university. The real world beckoned, and to this day I recall wholeheartedly rejoicing that I would never again in my entire life have to write an essay or sit an exam – freedom!

Well, six or seven years of working in social care, and becoming a mum, somehow eroded that jubilation and it was replaced by frustration, and curiosity. I found myself deeply frustrated by the situations that social care workers, and managers were being put in, under the reigning banner of value for money. Even now, I feel so angry at the budget driven approach that meant I was only allowed to spend 15-30 minutes with a person in their own home, where it felt as though physical maintenance of bodies was all that was required to care for them. I felt that too often budgets superseded the needs and wishes of people being supported and I decided that I could no longer contribute my time to that environment.

Although deeply disillusioned, I understood that the key to change was to learn more about how a financially driven culture had taken root in what ought (in my eyes) to be fundamentally person centred. I also found that I was increasingly curious about how the people who were experiencing these services, these life changing events, traumas, reliefs, saw the world, but it was never possible to ask these questions. Naturally, I finally succumbed to the reality that the path forward was through education.

And so I find myself here. An MRes, a second baby and a divorce later, in the middle of a pandemic, trying to recruit people who are amid one of the biggest social care crises since the beginning of its creation. But this is real life, and if I can’t see it at least partly as an opportunity to learn, I have wasted the past 10 years.

Of course, I have worries. For my PhD I have had to revise my methodology, especially my recruitment and data collection strategies and I am worried that without participants, I really don’t have much of a project. I desperately miss my partner, my friends, my poor (most certainly deceased) office fern. Crisis schooling, trying to engage with my university, and to just keep two children’s worlds together can be a strain, and I occasionally have to go for a wee cry in my garden hammock. But hey, I have a garden hammock. My small family and I are safe, warm and fed, I can study from home: I am extraordinarily lucky when my main role is to just hold tight.

No, my PhD won’t be the PhD I started, but isn’t that true of most PhDs? And yes, for now, ironically, my job is to write a really, really long essay.

I am always excited to talk about new ideas around social care, especially for older adults. I can be contacted on mcranwell@dundee.ac.uk  and you can find my project welcome video here: https://youtu.be/GlIGraPq6OY

Thank you so much for your time.

Read more SDRC Blogs

Care home lockdown and the impact on families: Rapid Study Update

Care home lockdown and the impact on families: what hurt, what helped and what happens next   At the end of last year, we published a researcher blog from those involved in the Creative Covid Care study. This blog outlined their work on the experiences of...

Research Participant Blog: Eileen Penman

The SDRC are pleased to be able to continue our Research Involvement blog series, featuring participants in research across Scotland. This blog series aims to share experiences of different perspectives of research as well as tips and lessons for researchers. Our...

COVID Impact on ECRs: Angus Addlesee

Following on from the SDRC's busy week last week of launching both our Resource Funding and our Mentorship Scheme, we are pleased to bring you more blogs from our Early Career Researcher members, sharing how COVID has impacted them professionally and personally....

That’s a good idea!

At SDRC we have been speaking to different people about their experiences of involvement in dementia research and are delighted to be publishing a series of blogs, sharing tips and lessons for us all. Our first blog in this new Research Involvement series is from...

COVID Impact on ECRs: Josie Fullerton

Today's blog is part of our COVID Impact blog series, where we are sharing the experiences of ECRs whose research has been affected by COVID, as well as helpful insights and tips to how to work through this time. If you are a dementia or brain health researcher and...

SDRC Annual Report 2022/23: Fundamental Science

In the SDRC Annual Report 2022/23 we dedicated a section each to the progress and ongoing work of the SDRC research themes.  The following extract is focusing on the Fundamental Science theme, led by Professor Frank Gunn-Moore and Dr Sophie Bradley. Read more below....

Early Career Researchers: Sarah Hesse

The SDRC are delighted to introduce this blog series where everyday we highlight and celebrate the wonderful contribution PhD students and Early Career Researchers make to dementia and brain health research.  Read the previous blogs here Our next blog is from Sarah...

Guest Blog: Rachel Allen

Today's blog is from Rachel Allen, a PhD candidate form the Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice at the University of the West of Scotland. Rachel talks about the PhD journey and the process of research. My name is Rachel Allen, and I am in my second year...

Alzheimer Scotland Student Research Programme announces first MRes student

The Alzheimer Scotland Student Research Programme is excited to announce our first ever MRes student: Kelly Kelly. Kelly’s studentship is hosted by the Alzheimer Scotland Centre for Policy and Practice at the University of the West of Scotland. She is supervised by Dr...

Early Career Researchers: Guest Blog for SDRC

The Scottish Dementia Research Consortium are looking for PhD Students and Early Career Researchers to feature in guest blogs on our website. The SDRC are always pursuing new and different ways to promote those early in their research career. From providing...