“Oh, the places you’ll go!” Reflecting on my PhD journey

Nearing the end of my undergraduate study, I was working on a small research essay and was having some trouble figuring out the direction it should take. It was in a unit on refugee law, which I was very interested in, but couldn't quite decide what the essay should focus on. Then, by chance, I came across some articles that looked at communication and language-related challenges in refugee visa application processes.

And that was it: I was hooked. The process of preparing and writing that essay was so engaging that I knew I just had to stay doing this kind of thing. I was determined to become a researcher, and I even had an idea of what type of research I'd like to do.