PhD Adventure Files 004: First-year hurdles and new horizons

It's been an exciting first year in my PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of St Andrews, with many challenges - big and small - to be overcome, but I'm proud to say that I've recently passed the first hurdle and am ready to continue in my research journey unraveling the unknowns of explosive [...]

PhD Adventure Files 003: First 3 months of PhD

I hope I can be forgiven for this delayed update, but the first 3 months of my PhD have been a busy and exciting whirlwind! There have been undoubtedly intense lab days and more methodical office-based ones, but what I did not expect was just how much I would enjoy being back in academia, and [...]

PhD Adventure Files 002: Fieldwork on the Eldgjá fissure eruption, Iceland.

The PhD begins... in Iceland. Earlier this year, I took-up an offer to study for a PhD in Earth Sciences at the University of St Andrews, starting in September. Indeed, I recently moved back to this beautiful town ready to begin this new chapter. However, it was last month that the research began as I [...]

PhD Adventure Files 001: I’m going to be a Dr!

This is quite a different post from the previous few, but I have some big and important news that marks the beginning of a new chapter: the PhD Adventure Files! Join me here as I begin to chart out my PhD journey into unknown yet incredibly exciting territory... The Big News Well, well. It's been [...]

Volcanology, Art, and Poetry at Vesuvius 22

Friday, 21st October marked the bicentenary of the 1822 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius and was the inspiration for an interdisciplinary conference I attended at St. Anne’s College in Oxford. From Volcanology to Art to Literature – prose and poetry across the Grand Tour era – Vesuvius experts met from across the world to share illuminating [...]

A graduate’s guide to studying Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, Part 2: how?

If you’re thinking of applying to study Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford, then this post is for you. With so many components to the application process to consider, and little guidance ‘out there’ for Earth Sciences, applying can seem daunting, mystical even. But here, I dispel some of those mysteries with experiential guidance [...]

About me, Adventure Becca

Hi, and welcome to my site where I document a life lived adventurously in search of understanding the Earth. I invite you to share in my adventures, expeditions and exploration, to embrace the outdoors and the natural world, and to escape modern comforts (most of the time anyway). Along the way, I'll share extraordinary places [...]