Doing a PhD comes with a bunch of obligations – primarily completing the thesis but there are other things like teaching, going to conferences and helping organise conferences. The specialist knowledge garnered throughout undergraduate/masters study are required to do a PhD but a PhD also requires much more than specialist knowledge – you need to be able to work totally independently with fuzzy and poorly defined goals so perseverance is key; you also need to use your ability to critically evaluate research almost every day and be able to communicate your own research effectively and engagingly.
The thrill of expanding our understanding of talk-in-interaction is hugely rewarding and I love that my 'job' is to be on the cutting edge of knowledge and that I get to find new things out every day. A PhD isn’t just permission for me to do research for three to four years, it’s a great investment in myself, giving me special abilities and unique skills for any future career.