PhD Research

Now that I've been offered a place on the Esports MA, I started discussing my longer time future with my boss. Something that came up was the idea of pursuing a PhD. This has always been something I've loved the idea of, but always felt I was being unrealistic to aim for. I really enjoy learning and researching and I think by choosing to go into the esports industry, I've put myself in a position to do some research that could actually have a real world impact (as esports in so new and not as thoroughly explored as other sectors).

As this is just a thought at the moment, I decided to make some early inquiries just to see if it's a good idea for me. Firstly, I looked up the details of what PhD programs Staffs supports/encourages and found that for 2018 entry, they were interested in students who were looking into community and diversity in esports. I found this quiet funny, as those are the two areas I'm looking into, career-wise. I also found out that the alumni discount may still apply to me (even though I've already received it once), and that there are 5 scholarship spots for games-centered PhDs.

After this, I decided to ask people with real world experience of PhDs. This included emailing Games and Esports lecturer Dr Ying-Ying Law (who's thesis centered around diversity in esports), and then casting a wider net by asking for opinions on the open student forum site, The Student Room...

Professional Meeting - Progress Tracking with VC Prof. Liz Barnes

Today I had the really great opportunity to sit in on the progress tracking meetings Prof. Liz Barnes had with the Marketing and Comms department at Staffs Uni. Not only was this invaluable for networking reasons (allowed me to get to know everyone in Marketing and Comms (a department that's obviously very relevant to my career goals), and to talk to Liz more, who I've only had brief conversations with in the past), but it also gave me insight into how the marketing department worked in a large company like the university. I was able to see how issues were identified and dealt with, how different areas of the department worked together, and the stats that showed the real world impact of the marketing choices made by the people in the department.

I found this really exciting and interesting, and hope to have more experience with the Marketing and Comms department in the future, whether it's through my position of Student Comms Ambassador, or by organising work experience placements in the summer.

EDIT: Whilst I was in the meeting today, I proposed to my boss the idea of me working serious over Clearing period to get some realistic experience of being a social media manager in a large company during a busy time. She loved the idea and said she'd work to get some hours set aside to allow me to do it.

Digital School House - Photographing an Overwatch Tournament

Through the connections I made during my work with the Esports Events Society, I found out about an external event being held in Staffordshire University's Esports Hub. Digital School House is a company that runs esports tournaments for high school-aged kids. I volunteered to do some photography for this, as I really wanted to get some experience photography players, as I've been mostly photographing the casters/hosts/behind the scenes during SEES events.

I found this was a really great experience! Although it was super tiring to be on my feet for 13hrs, I really enjoyed the test of trying to anticipate the players reactions to be in the right position to get the best photographs. Through this event, I also managed to get talking to some of the organisers of DSH, which was a great networking opportunity.

Unfortunately, due to the fact the players were under 18, I'm not allowed to share the photos. But below are some 'non-player' photos I managed to capture at the event (all unedited)...

Game of Thrones Dragons - Producing Artwork for a Non-Profit Cause

A work colleague of mine messaged me in a panic looking for artwork to be produced as part of a fundraiser she was running for her course exhibition.

At first, I decided it would be the most sensible option to offer this to the rest of my class before I took it on, as my priority was that Hayley got the best artwork out of it as was possible. However, when I asked the class, no one was able to do it within the tight schedule (5 days), and once I talked to Hayley a bit more about what she was after, I thought I would give it a go, as it was more fitting to my style than I expected. Below shows the process of me creating the piece through the conversations I had updated Hayley on the process...

Overall, Hayley was really happy with the artwork! She even shared it on her course Facebook page to promo their fundraiser...

Here's how the artwork turned out in the end...

Helping Out with a Student Film

As I've been looking for more opportunities to get used to being in front of a camera, I've been watching out for film students who need volunteers for anything non-fiction. A student I'd met very briefly before posted in a Facebook group I was in asking for participants for a BuzzFeed-esque interview film with LGBT+ people, and I told him I'd be happy to take part.

This was a really new experience for me, because all my previous filming experience had been on-location, and this was in a proper studio set up. I really enjoyed it though...

My Master's Application Process

I've held off writing this post for a long time, because my application process for my MA has been crazy and strange and exciting. In this post I want to share the journey of me applying to study a Master's in Esports at Staffordshire University, and offer my reflections on each stage.

Step 1 - Deciding I Wanted a Postgrad Qualification
Studying at postgraduate level has always been something I've considered, but I only decided I definitely wanted this for certain at the end of my second year of my degree. I found myself realising that my degree wasn't necessarily the most relevant to the future I wanted for myself. When looking at ways to deal with this, I discovered that you could study a postgrad course that was fairly unrelated to your undergrad, and this can be a good way to expand your job prospects because - not only are you qualified to a higher level - but also in more than one area. Looking back, I didn't really consider the challenge of postgrad, I just decided I wanted to do it because of this fairly shallow reason.

Step 2 - Learning About My Options
Through the end of 2018 and the very start of 2019, I found myself really exploring my options within postgrad study. I'd always told myself that if I ever didn't know where to go with my career, I'd just do a PGCE and settle down as a high school English/Art/IT teacher, and during last autumn I really found myself in this position, especially after attending the teaching talk at the Staffs Uni postgrad open event. Looking back, I think this was a very naive view to have - to think that I should just settle for a qualification and career that I know is safe, even though I have no passion for it, purely for the reason that I have no passion for anything else.

Luckily, it was around this time that I spoke to some friends of mine who are currently studying Staffs Uni's Esports BA. Though I'd recently become entirely enamoured with the esports industry, I was still unsure about the viability of it as option for my career. But through talking to these students, I realised that it was a genuine, sensible option. This - combined with my consultation with one of the uni's career's advisors - was what really cemented my idea of studying esports at a master's level.

Step 3 - Clearing Things Up
Now that I had finally settled on a postgrad course I was happy with, I had to research whether this was actually a viable option for me with the course I am currently studying, and also because this is the launch year of the course, so I needed to check it was even going ahead! To do this, I emailed the course leader (all email correspondences will be added below), but unfortunately received no response. Luckily, a friend of mine currently studying the esports degree checked with one of his lecturers what i should do next, and that lecturer pointed me in the direction of Dr Ying Ying Law, someone he knew would be perfect to go to as the course lead was not responding.

Ying Ying was extremely helpful and actually really put my mind at ease about the whole thing. Also, an unexpected benefit of this situation was that when I later helped out at the Digital School House event, I met Ying Ying in person and found it far easier to talk to her as we'd already done so online.

Step 4 - Beginning the Application

Due to the fact that I will be continuing my study at Staffs, there is an express application option for alumni. All I needed to do was send my information to the postgrad team, who forwarded it on to the relevant people for me.

From here, I received a request from the postgrad team that I submit a personal statement. I was really spooked by this, as I hadn't written a personal statement in years, especially not one that wasn't art-related. I did some research online to make sure my thoughts on personal statements were sensible and up-to-date, and set to work. I went through three drafts and consulted my lecturer, my mother (who's job involves interviewing and hiring people), my partner (who is currently studying esports) and my sister (who has done postgraduate applications herself), before ending up with the final version below. Overall, I'm really happy with my personal statement and the effort I put into it...

Step 5 - Offer and Preparation
A couple of weeks after sending my personal statement, I received an offer to study on the course, conditional on me achieving a 2:2, which I believe I am capable of. From here, I attended another open event to work out my finance options for funding my postgrad study (a vlog I created on this subject is set to be published on the Staffs Uni YouTube channel the week of my deadlines). I also sorted out sensible, good-value living accommodation for September, after my previous solid accommodation plan fell through.

Over the summer, I will be working more hours with the uni and the union to set some money aside to live off, and will seek to stay up-to-date with the news and progress in the esports industry. Both of these things will hopefully make my postgraduate life slightly easier.

https://youtu.be/P0wVO_qPhhY

Event Coverage - Staffs Showdown

Something unexpected that came out of my meeting with Kieran is that the society would like to get more photographs of their events. As I spoke to more of them members of the society, I found out that a lot of them wanted photos and some short video (of the work they put into the events) for their portfolios. I have previous experience in freelance portrait and event photography, so I took this opportunity on, as I want to get back into photography because I think it's a really useful skill to have in marketing.

I started this during the Staffs Showdown events on the 23rd of February and 2nd of March. Some of the photos from these events can be seen below...