YECREA INTERVIEW with: Dr. Michael Skey, a recent PhD graduate

YECREA had an email interview with Dr. Michael Skey, a recent PhD graduate, who talked to us about interdisciplinary research and shares lots of PhD experiences and lessons.

Who is Who
Dr Michael Skey teaches sociology at the University of Leicester and media and communications at University of Kingston. He was awarded his PhD from the Department of Media at the London School of Economics in 2008 and is currently developing a number of the key themes from this work on nationalism, mediated identities, cosmopolitanism and sociological theory for publication.

YECREA:  Do you think that media and communications is a discipline in social sciences or something more? Does it have elements taken from different disciplines, and how did you experience the 'discipline identity' issue coming yourself from a purely sociological background?
Michael: Although media studies is beginning to develop it's own disciplinary boundaries, it is still struggling to convince related disciplines that it has something worthwhile to say, not to mention the wider public, who remain highly sceptical. It's an irony of the contemporary era, that media studies is held in such contempt, given the degree to which the media permeate everyday life.
'Discipline identity' was never an issue until very recently when other people began to question me about it. Look, as a good post-modernist, I shift between identities depending on context and need!

YECREA: Do you agree with the statement that 'everything is about communication'? Does this reflect approaches you have taken and findings you have obtained in your research work during and after your PhD?
Michael: It's one idea that I have found useful in guiding my own engagements with, say, discussions around nationalism or globalisation. If media/cultural theory teaches us anything, it's to pay very close attention to processes of communication, rather than assuming their impact. It's one area in which media theory can make significant contributions although it's not always easy to get others to pay attention.

YECREA: How did you experience the transfer from one institution to another during your PhD research? How did that institutional change influence your intellectual and research horizons?
Michael: It was tough. I spent a very pleasant first year reacquainting myself with academia and then on moving to the LSE found myself suddenly thrown into the deep end. I struggled for a good 18 months to keep my head above water. Fortunately, it not only opened up new horizons but encouraged me to be far more critical of both my own and other's work.

YECREA: Do you consider yourself a media scholar or a social scientist? How would you describe each?
Michael: Both, although I'm not sure I find the distinction that worthwhile to be honest.

YECREA: What do you consider to be the two most important arguments/ideas you have ever heard in media and communication studies? Is it hard to choose or hard to find?
Michael: James Carey's ritual model of communication was theoretically important as it connected some of the sociological theory I had been using to the media. Elsewhere, Liz Bird's writing on pretty much everything is always great but particularly her approach to methodology, which is informed, reflexive but above all practical.

YECREA:  Who is your favourite, if any, academic figure in the field of media and communications and why?
Michael: No favourites, just people who have influenced me at different times. This would include my two PhD supervisors, Nick Couldry and Sonia Livingstone, and the former head of the media department at the LSE, the much-missed Roger Silverstone.

YECREA:  Having completed your PhD research, what are the five tips that you would offer to those who are about to start a PhD? - Never to start it? - this last is a joke, not a question :)
Michael: To paraphrase the late, great American comedian Bill Hicks, always remember that 'it's just a ride'. It goes up, it goes down, some days it will be fantastic and others it'll be dull and/or depressing. But as one day you'll get off, try and enjoy as much of it as possible.
Try not to worry about what other people are or aren't doing.
Write. Even when writing is the last thing on earth you want to do and what you seem to be writing is pure, unadulterated sh*te. Two months down the line, you'll revisit those ideas and find a ge(r)m of an idea hidden in there.
Do something that isn't your PhD and that involves not thinking. Grow vegetables (my personal favourite), train for a marathon, go for long walks in the forest, do something active.
Bounce ideas of anyone and everyone. That includes your peers, your supervisor, that bloke whose book you read and were really impressed by and your mum. If you mum can understand what it is you are trying to do, then you are probably doing it right.

YECREA:  What are the key challenges in the PhD journey? Could you bring up an example from personal experience?
Michael: Being able to maintain enough enthusiasm to get back on the bike when you feel like you've had enough or get knocked off. I had a horrible, horrible upgrade, which instilled a whole host of doubts about what I was doing and whether I'd ever be good enough to finish. In hindsight, it was the best thing that could have happened to me as it made me focus on answering key questions, notably with regard to methodology. I was asked to rewrite a chapter and, from that moment on, things started to fall into place.

YECREA:  What would you draw the attention of young researchers/PhDs who wish to conduct interdisciplinary research in media and communications to?
Michael: Be as promiscuous as possible in your relations with other disciplines whilst remaining faithful to your own interests!

YECREA:  Last question: viva and how to prepare. What is your personal 'best practice guide' for preparing for the PhD Viva ?
Michael: There is no 'best practice' as everyone is different. However, always remember by the time you get to the viva, you will be the expert in 'your' field. Therefore, with all due respect to your examiners, make sure that the debate remains firmly located there and that you display enough evidence of your expertise. The viva is about you and your work, not what they did in 1979 or what their mates' think about so and so's writing. Having said that, you also need to be aware of the limitations of your own work!

That ends the 10-question interview about research, discipline hopping and PhD memories.
Thank you Michael.

Interview by Panayiota Tsatsou