Tuesday 22 October 2013

Trust me, I'm a doctor...

Yes, I can now call myself Dr. Robertson! I passed my viva on August 16, with Nick Prior from Edinburgh University as my external examiner and David Inglis as my internal. It is pending minor revisions, but that is to be expected. Here is a picture of me with my lovely doctor-cake, made in the Norwegian-style by the amazing Tia DeNora:


So now begins the long slog to find gainful employment that is at least somewhat related to music and conflict transformation. I think I came close a couple of times, but the market in the UK is pretty dire for 'soft' subjects like music and sociology, let alone new fields such as mine. All is not lost, however. I have made some great connections with the University of Leeds and I have put a bid in for a post-doctoral fellowship with the British Council to be hosted by both the Music Department and the Institute of Communications Studies at Leeds. I have also just applied for a research fellowship there as well. Meanwhile, I am still editing the upcoming book Music, Power and Liberty with Dr. Olivier Urbain from the Toda Institute, who have also kindly invited me to participate in the Asia Pacific Peace Research Association (APPRA) conference in Bangkok in November. I shall be presenting and co-hosting a special panel on the arts and non-violent conflict reduction along with Dr. Urbain and Daisuke Akimoto. I am also writing a chapter for a book to be published next year entitled Protests as Events: Events as Protests. Finally, an article that I wrote last year about the potential for music and conflict transformation has finally been accepted by Poetics, although I need to make some changes which will not be published until next year as well.

More updates from around the world soon.

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