Our Education Supervisor, Adisa Broadhurst, oversees Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Visiting student-related matters in the department
7 am – My 5 and 7 yr old kids wake me up with their singing and banging. I start the day off with a smoothie. I am not really a morning person so sunshine really helps me get out of bed.
8.15 – I ask the kids (nicely and politely at least 5 times!) to get their shoes on. Inevitably I have to raise my voice to get them out of the house and they ask why I am shouting! We bike to school and I am back home by 9 am.
9.00 – Ready to turn on the computer. I usually have Chad Lawson’s piano music playing quietly in the background. He also does a fantastic podcast called ‘Calm It Down’. I keep all the urgent things I need to do that day in my inbox and all the rest in my ‘TO DO’ folder which I keep dipping into all day long. I also have a ‘TO CHASE’ folder. I do a lot of chasing… I spend the first hour responding to emails.
10.00 – Morning coffee time. Today I have a meeting about Visiting Agreements and how we can improve and streamline the application process. We are using SIPOC for this project.
11.00 – Zoom catch up with my colleague Autumn Stamford (Education Assistant). We discuss how the week has gone so far and what we need to be aware of that’s coming up over the next few days, with regards to Undergraduate Students on their Psychiatry placements in Cambridge and regional hospitals. We organise 4 placements of 6 weeks per year, with around 70 students in each placement. Lectures and tutorials which used to be face-to-face are all on zoom these days.
12.00 – Lunch and a quick walk around a nearby nature reserve, or some fresh air in the garden. I always feel so much better after a brisk walk.
13.00 – type up minutes from yesterday’s Postgraduate Education Committee meeting. Add reminders for action points in my outlook and update my to do list.
14.00 – respond to more emails that have come in throughout the day.
15.00 – afternoon coffee time :-) and a quick 15-minute podcast whilst I make the coffee. Bryony Gordon’s ‘Mad World’ and Fearne Cotton’s ‘Happy Place’ are my other favourites.
15.15 – Check Easter Term PhD/MPhil termly progress reports on Camsis and comment on them on behalf of the department. Arrange to speak to students/supervisors where any concerns are raised. We currently have 53 postgraduate students in the department.
16.15 – I speak to the International Office regarding a visa issue, reply to more emails and plan out the next day briefly.
17.00 – Log off for the day and water my allotment seedlings which are currently growing in the house. The courgettes and beans are doing really well.
17.15 – today I collect the kids from the childminder. They play top trumps whilst my husband and I get the dinner ready and we eat. We then watch a bit of TV with the kids. We like Animal Park which is based at Longleat Safari Park, on BBC iPlayer.
19.30 – kids baths, dance ‘performances’ and books.
20.30 – Once they are asleep we catch up on the Line of Duty with some chocolate and a cup of peppermint tea. Then it’s a quick tidy up of the kitchen and, if I’m not too tired, a bit more TV. I love real-life police dramas such as 24hrs in Police Custody.
23.00 – I complete my gratitude journal and then it’s time for book & bed zzzzz. I’m currently reading ‘The Child in You’ by Stefanie Stahl. Her ‘Motherkind’ podcast was excellent, which prompted me to order her book.