Looking back with PhD Candidate Francesca Ceola

LolMyThesis. If I had to summarize my thesis in one sentence, I would say that urban development is, unsurprisingly, being carried out as business as usual, aka displacing the poor to make space for the rich. My working title is: ‘Socio-ecological spatialities of interstitial emplacement: between forced displacement and “urban development” in Lagos, Nigeria’.

Looking back, if I could go back in time, the advice I would give myself is to maybe spend less energies on additional publications, and make sure to start with the core publications that make up the cumulative thesis first.

A day in a life. A typical day in my PhD life looks like this: A few hours of reading, then a bit of procrastination, taking a walk to let oxygen back into the brain, before writing bits and pieces in the late afternoon/evening. For some annoying reason, I cannot write unless it’s ridiculously early in the morning or late in the evening.

It’s all about the spatial arrangement. My ideal writing setting is about more than just a place. I need a specific setup: there should be a wide enough desk, with an ergonomic office chair, a raised laptop to reduce strain on my shoulders and upper back, and good headphones to play rhythmic music, normally percussive, but not only that, lyrics-free music.

Back to the future. If I were to give advice to doctoral researchers starting out in the next phase of the CRC, I would say: Be generous with yourself when it comes to doing activities, including CRC ones, that go beyond the PhD work. This will help you to maintain a balance between what needs to be done and other stuff that boosts your energy and motivation and keeps frustration at bay.

Author Bio: Francesca Ceola is a geographer and PhD candidate at the Habitat Unit research group of Technische Universität Berlin. She is a research assistant in the CRC 1265 subproject C08 “Architectures of Asylum” and focuses on mapping the intersections between forced displacement, makeshift urbanisms, and socio-political ecologies in shifting landscapes in Lagos.