Creating change in addiction recovery

‘My desire to be a researcher in Social Work is rooted in my professional experiences as an addictions therapist in the United States, where I saw my clients relapse over and over again and was deeply frustrated that the approaches for treating them weren’t adjusted.

‘So I will do whatever it takes to help my clients - my research is for my former and current clients as well as for their friends and families, all of whom have personally experienced the damaging effects of relapse back into alcohol and drug addiction. I hope my research informs policy and practice to create more effective ways of dealing with relapse, and Bath provides an outstanding platform for me to do that.'

MRes as a firm foundation for a PhD

'Originally I applied for a PhD, but was offered funding from the Economic and Social Research Council if I also took the one-year MRes course to improve my research skills first. I now count this as blessing and as catalyst to begin carrying out my PhD research project well, as it provides a firm foundation of research knowledge and context - research methods, research practices, academic writing and presentation, the context of social work practice as well as insights into the everyday work of a researcher.

‘The assignments, especially the research projects, were excellent in teaching me how to synthesise a large amount of literature, how to write academically and critically and most importantly, they taught me about my own writing process. These projects enabled me to gain a more in-depth understanding of the political and practical challenges in the field and topic of my proposed PhD project.

Scholar on track to professional accreditation

'I am delighted to have been awarded a prestigious scholarship award from the Society for the Study of Addictions. The Society is highly respected in my field only offers the award to two PhD students each year. I was only able to achieve this award because of the confidence in my research knowledge that I’ve built during my MRes course.

Since graduating from the MRes Social Work

Now, in 2020, I have almost completed two years of doctoral research at Bath, on recovery from substance misuse. This has led to several journal articles and book chapters for publication! I have also served as the department PGR Senior Administrator Assistant and have helped to organize and run the previous two annual conferences of the Society for the Study of Addiction (SSA). I’ve had the chance to present bits of my research at relevant conferences too, in video interview format as well as in a radio-style interview!