>> My PhD is focused on religious history in the 17th century, particularly the issue of tithe payments in the Church of England, and I'm looking at public opinion and debate over the issue of tithes and how that affects our understanding of the church at the time.

>> So I chose I chose Kent because having been studying here for a long time, I'd actually developed a relationship with my supervisor over the four years as an undergraduate and as a Master's student and we spoke at length about developing this project together and she got my other supervisor involved in the situation as well  to provide the historical analysis and that side of things 

>> And I mean being in Kent I'm close to a lot of resources both in London at the British Library, and the Cathedral archives as well have been a huge resource in the completion of my PhD, so it's been fantastic for that. 

>> So MEMS is an interdisciplinary centre, we have lecturers from English, History, Archaeology, Architecture and World Languages as well, and we come together to discuss all things medieval and early modern.  And that influence has kind of shaped my PhD as well.

>> So I first applied for CHASE by coming up with the with the project in collaboration with my supervisor, we worked on multiple drafts of the original research plan to get it looking good,  and following that first phase I was then invited to an interview in front of a panel of people  across the various arts and humanities. I found that both challenging and rewarding, being able to communicate my research to an audience who weren't specialised in my particular area.
 
>> Particularly helpful from CHASE for me has been the training in both Material Witness and the Arts & Humanities in the Digital Age projects, particularly an early phase when I was still considering my methodology they were really foundational in helping me shape my ideas and framing my research. 

>> I've attended a number of the CHASE conferences throughout my time as a PhD student and that has also allowed me to build up the confidence and I've actually also given a paper  at the Institute of Historical Research on my topic in my third year of my PhD. 

>> I'm handing in my PhD, hopefully in a couple of months time, and in the meantime I'm putting together a postdoctoral application for a project that has digital humanities involvement, and I'm also applying for graduate schemes working in in software development.