Introduction

This is my first attempt at Blogging, so please bare with me. The idea behind this blog is primarily to keep friends and family up to date with what I am up to whilst away conducting research for my PhD. However, I hope that other people will find it interesting, and maybe even helpful.

I began my PhD at Kent University in September, so am still getting into the swing of things. I am doing a self-designed project looking at Culture and Conservation of the Mijikenda Kaya Coastal Forests of Kenya. I am looking at how the forests have changed over time, and the correlation between change in forest and change in culture in the area. I then hope to be able to look at how the culture is continuing to change, what drivers are influencing the change in culture, and the impacts this will have on the forests and their biodiversity. The main reason for doing this research is to find a way of conserving the forests in a way that allows local people to take ownership of the conservation programme, and that helps to protect the local cultural herritage and biodiversity simultaneously. I hope that from my research it will be possible to find a way to protect biodiversity whilst allowing the local people to retain their cultural identies connections to the forests.

I will aim to write the blog at least once a week (more often if something of particular interest happens). Initially it will be about the joys of getting prepared for overseas fieldwork and all the fun of trying to get things sorted for conducting research abroad. Following on from there it will then be an account of the trials, tribulations of my research in Kenya, and all the adventures I get up to whilst I am out there. If possible I aim to keep the blog going throughout my whole PhD, and depending on what happens, I may keep it going beyond that.

I hope you enjoy reading it, and that it is both informative and entertaining. Please leave me comments. For all my friends and family - I miss you all so very much when I am away, so it is lovely to hear from you all and find out what you are up to and what you think of what I am doing. For those of you I don't yet know who are reading this, let me know what you think, any advice you have, and tell us your stories too. I love hearing about what other people think (good and bad), and the experiences they have had, so if you have anything to say, just let me know...

For now I must get back to work. The first hurdle to jump is the Kenyan Research Visa Application. I need to send them a copy of my literature review and my questionnaires. Which requires me to finish the literature review, and writing the questionnaires - and I have to get it all done by the end of the week-end! I've got over 7,000 words of my literature review which is not in good shape, and there is a lot more information to go in, and I only have a rough draft of one questionnaire which needs a lot of work. So I must now get back to it....



Emma xxx