I’m Paula Dunlop and I’m finishing a practice-lead PHD at QUT as part of the Creative Industries faculty.

My project looks at understandings of design and understandings of design ethics alongside histories of dressmaking with special relation to my own creative practice as a dress maker.

I started out at QUT as an undergrad and then moved straight into my honours and then into my PHD. Which was really good because I was able to slowly focus in on research areas that had been of interest to me for a long time.

Day to day my work could be quite varied. So a typical day would be pretty much me rocking up to the studio and working away on some of my creative practice or preparing for exhibitions and things like that. Or I might have days where it was more straightforward sort of writing and reading. So there was no real typical day for me, the nice thing is that the PHD gives you enough time and enough flexibility to actually decide how you’re going to work and when you’re going to work.

If you’re thinking about doing a PHD I would recommend that you have a look at what options are out there in terms of scholarships. I was fortunate enough to be granted a scholarship and it certainly made things lot easier for me.

I think I found the first year of my PHD the most challenging. There was a lot to learn in that first year. There were a few coursework subjects to take; learning to research and so on. I was also still working out what my topic was and finding my confidence generally.

At the end of the first year I had my confirmation and that was a big deal I suppose because it’s where you show your project to the university and to your peers and you either get the thumbs up to continue or you get to told to have a rethink and reposition your project.

I had a few exhibitions and then was just doing a lot of writing up until my final seminar at the three year mark where again I present to the university, I get feedback and a chance to revise before it then goes to examination. It’s been really rewarding, I’ve met a lot of really good people. Probably the first time in my life that I actually truly met some like minds and have created some firm friendships that I’ll continue. I’m just about to print and bind the final copy of my thesis which feels very good, it’s very exciting. It’s been a long hard three and a half years but ultimately pretty rewarding.