{"id":3192,"date":"2020-07-22T15:35:42","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T14:35:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/london\/?p=3192"},"modified":"2025-05-22T13:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T12:14:17","slug":"my-phd-experience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/london\/international-management-and-entrepreneurship\/my-phd-experience","title":{"rendered":"My PhD experience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Dr Adaku Jennifer Agwunobi is our first Black doctoral researcher to complete her PhD, and the first doctoral researcher to complete their PhD within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lborolondon.ac.uk\/institutes\/innovation-entrepreneurship\/\">Institute for International Management and Entrepreneurship<\/a>. What&#8217;s more, Dr Agwunobi also completed her PhD in an impressive 2 years and 10 months &#8211; pretty exceptional, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this blog, hear from Dr Agwunobi in her own words as she reflects on her PhD experience at Loughborough University London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>Being the first Black PhD student to obtain a PhD at Loughborough University&#8217;s London campus is an honour that I\u2019ll always cherish. Having passed my PhD viva within 2 years and 10 months of starting my PhD programme, and at the age of 26, is also another accomplishment that I\u2019m immensely proud of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This PhD is more than just a degree; my research focuses on the link between health and discrimination, and in the context of entrepreneurship in the digital economy as well as using intersectionality as a theoretical lens. Some of the topics covered include micro-aggressions, whitewashing, physical health, mental health, digital well-being, cyberbullying, stereotyping, stigma and more. Exploration of these topics is vital and fundamental to my research, particularly due to the ongoing social injustice and maltreatment of Black lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At Loughborough University London, I really loved being based on the Olympic Park and taking part in everything that was going on! I ensured that I made the most out of my experience, and I established several collaborations at Here East, too. I am so grateful for this experience, and it was always so amazing being based around such innovative practises, people and inspirational projects. Nonetheless, there were a number of challenges, but I really enjoyed doing my PhD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>People would often ask me why I was so happy and how I had so much energy all the time; one of the main reasons is because I\u2019m genuinely passionate about my research area and it makes me happy to know that my work can contribute to positive change. Being a young, Black woman undertaking this research has been important, motivational and eye-opening, to say the least! While conducting interviews and surveys for the PhD, meeting entrepreneurs and employees at events, networking with stakeholders, lecturing, presenting at conferences and conducting entrepreneurial well-being workshops, it was clear that introducing this subject matter to their narratives was crucial because of the \u2018high-stress\u2019 context and links between stress and negative health outcomes. Delving deep into inter-sectional health inequalities further motivated my interest in health disparities and their connections to discrimination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being a co-ethnic researcher in the field also brought comfort to the participants. They felt they could be themselves, without judgement, and responded to someone whom they felt would understand their experiences as well as cultural nuances. I am Black \u2018British\u2019 of Nigerian descent, Igbo to be specific. I was born and raised in London, one of England\u2019s most diverse cities. It is extremely important for me to \u2018give voice\u2019 to the marginalised and be a voice representing those whose voices are generally not included. I, too, have been \u2018the only Black girl\u2019 and \u2018the only Black person\u2019 particularly during this PhD process and I have created my own \u2018table\u2019 from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Undertaking a PhD has privileges in itself, and I aim to use this to make a positive change through intersectional action, making several contributions to literature, giving voice to the marginalised and, thus, overall raising awareness, making a difference and helping to improve marginalised individuals\u2019 health and well-being through knowledge and evidence-based research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We&nbsp;<em>literally need&nbsp;<\/em>to speak about mental health, racism, patriarchy and world peace. I hope to make a difference with my research and continue to centre the experiences of Black individuals in order to work towards the reduction and subsequent elimination of health disparities; <em>ultimately aiming towards making the world a better, happier and healthier place.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p>Loughborough University London would like to congratulate Dr Adaku Jennifer Agwunobi on her achievement!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dr Adaku Jennifer Agwunobi is our first Black doctoral researcher to complete her PhD, and the first doctoral researcher to complete their PhD within the Institute for International Management and Entrepreneurship. What&#8217;s more, Dr Agwunobi also completed her PhD in an impressive 2 years and 10 months &#8211; pretty exceptional, right? In this blog, hear [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":182,"featured_media":3208,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"lboro_blog_alternative_thumbnail_image":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[26,158,17,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-international-management-and-entrepreneurship","category-research","category-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>My PhD experience - Loughborough University London<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.lboro.ac.uk\/london\/international-management-and-entrepreneurship\/my-phd-experience\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"My PhD experience - Loughborough University London\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Dr Adaku Jennifer Agwunobi is our first Black doctoral researcher to complete her PhD, and the first doctoral researcher to complete their PhD within the Institute for International Management and Entrepreneurship. 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