Research Post

            My research experience did not go exactly as I foresaw ahead of arriving in Zambia. It twisted and turned more than I would have liked, and it came about later than I would liked. I have never done any sort of research like this before, research that is meaningful and actually beneficial to a field. And a big learning experience of mine this summer was that this sort of research takes serious time. What was even more surprising though was that while the research itself takes time, finding a topic that has not yet been explored and needs to be explore, takes even longer. I remember in the beginning of the program thinking that it was laughable that we would get two weeks to find a research question. How on earth could simply finding a question take multiple full days of work? But as it turned out, I don’t think we had our research question actually figured out until even two weeks after that. Looking back, it makes more sense to me now that in order to find something new to explore, you have to be incredibly familiar with the field as it currently exists. And achieving this familiarity is in and of itself a serious feat and will, of course, take time.

            One element to the research that I have really liked has been some of the doors that it has opened to us. For example just last Friday we talked with the acting Minister of Mines, whose level of importance here in Zambia really is considerable. Some of this definitely had to do with the fact that we are in Zambia, not America, but still, it has been a fun experience nonetheless. For the last few weeks I have been able to introduce myself to some pretty significant people here and have a real, meaningful conversation with them, which honestly is a position I have never been in before. I also got to go to a very fancy conference, which was not a terrible bonus.

            I think the last and maybe favorite aspect to my research has been the end satisfaction. While we still have a ways to go, we are certainly nearing the end, and it has given me a lot of personal satisfaction to see the work start to take shape as it has. It is especially fulfilling to see real experts like Tine and Marja look at your work are show both genuine interest and approval. It makes these feelings all the better too that this success in our research was not something I always knew would happen. There were certainly moments of uncertainty and doubt, and so overcoming those to create something that means something to me, my research partner and supervisors, and the field at large really seems like quite an accomplishment.