post by Iris Jestin (2023 cohort)
After having re-read the humorous, and thoughtful exchange reflections of my CDT cohort peers for inspiration, I sit down, reminiscing, at my favourite cafe in Notts (Public, highly recommend!) on a Friday, nearly a month after my return from Australia. A line that caught my eye from my dear friend Lucy’s reflection post that I wholeheartedly agree with was, “the value of immersion”.
My one-month visit to the Land Down Under is a trip that I will cherish for life. A thought that I kept coming back to throughout my visit was, ‘the idea of normal’. Having been raised, lived, worked and travelled a fair bit, across different cultures, I believe every city and country has the potential to unlock a slightly different version of you, if you let it. A version of you that remains hidden, until you have an opportunity to step far outside your comfort zone, immerse yourself in another culture and challenge the idea of ‘your normal’. An opportunity that was provided to me by this exchange.
The lab I’d chosen for my exchange was one that was at the forefront of research in all things Automotive Human Factors, HMIs, and most importantly Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS), the focus of my PhD. The AVR3 (Automated Vehicles in Rural and Remote Regions) research centre, is part of CARRS-Q (Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety – Queensland) at the Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. The modern university buildings were nestled in a tropical campus environment, with flora and weather that reminded me an awful lot of the one back home in Kerala, India.
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Once my body had battled the ten-hour time difference, I found myself getting used to the routine of catching the bus every day to the lab. I appreciated being warmly greeted by the big group of PhD students and postdocs at the lab, where coming in to work almost everyday, was quite normal. Without fully admitting it to myself, I had quietly hoped that this exchange would give me the ideas I knew I needed for my PhD’s final study design. Given that the lab’s niche focus was quite aligned to mine, every discussion managed to spark ideas for my own research. I began recognising the value of a research-intensive lab culture that worked so closely with application in the industry. The Monday morning lab meetings felt like the weekly stand-up meetings I used to experience while working in the industry. It included everyone giving their work updates, and collaboratively finding solutions to the research blockers experienced by each person. I realised that in this lab, a lot of your research doubts could get quick solutions by simply talking to the PhD peers sitting right next to you, whether that was regarding your data collection, method of analysis, or in my case, testing out the study design. A casual conversation with the friend (and PhD student) who supported me the most during my time there, turned into, “Let’s test whether your study design might actually work!”. Within an hour, I was already generating insights into my final study’s design using a low fidelity driving (gaming) set-up! The following week, I continued to tweak and test the study design with four more PhD students, exploring what may or may not work, getting expert feedback from them on what might need changing. Being able to test my half-baked ideas so quickly gave me an incredible amount of clarity into what needs to go into the final PhD study, without wasting valuable time, which is entirely thanks to this exchange.
Over the course of my time there, I learned that flat whites were invented in Australia, fondly referred to as a ‘flatty’. Much to my surprise, a cockatoo was sometimes considered a pest by the locals..but look how cute they are! As someone who relies on public transport a lot, train prices in Brisbane and the state of Queensland, blew my mind. You could catch trains, however long, for just 0.50 AUD (~£0.26). I caught a four hour train (to and fro) for less than £1! A weekend by turquoise waters at the Gold Coast, 2 hours from Brisbane, had the aquaphile in me, tell myself that, in another life, I would settle down here. Soon enough, I had managed to learn the five different, yet equally confusing ways to get to the lab. But by then, it was already time to leave the wonderful place that I’d made home for the three weeks.
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I’m grateful for yet another experience that humbled me into thinking, ‘what you consider normal, is in fact, what you’re familiar with’. As for my final study design, I will hopefully, soon find out whether it will actually work here.