I am particularly called to doing a PhD in the UK given the positive experience I had while writing my master’s thesis at University of Edinburgh. I savored the time I had to delve deeply into a particular topic, forging connective threads between seemingly disparate topics in a creative way. By pursuing a PhD in the UK, I hope to once again focus my energy on a particular project, exploring it deeply while creating new knowledge and perspectives. I am truly lit up by the research I have done in crafting my proposal thus far, and am thrilled at the prospect of continuing and deepening that research.

I, like many practitioners with privilege working with CoM, have long been conflicted with how to be a source of support for CoM without overstepping and perpetuating harmful, colonialist, Eurocentric perspectives. While I believe the untangling of this will be a lifelong pursuit, I hope that conducting a PhD, engaging in research, may be a way in which I can support CoM without directing and dictating what they ‘should’ be doing. In a research capacity, I hope to generate knowledge that may be of use to practitioners who may be better suited to guide CoM, practitioners who may have experienced displacement themselves.

Relatedly, I welcome the opportunity to conduct research outside of donor interests. Having worked in education/psychosocial support for CoM for many years, I have witnessed the influence of donors in determining what is deemed interesting/worthwhile. While I certainly do not mean to imply all donors have a negative impact on organizational focuses or activities, I am invigorated by the possibility of exploring impacts of initiatives with CoM that are not guided or dictated by external pressures. 

In reflecting on this question, I experienced a sort of full-circle realization: my experiences working with CoM have catalysed me into feeling STEs. Most notably, I think of the instances in which witnessing the moral beauty (the kindness, courage, and overcoming) of the children with whom I worked shifted me into a state of awe. The continual and collective accumulation of these experiences has positioned me as acutely aware of being part of something larger than the self, and I truly believe and feel that the wellbeing and flourishing of CoM is inherent to our collective wellbeing and flourishing. This feeling motivates me to continue searching for ways in which I can be a source of support for CoM.

This project also merges many of my skills, experiences, and interests. Imagination-based education calls upon my personal experiences of being involved in theater and music for much of my childhood and youth. These practices supported my growth, expansion, creativity, and sense of community in ways that continue to resonate in my life to this day. Additionally, my foray into working with CoM was through a creative, play and arts-based initiative for displaced Syrian children living in Turkey. While working directly with children in Reyhanli, Turkey, I was an Arts mentor, supporting children through various arts-based activities. I thus witnessed firsthand the excitement, focus, and creativity that such initiatives could bring out in CoM. 

This dedication to infusing creative practices in my work with children extends outside my experience in Reyhanli. In my various roles working directly with children, I always aim to integrate creative practices to engage children in dynamic ways. For instance, when I taught displaced Syrian children in Beirut, my students and I used songs to learn phonics. This particular practice stands out to me given the children’s excitement when it was time to sing. They would bound up from their desks, typically singing as loudly as possible, and often add a little wiggle for good measure. I would also hear their murmuring the songs while working on other tasks, and the tunes became a sort of hallmark of our time together. 

Through co-creating various imagination-based experiences with and for CoM over the years, I have witnessed firsthand what seem to be the positive impacts of such initiatives. Through this project, I hope to research additional potential benefits for which I previously did not have the background knowledge or vocabulary to explore.

I believe my passion for working with children is directly related to my being an older sister. I am nine years older than my brother, and eleven years older than my sister, and, as a result, I cultivated a love for being around and nurturing children from a young age. 

Additionally, one of my top five strengths as determined by Clifton StrengthsFinder is that of ‘Developer.’  People who bear this strength see and nurture the potential in others. I believe this relates directly to my love of working with and supporting children, as I witness their potential and aim to support their flourishing. Critically though, I concurrently hold the view that children are already whole, worthy beings, not merely people in process of becoming adults. I thus aim to meet children where they are, respecting their unique subjectivities, strengths, interests, etc., while also supporting their growth.

Relevant to this project, I also love working with kids for their ability to readily tap into their imaginations. As someone who grew up in creative arts, I love the ways in which kids often operate from a space of possibility and creativity, and I find that being with them helps me tap into this space as well. From this place, children show and remind me that the world is so much vaster, more expansive than we often recognize as we move about our quotidian lives.