Meet the Intern: Rachel Eager

Hello, my name is Rachel, and I am the new PGR Communications Intern for 2022-23. I’m thrilled to be here! Here’s a little bit about me and my role.

Rachel in the cloisters — Rachel in the Cloisters

My Role

I’m the person behind Twitter and Instagram and you’ll also get lots of exciting emails from me with events and opportunities. I will also be managing the wonderful UofG PGR Blog, so if you have an idea for a submission, please get in touch! Finally, I’m here to support Karen in making sure you know about competitions like 3 Minute Thesis and Visualise Your Thesis. I want to build on the fantastic work that Adam and Emily have done this past year to keep growing our community and make U of G the place to be for PGRs.

My PhD

I’m a second year PhD student in Comparative Literature – I’ve actually been #TeamUofG for the past seven years!

Photos: Rachel (2016!), Conference, MA graduation, first conference

I draw parallels between sixteenth-and seventeenth – century emblem books to Vogue magazine, both anglophone and francophone. Through this, I’m firstly determining if magazines can be classed as emblematic and interrogating the stereotype and to what extent stereotypes are reinforced or challenged across gender and race. The wider implications is that this reflects society in general.

When I’m not finding myself lost in old books (great smell!) at the Stirling Maxwell Centre or sifting through vintage magazines, I’m taking part in side projects like The Graphix Project (a really cool human rights start up my research feeds into) or teaching. It’s all the PhD, after all!

I’m thoroughly enjoying the whole process but a highlight so far has to be presenting at my first international conference in Portugal last year. It was like a concert at first – finally meeting your scholarly heroes. Then, most learned my name and even suggested I could be their grandchild! (I’ll take it!). I also enjoyed some much needed sun, needless to say.

Interests

Having a life outside of the PhD, is it possible? Yes – and everyone needs one!

I love horses, if I’m not reading (trashy rom-coms and chick lit. or heavy crime), I’m in the saddle or combing hair that’s more tangled than my own. I’d love to say I’m a gym person but I’ve been once with my membership. I do love yoga, baking (eating the baking!) and listening to podcasts.

Photo: Rachel on horse, Flynn - he’s a superstar!

I also love to travel, I lived and taught English in Lille, France and I totally got the travel bug. I ended my stay with a tour around 9 countries in Eastern Europe. Since 2020, this has halted but I plan on getting back to using all my weekends to see the world again. If you see me a little sluggish on a Monday morning, know I’m just back in Scotland and ready to get back to work after a little spot of adventure.

My Hopes For This Year

Usually, PGR interns write something about what they hope for this year in terms of the role however I want to take a wider approach. So here’s my goals this year:

To practice what I preach: I want to follow all the work/life balance ideas and tips we suggest to PGRs
To organise more opportunities for PGRs to collaborate, interact and say hi to each other
This is ambitious: stop buying biscuits and make my own!!! (Cheaper, healthier and baking is good for mental health!)
Ensure I have projects which I see grow, as Prof. Alison Phipps suggested in her keynote at #ThisPhDLife
Finally, to build and continue the wonderful work of Adam and Emily, our outgoing interns have put into place. They’ve helped create a wonderful community – big shoes to fill but important ones.