The PhD Expedition

I can’t count the number of times I considered doing a PhD over the years. There were so many reasons…I have a naturally inquisitive mind and I love (no, seriously!) learning. It also seemed like a natural progression after my PGDM not to mention the glamour of “Dr.” tag at the end of the journey. Not least, I was lucky to find my calling in research publishing quite early in my career.

I downloaded many brochures, looked at various programs and re-visited websites and found myself very confused. I reached out to my mother’s uncle, Professor K.R.G. Nair (Founder, Director of Centre for Canadian Studies and Director South Campus, University of Delhi) for some advice. After patiently listening to me, he simply said, “you can easily get into a PhD program but I want you to ask yourself, what is going to keep you inspired for years of studying?” I realised that as much as I hated to admit, I couldn’t think of any topic or subject where I could confidently say it was worth my time. That was nearly 10 years ago.

Fast forward to 2018-2019. I had already spent over 15 years in publishing. I was lucky that I got to learn and see the changes and chaos that came with Open Access in India especially when our editors were still learning how to work with global publishers and their processes that are exactly opposite of their working relationship with local printers that called themselves publishers for past decades. It didn’t take me time to recognise the spark of passion and inspiration building in me. I knew exactly what I wanted to devote my time to and this time, it was no longer about the “Dr.” prefix. My various roles in various companies had brought me to the point where I had a good understanding of Open Access and was already guiding institutes and researchers from South Asia to understand Open Access. But after all these years of building a career, I wasn’t ready to pause it for a full-time PhD in some prestigious universities I had been eyeing. As a single woman, I also had to think of the financial implications of the course. And then I found my match.

I didn’t have to think much when I learned about the Executive Fellow Programme in Management (EFPM). It met all criteria I was concerned about and, more importantly, since I had interacted with the Executive Director, Radhika Srivastava, and knew many faculty members of the institute because of my past work with them both in FIIB and beyond, I knew that the team was a right fit as well.

After all these years of thinking and re-thinking, it felt like everything was coming together to form a perfect point in my life. I nervously filled out the admission application and prepared for the written exam that was to follow. I also prepared Plan B, which was to accept some other PhD offers I had received.

In August 2021, I received my admission confirmation letter.