Not going to lie, when told that we had to complete a research project next year, I was worried. The upcoming project felt tedious, unfamiliar, and daunting. I could think of so many things I was interested in, but they all felt like passing ideas that were too big and too impractical to go through with. After attending the first three research seminars, however, the way in which I view next years project has completely changed. Over these the lectures, we covered some really interesting material and got an insight into what it’s really like to research. Although I went into each seminar with little interest in the topics, the passion of each presenter was contagious. All three presentations stuck with me long after class ended, and I found Ethan’s presentation on technology and ideology particularly good. Admittedly, I had never given a second thought to the issues he was talking about, but, by the end of the seminar, he had me hooked. To me, this was an eye-opener into why we should be jumping at the chance to begin our research – because we have the power to give even the most uninterested person a reason to care about our topics. These three research seminars were inspiring to say the least. Their small approaches to big ideas intrigued me and backed up the research potential of my own interests – shifting next year’s task from something tedious, unfamiliar and daunting, to something compelling, welcoming and … still daunting (but in all the best ways).
