It seems to be popular to list achievements and major events of the 2010s this time of the year (especially on Twitter…), but I have so far refrained from doing so. Partly because they often come across as somewhat braggy, partly because they mix private and professional (aka more public-suitable) achievements, which I don’t want to do. I’m still feeling unsure about the function of such a list – as a public item, not as a personal log – but anyways, here it goes:
- 2010: Finished my Magister Artium degree with Honours and published my first book
- 2011: Taught my first Masterclass (on Digital Editions)
- 2012: Got accepted into the Ph.D. program at the University of Oslo (and moved countries)
- 2013: Received a Digital Humanities Fellowship at the Herzog-August-Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel
- 2014+2015: Got sick and later diagnosed with a rare autoimmune disease followed by a long-term sick leave.
- 2016: Picked up Ph.D. dissertation again
- 2017: Handed in my Ph.D. thesis
- 2018: Passed my Ph.D. defense, taught another masterclass and got my first “real” job after graduating (at the National Library of Norway as Research Librarian). Also: appendicitis and burnout.
- 2019: Resigned and accepted a new job offer (at the University of Oslo Library as Research Data Management Advisor)
I am still most proud and most fond of my master’s project on the Ship of Fools – and I think it is mostly because the time was untainted by health issues and other troubling life events (there were quite a few later which I didn’t list because of their private nature). I can now say that I am glad for the opportunity the Ph.D. program in Norway gave me: moving to a different country, learning another language and mastering it, and most of all: being independent. But where the journey will lead me, that I don’t know.
