On reviewing the blog, I can see that there is quite a lot about my experiences in Thailand - what I did, where I went, but very little about what led me to do the research that I did. So here's a summary of how the trip came about.
Towards the end of my MSc in Environmental Assessment and Management at Brighton University, all of us on the course were considering what subjects we would do for our dissertations. It would need to involve a large amount of original research, so choice of an interesting subject was essential. Some people came up with a corker immediately. Hector, for example, decided to study the environmental impact of rock festivals! I had a number of small ideas but they all felt rather dry and contrived.
Then the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to do research for our dissertations in Indonesia or Thailand was announced. The deadline was quite tight and the subject was around women and natural resource management, which seemed both too broad and overly specific. So I started to investigate what the current natural resource issues were -water? agriculture? As well as general guides and overviews, I read regional newspapers online such as the Bangkok Post. Fairly soon I started coming across articles discussing the Community Forestry Bill, which at that point was slowly making its way through the Thai Parliament.
From that point I knew I had my subject - community forestry - but there was a lot more to do. I had to come up with a working title and a brief that fitted the terms of the scholarship. I researched the academic papers online, read more general introductory texts and used the IDS library at Sussex for access to original 'grey' sources. There was not much on women, as most of the forestry/gender related studies had been done in India, rather than SE Asia. However, what studies there were gave indications about what the issues might be.
The methodology section was comparatively easy to write, just carefully following the guidelines produced by the University. I wrote the first draft of the application over the Christmas holidays, had it checked by my tutor, revised it and got it in by the deadline. The deadline then was extended by a further two weeks, presumably because they wanted more applicants.
I was given an informal hint that my application was successful in February, but it was not until March that I was given the formal go ahead.
Towards the end of my MSc in Environmental Assessment and Management at Brighton University, all of us on the course were considering what subjects we would do for our dissertations. It would need to involve a large amount of original research, so choice of an interesting subject was essential. Some people came up with a corker immediately. Hector, for example, decided to study the environmental impact of rock festivals! I had a number of small ideas but they all felt rather dry and contrived.
Then the opportunity to apply for a scholarship to do research for our dissertations in Indonesia or Thailand was announced. The deadline was quite tight and the subject was around women and natural resource management, which seemed both too broad and overly specific. So I started to investigate what the current natural resource issues were -water? agriculture? As well as general guides and overviews, I read regional newspapers online such as the Bangkok Post. Fairly soon I started coming across articles discussing the Community Forestry Bill, which at that point was slowly making its way through the Thai Parliament.
From that point I knew I had my subject - community forestry - but there was a lot more to do. I had to come up with a working title and a brief that fitted the terms of the scholarship. I researched the academic papers online, read more general introductory texts and used the IDS library at Sussex for access to original 'grey' sources. There was not much on women, as most of the forestry/gender related studies had been done in India, rather than SE Asia. However, what studies there were gave indications about what the issues might be.
The methodology section was comparatively easy to write, just carefully following the guidelines produced by the University. I wrote the first draft of the application over the Christmas holidays, had it checked by my tutor, revised it and got it in by the deadline. The deadline then was extended by a further two weeks, presumably because they wanted more applicants.
I was given an informal hint that my application was successful in February, but it was not until March that I was given the formal go ahead.
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