The university of ennui (short story)

Subject line: I have a plan!

Hey Ania, I just wanted to reach out to say thanks for the great conversation last month. I didn’t realise how much I needed to hear some encouragement about this new idea. It’s so different from the stuff I was doing last year that I haven’t been confident it’s going to be a good direction for my research. But I’ve decided that I definitely need to talk to the supervision collective and pitch it. I know they’ll want me to justify the extra few years it will add to the PhD. AIDMIN_Sunny is the one I’m most concerned about convincing, but it has been way more accommodating since the last empathy upgrade, and Samira and Taiyo always want me to push myself in new directions, so they will get it, I think. Anyway, I feel way better and my energy levels are through the roof now. I was getting so frustrated before and it just wasn’t feeling right. Your advice was perfect – I mean, what are we doing if we’re not enjoying this journey?

So, you mentioned that group in Lagos that might be interested in collaborating on this? It would help my pitch if I could explain how the new approach will fit with the work that’s going on there. Actually, I think spending next year there would be ideal. I spoke to TrAIvel just now and it just sent me an itinerary and costs, including provisional booking for accommodation really close to the humanities lab and suggestions about where the kids could be based for a creative sabbatical year. Our LifeLearn grants will cover it so I’m not worried about that. I’m just really excited to get started ASAP, so if you could introduce me to Prof Ibekwe and send them my smartfolio, that would be so helpful. I just added a holo to the top of this message – giving you access now – which I hope explains what I think this is going to be about and why it’s exciting to me. Thank you so much!

I hope you’re well – I was really sorry to hear that Mawaan didn’t manage to convince his collective to keep the head office mixed. I know whatever he does next will be great, but I am always a bit sad when the human-inclusive offices wind up. Especially when it leaves a friend at a loose end like that. Tell him I’m thinking about him and that there’s plenty of room on the ‘dark side’ here in academia!! Ha!

All my best, thanks again,
T

Links

Scenario (The university of enuui)

Next scenario (Enhanced enhancement)

Higher Education Futures (project page)

Decorative illustration of people facing each other connected to abstract symbols, with the text 'The university of enuui'
Decorative explanation of The university of enuui