“He was unstoppable not because he did not have failures or doubts, but because he continued despite them” sums up Dr. Peter Macharia’s inspirational story, overcoming all odds to become one of the most promising Kenyan researchers in the field of disease mapping and spatial accessibility.
Now a Postdoctoral fellow at Lancaster University, Dr. Macharia – who started his childhood academic journey at a children’s home – shares with us his PhD experience and lessons learnt, importantly that anyone can get anywhere, of course with resilience and hard work.
When did you start thinking about pursuing a PhD? and why was a PhD important to you?
One of my uncles started calling me ‘Doctor’ at a very tender age following my performance in primary school. After understanding career trajectories during the high school period, I was sure I wanted to be part of academia and research, to contribute to improving livelihoods, given my past and early life. To achieve this milestone, I recognised that I had worked hard and smart towards the PhD. I was always cognizant that it would not be an easy road, but I was willing to pay the price.
Can you tell us what your research project involves and why chose this subject area?
My doctoral research tackled three related questions, how do levels and trends in under-five mortality (U5M) rates vary by county (subnational geographic area in Kenya), how have determinants of U5M changed by county and what is the impact of these determinants on child survival between 1965 and 2015? To answer these questions, I assembled household surveys and census data conducted in Kenya since 1989 and employed demographic techniques, conditional autoregressive models, Gaussian process regression, model-based geostatistics and counterfactual analysis. The results have been presented at international conferences, published in peer-reviewed journals and I am currently writing more papers from the work. The published papers can be accessed here
The journey to this research area is long………
My final year Bachelor research project (Spatial modelling for optimal oil pipeline route in Kenya) marked the genesis of my interest in research in spatial modelling. Following a competitive recruitment process, in 2015, I won a post-graduate diploma studentship (health research methods) to work on spatial access modelling with the Population Health Unit at KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP), in collaboration with Pwani University, Kenya. The study was concerned with computing spatial access metrics to public health facilities at high spatial-resolution. In the 2 years that followed, I was involved in estimating subnational malaria burden and malaria control activities that fed into country profiles of malaria epidemiology in SSA. I also undertook an MSc via partial scholarship via the Higher loans education board where I developed spatial models to quantify bed nets needed in each health facility by pregnant women and infants for protection against malaria. By the time I graduated, I had developed interests in spatio-temporal modelling at a high spatial resolution, especially in maternal and child health. Therefore, the subject area highly suited my background, methodological interests and application areas.
How did you secure funding for your PhD?
My PhD was funded through a competitive scholarship under the Initiative to Develop African Research Leaders (IDeAL) based at KWTRP. More details about their recruitment process are provided here
What are some things/tips anyone should consider/know when looking for PhD funding?
As you look for funding you need to have a clear goal on why you want to do the PhD and in what specific subject area. It is advisable to connect and follow (for example through social media) individuals, research groups and organizations that support the kind of work of you are interested in. Be persistent and appreciate that rejections are part of the process. For example, I had applied for many scholarships to pursue masters over some time without any positive feedback. But when the flood gates opened, I got awarded funding for MSc by three different scholarship schemes simultaneously. It’s also important to a have a chat with those who have applied before you and secured a scholarship placement. You can learn a few things from them before submitting your application.
Catch them doing things right – frequently! Be humble enough to cute-n-tiny.com generic viagra online ask for feedback and be open to alternative ways of thinking so you avoid any blind spots.
Tell us about a typical day in the life of a PhD student
A typical day for each PhD student differs based on the subject area. In my case, it would be catching up with recent papers in my area of research, some geospatial analysis and a bit of writing. Though not every day, I would meet one of my supervisors in her/his office for questions, clarifications and discussions, sometimes send a few emails to my other supervisors. Often, I had consultations with specific people experienced in some aspects of research work. I also worked with a student on a specific project and would allocate time for this time. From time to time I would also get some of my colleagues seeking clarifications related to mapping. Not forgetting lots of water and coffee.
Is there anything you wish you’d known before starting a PhD?
I think I would have wanted to know what the experience would be like to be better prepared. But in hindsight, I can confidently say, a PhD journey or experience is unique for each person and guided by many factors such as the mentors you have, whether you are having a lab-based, field-based or office-based research work, availability of equipment, accessibility of data among other factors. These factors interact differently in diverse contexts. A student should embrace the journey and make sure they have the right support systems and mentors who believe in them and are supportive.
In your estimation, how does will the PhD help your career progression? What are your next steps?
Looking back, it has been quite a journey!!!!!!! It has created the right foundation for my next steps, it has ingrained in me a culture of inquisitiveness, critique, undertaking due diligence from the formulation of a research question to making recommendations after a systematic research process. In my next steps, I will be doing a Postdoctoral research fellowship focusing on enhancing improve geostatistical inference methods for disease mapping in low-resource settings. I won a globally competitive fellowship offered by The Royal Society. The scheme is called The Newton International Fellowship (NIF) and “selects the very best early-career postdoctoral researchers from all over the world, and enable them to work at UK research institutions for two years” by supporting your development and training at an early stage of your research career. More details can be found here. However, before I back on the NIF, I will work on a few manuscripts made possible by an award from IDeAL called career development year-CDY equivalent to an early postdoc. I will be based at KWTRP.
In your experience, what are some of the misconceptions about doing a PhD?
There are many but I could point out two. That doing a PhD will be a straight path, start to end. Usually, there are many unforeseen ingredients and needs one to adapt to the situations as they arise. Secondly, that PhD holders should end up in academia/research for them to be considered successful. However, post-PhD many opportunities exist which are not academia or research-related and need PhD holders to take up them.
What advice would you give to any prospective PhD students, especially international students thinking about doing a PhD?
Find good mentors and supervisors for your PhD and most important research on a topic that interests you.
What’s the most valuable/rewarding aspect of a PhD in your experience?
I got share my work in international conferences across the world including USA, UK, South Africa, Tanzania and Senegal. I also interacted with policymakers and academic giants in my areas of specialisation. Finally, getting my papers published despite sleepless nights working on them