PhD Researcher, Queen’s University Belfast

After completing my A-Levels I went to the University of Dundee to study law. The highlight of my undergraduate degree was taking part in the ERASMUS exchange in 2002/3 when I spent an academic year in Leiden University, the Netherlands. In 2004, I graduated with a 2:1(Hons) and had planned to do my legal practice course, but started working as a paralegal in residential conveyancing, first to get some experience. I decided that a career in law was not for me. However, while working in the field, I developed an interest for planning. I, therefore, decided to go back to university in 2005 to do the RTPI-accredited one year accelerated Masters that was offered by Queen’s University, Belfast. I have recently graduated with a distinction. I have now taken up a PhD studentship at Queen’s, where I have just completed my first semester.

I have always had a general interest in local planning matters, and this was developed through my work in conveyancing. I did not realise how extensive planning was until I actually started the Masters. Almost any aspect of planning is contentious, however, my interest in planning mainly lies with environmental matters, wind farms, renewable energy and marine spatial planning, which are perhaps the most controversial issues. This is exciting as it means there is always some sort of debate taking place, and the key is trying to balance everybody’s interest. The thing that I did not realise when I started to study planning was that there was so much law involved, and now I am thoroughly grateful for my legal background.

For my Masters thesis I looked at a very new and specialised area of planning, marine spatial planning. I am now continuing in this field for my PhD research. This is a really exciting area for planning, as it reaches into unknown territory for planners. In fact, it offers a whole new untouched environment. Marine spatial planning is a new spatial planning technique that will be used for planning the use of the sea, which will take into account all the different users, regulations and designations of the sea. Spatial plans will then be formulated for the use of the sea, loosely based on the principles of land use planning.

I am not yet entirely sure what I will do after my PhD. I would like to do some travelling during my studies. I definitely want to stay in my current field, as I believe it is the way forward in planning! Ideally I would like to be practising marine spatial planning, or I will stay in academia and theorise about it!

Author:

Dushy Large

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

11-Jan-07

Categories:

Planning as a Career 

Sections:

Education & Careers

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