Every PhD journey is different and has a story behind it. In this episode, we explore the story of one PhD project exploring the challenging journeys of novice runners as they begin running and develop running identities from a phenomenological perspective. As exciting as the research is, however, the background journey is perhaps even more fascinating, including a year in a tent with a baby and a toddler.


I have the pleasure to discuss today with Jen Benson, a writer and an author of several guidebooks on adventures, running and walking, and a PhD student at Liverpool John Moores University.


Jen has recently published a book titled “The Wild Year” which tells the story of how she and her family spent a full year living in a tent in different parts of the UK. We explore this personal story in the first part of the conversation, and in the second part, we move on to exploring Jen's PhD project on becoming a runner.