It’s starting to feel real. Last week I joined many of the other 103 or so 2023 Churchill Fellowship recipients in Canberra for our collective onboarding process.
Whilst the media, marketing and time management education were all valuable, the highlight for me was the address from His Excellency, Australian Governor-General, David Hurley, who is Patron of the Churchill Trust. Given the incredible diversity of the topics that are being researched (from my own take on regional renewable energy, to wooden boatbuilding, loneliness and jazz festivals) it’s a little hard to define the role of a Churchill Fellow. That said, the Governor-General urged us to use this opportunity to “join the dots”. For me, this provided a great moment of clarity, as I’ve been busy thinking about the people – across Government, Academia, Industry and Community – that I want to speak from as part of my research. Perhaps the remaining daunting part is the sheer number of dots I suspect I will set myself up with.
The Canberra trip was also a great opportunity to meet my fellow recipients, and – whilst the topics are diverse – there’s no doubt that it’s an impressive bunch of people. Our onboarding went to some effort to impress upon us the need to accept and manage any imposter syndrome that we might be feeling as a result of our selection. It’s gratifying to be included in this cohort, and I’m looking forward to watching the research of some of my compatriots almost as much as I’m looking forward to my own.