Painting our way through research, belonging, and London | The PhD Sketchbook

What does a PhD journey look like when you paint it rather than write it?

Louise and Tooba are two international doctoral students at the UCL Institute of Education, and in 2026 they are navigating the third year of their PhD programmes. Each month they will meet to sit down, talk, and paint. These sessions turn reflective conversations into visual stories, using art to bring their PhD experience to life on the page - their 'PhD Sketchbook'.

In this episode they explore the beginnings of their journeys: the “seeds” that motivated them to start a PhD, their paths to London, and the small moments that help an unfamiliar city slowly feel like home, all shared over canvas and colour.

You can see the artworks they created during this episode on the UCL IOE student blog, and on the IOE Instagram account.
Full show notes and links: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/news/2026/mar/painting-our-way-through-research-belonging-and-london-phd-sketchbook 

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Introduction (man's voice): 00:00

You're listening to IOE Insights, the UCL Institute of Education podcast at University College London.

Louise: 00:17

Welcome everybody to the first episode of our new podcast, The PhD Sketchbook.

Tooba: 00:21

In which we talk about PhD life, being an international student and finding home in London while we paint a memory that reminds us of our journeys.

Louise: 00:31

Nice to meet you all everybody. My name is Louise and I come from France. I'm actually a third year PhD student in the Department of Culture, Communication and Media at the Institute of Education here in UCL.

Tooba: 00:43

And hi there, I'm Tooba from Pakistan, also a third year PhD student in the Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment here at IOE UCL. Hey, Louise. So let's begin. Let's start talking about why even we started with these PhDs. What was the breaking point for you?

Louise: 01:06

Well, at the beginning, I actually didn't wanted to do a PhD. I have a very long academic background. I did a double undergrad in history and law in France and then I did a Master's in international relations in France as well. And then I did a Master's in Journalism and Communication online in China. And even at that point I actually didn't want to do a PhD.

Louise: 01:31

But I really love academic, like university, academic work and I actually enjoyed doing my thesis, my dissertation during my Master's. And I think I was quite good at it and I wanted to explore more this subject. So yeah, I decided to do the PhD because what else can I do? Like I don't have any other talent. I can only be an academic to be honest.

Louise: 01:56

And when I called my mum and dad to say oh I actually want to do a PhD they were like oh yeah, that makes sense. We don't see you doing something else. What about you? Why did you choose to do this PhD?

Tooba: 02:08

Well, yours is very impressive, to be honest. In a very short words, I can say I love doing research. But initially, I started my journey being an elementary school teacher.

Louise: 02:23

Impressive.

Tooba: 02:24

Yeah. Along the way, I found research when I participated in a research project back in my undergrad. I'm someone who does a lot of experiments. I have worked in management as a teacher, as researcher, but I feel like I keep coming back to the research world because I really love that. And part of that is also because I really like my research field, which is climate change education.

Tooba: 02:55

Coming from Pakistan, where these issues are very relevant and real, I always felt like we need to do something about it and the curiosity keeps me going. One thing led to another, one degree led to another degree, and I found myself here at IOE studying climate change education.

Louise: 03:14

But why did you choose IOE in London? You could have done this PhD ever in the world, so why London? Why IOE? Why UCL?

Tooba: 03:22

Believe me,

Tooba: 03:23

I ask myself the same question a thousand times. But I guess, well, I have a quite history with London too. I was very skeptical when I started my PhD here because even though I grew up in a big city back home, I'm always running away from them. So I was like, oh, it's going be so crowded, so many people hustling, bustling.

Louise: 03:49

That is true.

Tooba: 03:49

I don't know. I don't know how I'm gonna make sense of it. But over the years, I have learned to appreciate London in so many ways. I mean, to take the hustling, bustling, and the crowding thing, as an international student, you never feel alone. You never feel like you don't have anything to do when you close your books.

Tooba: 04:08

There's always something happening. You can join social gatherings, events, or just go, like, in winter break, you can just go out and watch the beautiful lights, Christmas lights. Isn't it?

Louise: 04:20

Yeah. True. That's true.

Tooba: 04:21

So how about you, Louise? How has been London treating you?

Louise: 04:26

Well, that's actually the contrary. I come from a very, very, very little city in the countryside in France.

Tooba: 04:31

Uh-huh.

Louise: 04:31

And I always wanted to be, I don't know, in a bigger city. And I always loved London from the movie we saw on Netflix or whenever because, I don't know, London seems big, like a lot of opportunity, lot of different people, a lot of different vibes.

Louise: 04:47

As you say, something to do, something to enjoy. So that's why I always wanted to live in London. And actually at the end of my master's, I was already living in London with some friends. And I saw that IOE was the best department for education. And they have actually a media section and I wanted to do media education.

Louise: 05:08

It makes sense. And I just applied and ended up in IOE as well, which is nice.

Tooba: 05:13

Cool. Interesting. Media education, very relevant indeed. So how did you find your interest in this field and how has your research interest evolved?

Louise: 05:23

That's actually an interesting question. My last master degree was about journalism and communication. And I also did some internship in newspaper and media in France as well. So I actually developed an interest for media, media industry and everything around media. I did my master dissertation on fake news accusation from politicians and its impact on journalists in France.

Louise: 05:52

So, yeah, I got very interested on the critical aspect of media, like fake news and information, disinformation, all of that. So the next step for me was how can we teach people to be critical about media and how can we teach them to recognise fake news and disinformation. So I took an interest in media education and media literacy at this point.

Tooba: 06:17

Wow, that sounds again very interesting. And what is your current PhD project about?

Louise: 06:24

So now I'm studying media education in London in a secondary school. So I'm trying to look at how we teach kids about media and news in a critical way. And I'm trying to link this with how students and pupils consume news at home. So what are they looking at like in the newspaper, in the media, on their phone, on the television. So I'm trying to look at the relationship between this media education they receive and how they consume news.

Louise: 06:56

And I'm doing a qualitative research actually. So I'm using a music approach. Basically, I'm doing interview with the kids, with the teacher, I'm doing observation of the courses, but also some school club as well. And also, I'm doing some fun activity with the children, like drawing, mind maps, that kind of stuff. So, yeah, it's very fun and interesting.

Louise: 07:19

What about you, Tooba? So you say that you were a teacher before. And now you're studying climate change education. So how did you end up in this research field?

Tooba: 07:31

Well, let me think. No, I'm joking. Well, I strongly believe that education is both social and individual institutions. It has to respond to the needs and whatever is happening at the ground, good or bad. I mean, I studied.

Tooba: 07:57

I started my academic journey as a teacher trainee and then worked for a little while in school still teaching. But growing up in Lahore, which is one of the most impacted cities by climate change, I grew up in conditions like heat wave, flooding, heavy rainfall, smoke. Wow. So I always felt like teaching that's happening in school both as student and teacher is very disconnected to the reality. It's still just preparing us for finding good grades, securing good grades and finding decent jobs.

Tooba: 08:37

Whereas our lives are changing due to these very big issues, which are also very real. So, I think that was something that made me curious to find this field and start conducting my research.

Louise: 08:54

But now what are you studying in your PhD?

Tooba: 08:58

So yeah, talking about my PhD project, this should be and actually is the fourth research project for me working for environmental education and climate change education. This is study, multiple case studies and I'm borrowing some method from ethnographic research to look at how teachers living and working in two remote communities in Pakistan make sense of their life, their living, the impact they face, the challenges they go through, and how do they see education can play a role in finding the solution for their very complex issues.

Louise: 09:43

That sounds very interesting and very cool.

Tooba: 09:45

Thanks. Hey, cool colours on your drawing paper.

Louise: 09:49

Thank you, darling. Your sketch looks actually amazing. Thanks. Are you going to put any colours on it?

Tooba: 09:54

Yeah, yeah, of course. Hey. So let's take a break from all the research talk, and let's talk about living in London. Did you have any assumption when you first come to the city?

Louise: 10:03

Yeah. Well, as you said before, I was a bit scared about London. Like, all the crowd, the noises, getting lost in the tubes. I got lost in the tubes so many times. Yeah.

Louise: 10:14

Oh my god. But then I realized that London was actually a multitude of little villages. It wasn't so big and it wasn't so scary. At some point when you know a lot of people you can actually randomly bump into a friend somewhere very random in London which is actually amazing. What about you darling?

Louise: 10:34

Did you have any assumptions about London?

Tooba: 10:37

Among many assumptions, one was because it's such a big metropolitan city I thought there would be very less greenery in it. For me to survive in a place I have to see plants. Makes sense. That's true. London has a lot of lavish buildings and architecture but it also has amazing parks.

Tooba: 10:58

I'm very grateful for that. For example, Regent's Park, which is just a distance my place, I go and walk there a lot and I love that London can give you so much variety when it comes to nature.

Louise: 11:13

That's true. I actually enjoy the canals everywhere in London because there is a lot of water.

Tooba: 11:20

Okay, so I was also thinking that what helped you to feel like home when you were in London?

Louise: 11:29

I think that it would be my friends and my PhD colleagues. Like you, for example. Oh, thank you. Because we are going through the same journey. We all are PhD international students.

Louise: 11:42

We are struggling with the same subject. Mhmm. English is not our first language. True. So much struggle.

Louise: 11:49

So we are similar and we we are facing the same struggle. We're supporting each other, which is amazing. And I think at the same time, this is very nice because we are very different.

Tooba: 11:59

Mhmm.

Louise: 12:00

We come from different backgrounds, from Pakistan, but we have people from a lot of different nationalities. And, yeah, we can learn from each other and teach each other a lot of cultural stuff, food, which is amazing. What about you? What makes you feel home in London?

Tooba: 12:15

Well, I feel like you stole my answer because I wanted to say you. Oh, you. But as you mentioned, food. And I come from a culture that has very rich diverse food culture. Again, I am happy that London also gives you this glimpse of diversity when it comes to cuisine.

Tooba: 12:36

You can get any cuisine from around the world here in London, And I just love exploring that and I think that is something that makes me feel like home. Whenever I miss home, I just make biryani or like a dal, chawal, or any South Asian dishes.

Louise: 12:53

It could have been my answer as well.

Tooba: 12:55

I love trying all the food in London. Yeah. You do get cheese.

Louise: 12:58

Yeah. That's true. So, it's

Tooba: 13:02

an interesting painting. Tell us what you draw.

Louise: 13:05

So my painting is a bit messy, but I am a qualitative researcher. So I think it's in my DNA, actually. So it's actually my academic journey leading to my PhD. So I begin with my undergrad. Mhmm.

Louise: 13:18

I just did draw, like, a clock for the history undergrad. And then I just did like the scale of justice for the law Cool. With the French flag, newspaper for my major internship. Then I did a GLOBE for my master's international relations. Then of course I did the Chinese flag and I wrote fake news and TV and newspaper for my Master in Judaism and Communication.

Louise: 13:43

And finally I drew The UK flag with my PhD and everything, like, a lot of words relating to my PhD. I'm I'm intrigued by the question marks you put. Yeah. My my map is finishing by question mark because I don't know what's gonna happen after my PhD. And this is scary,

Tooba: 14:01

but this is That's the true spirit of a researcher. So Yeah.

Louise: 14:05

Never you never know what's gonna happen next. What about you? You you sketch look very colourful, very amazing.

Louise: 14:11

I know. So thanks. I just I think I just painted more like a feeling when I first came here in the city, and I'm I'm just, like, standing there on crossroads. There are so many opportunities and options in London, and I'm with my stuff, which is like my luggage, my books, my computer, and I have to paint a plant there too.

Tooba: 14:36

So cute.

Tooba: 14:37

Yeah. And it's just like, it's both overwhelming, confusing also on what to choose and what not to, and challenging and exciting, which also we're going to discuss more in our next podcast, isn't it?

Louise: 14:52

So yeah, the next episode is going to be about the initial phases of our PhD and all the challenges we face and how we overcome them.

Tooba: 15:02

So stay tuned for the next episode.

Introduction (man's voice): 15:13

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