Rachel O'Driscoll
Student spotlight details
After a 30-year career in London, Rachel returned to her passion of local and social history through Oxford Lifelong Learning – progressing from an online diploma to a master’s degree and now a DPhil in English Local History. She reflects on the challenges, rewards and unexpected opportunities that have shaped her research journey.
'Back in 2016, I was contemplating upheaval. My learning disabled daughter was coming to the end of her time in education, and it was apparent that my husband and I needed to put effort into making sure she was happily occupied, and ensure that we were positioned to cope with varying pick-up and drop-off times. So, I turned my back on a 30-year working-life in London as a policy professional and, having adopted a mantra of putting myself in interesting places doing interesting things, decided to return to the study of history.
'30 years on from a history degree, I thought it best to test the waters with the one-year online Undergraduate Advanced Diploma in Local History, which combined my long-held interests in local and social history. While demanding in terms of time and commitment, I found that I could combine the course with consultancy work and membership of a safeguarding board. More importantly, the experience was hugely rewarding in terms of enjoyment, and also as preparation for higher studies.
'I then progressed to the two year part-time Master’s in English Local History. The two-hour Thursday evening classes in Oxford created a tight cohort of students, who supported each other through nine assessments and a dissertation (and continue to support each other!). We all benefited from high-quality teaching and rigorous historical research training. Moreover, even though my interests have tended to be firmly situated in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it was a delight to also engage with other periods.
'Beyond its intrinsic academic value, the Masters was my stepping stone to a Doctorate. My Master’s dissertation, which examined employment opportunities for physically disabled adolescents, uncovered a source which became the starting point for a successful application to continue my studies via a place on the part-time DPhil in English Local History programme. Since 2019, I have been working away at a London-focused DPhil, which is situated in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and examines how specialist interventions aimed at disabled children affected the lives of intended recipients and their families.
'Research has not been without challenges, some self-imposed and others the result of external factors. Because most disabled people in the past did not live in institutions, I have chosen to centre my research on the, less visible, experience of disability outside the institution. Exposing these experiences requires imagination, persistence and deployment of time-consuming techniques. Covid lockdowns and unexpected illness have also impacted my studies; the support provided by my supervisor, fellow doctoral students, the staff at the Graduate School in the department, and my college advisor has been critical in keeping me invested and progressing.
'Beyond my own research, my DPhil has also had some unexpected benefits. For the last two years, I have valued the opportunity to support research both within and beyond Oxford through sitting on the steering committee of Oxford University’s Centre for the History of Childhood. More recently, I have become involved in a project led by researchers from the universities of Sheffield and Oxford to adapt a tool assessing quality of life for use with learning disabled adults experiencing mental health conditions.
'Speedy completion does not fit with my circumstances or my approach of taking up additional opportunities, so I anticipate taking the maximum time available to complete my doctorate. After that, I very much hope to publish a monograph which builds on both my research and my policy background.
'To conclude, the lifelong learning opportunities offered by Oxford University are the ideal place for anyone who wishes to put themselves in interesting places doing interesting things with interesting people.'
