Mikahil's PhD research, undertaken at Birmingham City University, involved completing a nine-month ethnography of Birmingham mosques to understand the lived experiences of Muslim communities, identify threats, and the improvement of safety. This involved being immersed in and around mosques and speaking with worshippers, staff and volunteers.

Introduction

Completing a doctorate involves overcoming several inter-related trials and tribulations; however, little has been written about the experiences of starting the PhD, in this instance, the forming of a topic. This chapter will provide my experiences of conceptualising a PhD topic and reflect upon the various issues which affected my entry into academia. It is hoped that you will gain a detailed understanding of what should be considered when conceptualising a topic for a doctorate. This chapter will take you on the journey of how I was initially unsure of whether I should undertake a PhD to ultimately conceptualising my research topic, while referring to the challenges faced along the way. Although everyone's experiences will differ, it can be said that the process is not as straightforward as I was led to believe.

Context of the PhD

The PhD, regardless of the chosen discipline, upon completion, will consist of between 60,000– 80,000 words (excluding references and appendices), which can be compared to authoring a book. Upon realising the extensive word count of a doctoral thesis, I was in disbelief this qualification could be achieved due to the magnitude of the task.