Current student Jacob Feltham-Forbes (DPhil in History, 2022) plays on the men’s Blues basketball team. We asked him what it’s like balancing this commitment with his graduate studies.
Congratulations for being on the team; please can you tell us a bit about the commitment and work needed to get you to that point?
Thanks! Playing Basketball with the Blues this year has required a great deal of time management and commitment, with up to three games a week, as well as regular practices and strength and conditioning sessions at the Blues performance gym.
How do you balance a Blues commitment with your DPhil work?
I’ve appreciated the routine and sense of community created by team sports. This year I’ve found that committing to the team has actually helped me to create routine which benefitted my research. DPhil work is very self-motivated and having regular basketball commitments was really useful in this sense – even when it meant getting up for 7:00 am practices on a Friday.
What’s your research about?
I am in the first year of a DPhil in History and specialise in Black British history, specifically print cultures. Simply put, my research focusses on cultural, social, and political connections and exchanges between the British Isles and the Caribbean during the era of decolonisation.
Do you have any other extra-curricular commitments?
On top of basketball and my research, I am an outreach tutor with the History Faculty. Mainly in Michaelmas Term, due to the busy fixture list and heightened workload during Hilary, I and the other outreach tutors led sessions with History undergraduates seeking extra academic assistance as they got used to life in Oxford. I’m hoping to get more involved with this role again in Trinity Term as the basketball season is now over.
What is your favourite thing about Queen’s?
No surprises here, my favourite thing about Queen’s is the College library.
