In this episode, hosts Ebru, Meghan and Seren talk about what it’s like to have a very personal connection to your research. A lot of researchers have some sort of personal relationship with their research, but a level of emotional ‘distance’ is expected within academic work. This can be especially difficult for researchers from marginalised backgrounds, who often study topics that relate to subjects such as inequality, injustice and hardship that they may have personally experienced. Our guest for this episode is Max Davies, who talks with Seren about their experience doing PhD research into gender creative parenting - a parenting style that they study as a researcher and employ themself as a parent. They also discuss the need for more open communication about the emotional, intimate and messy sides of research. You can find out what Max is up to on twitter: @MaxDavies_PHD