PhD Turns Passion for Cricket into a Career | Study With New Zealand
Being named after a famous English cricketer made it almost inevitable that Indian PhD student Sibi Boycott Walter would end up involved in the world of cricket.
“My Dad was a big fan of the English cricketer Geoffrey Boycott, so I was named after him. Then I became a physiotherapist and got interested in cricket injuries, so it all just fell into place,” says Sibi.
For his PhD at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, Sibi is working on developing a programme to help fast bowlers avoid shoulder injuries.
Sibi chose to study for his PhD in New Zealand because of its excellent standard of cricket research. His supervisor, Dr Carl Petersen, has worked with elite cricket teams in England, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, and has introduced Sibi to top contacts in the New Zealand cricketing world who have been able to help him with his injury prevention research.
New Zealand’s PhD package, which enables international students to pay the same fees as Kiwi students, was another reason to study here.
Sibi says New Zealand has been a great place to study.
“I’ve had opportunities to publish as a PhD student in New Zealand, and I also taught a course on sports injuries management at Canterbury. I would like an academic career in research and teaching, so having this experience on my CV will be very useful,” Sibi says.
I really enjoy living in New Zealand. The people are very friendly and the quality of life is good. It is an absolutely great country and I would love to work here in the future
About the contributors
Linley Boniface is a contract writer for Education New Zealand. She is based in Wellington, her favourite city in New Zealand. A former journalist, Linley spent a year in Montreal, Canada, as a secondary school student.