Introducing Fatemeh Aghaei
Meet new PhD student, Fatemeh Aghaei, whose thesis topic combines speech therapy with mindfulness meditation.
Fatemeh joins the Contemplative Studies Centre after completing her Bachelor and Master degrees at Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences in Iran. While undertaking her Master’s thesis, focused on the acoustic assessment of the voice of adult cochlear implant users, she worked part-time as a speech therapist in a clinic. After completing her Master’s degree in 2021, Fatemeh worked as a teaching assistant and research assistant at the University for two and a half years.
Fatemeh’s keen interest in voice and hearing impairments led her to investigate the effectiveness of mindfulness therapy on teachers’ voices during her doctoral studies. She is fascinated by the field of meditation and how something that appears so simple can have a profound impact on various dimensions. Having personally experienced a short meditation course, which felt “like a demo”, Fatemeh realised there was a vast and captivating world that deserved deeper exploration in a more specialised and research-focused domain.
As a clinician, the concerns of her clients were always a top priority. In the final two years of her clinical experience, Fatemeh was responsible for imaging the larynx of clients with voice problems in a hospital setting, allowing her to gain more experience in the assessment and treatment process for voice clients. She noticed that those clients who followed their psychological sessions after being referred benefited more from the voice therapy sessions. Their progress was three to four times greater than that of the others, inspiring Fatemeh to further explore the effectiveness of meditation therapy on voice quality in a more precise and controlled mode.
Fatemeh's research topic is "Recognition of the effect of vocal hygiene combined mindfulness meditation in teachers with voice complaints to enhance teacher wellbeing." In order to pursue a thesis combining speech therapy and meditation, she needed a supervisor with a research background in mindfulness meditation. Fortunately she found Dr Julieta Galante, Deputy Director of the Contemplative Studies Centre, whose expertise was a perfect fit for the project.
While still at the beginning of her PhD journey, Fatemeh considers herself lucky to have the opportunity to be involved in a highly professional and experienced research team. She feels well-supported to face any challenges, with access to expert academics and resources making her studies engaging and enjoyable. In her first three months, Fatemeh has found searching accurately and systematically, consulting experts from various fields, and considering different perspectives some of the most important things she has learned.
Fatemeh would advise prospective students to maintain their motivation and persevere because she would not have reached her goals without investing time, effort and patience. She also suggests that supervisors, and the expertise and experience of their team, matter far more than the status or reputation of the institution.
In future, Fatemeh hopes to have a research and tutorial position in academia alongside a part-time position as a speech pathologist in a clinical setting. Imagining these possibilities for her future, while ambitious, fuels her motivation and encourages her to continue.
When she’s not studying, Fatemeh calms her mind by drawing, colouring and crafting, as well as listening to traditional Iranian music.
