I'm a new PhD student/researcher right now, 30 years after my MSc, very much for much of what you are talking about. (At this level it seems possible, unlike m

I'm a new PhD student/researcher right now, 30 years after my MSc, very much for much of what you are talking about. (At this level it seems possible, unlike my BSc/MSc which were sausage factories.) I rocked up saying what I wanted to work on, and they said yes. Also, I am fully in it for the social and thinking aspects...