I grew up in Brazil, but at 20 moved to New Zealand. After graduating from a BA in Graphic Design in Auckland, I worked for a consultancy and then started my own studio with a friend. The studio was going really well. We had started to win awards and I was art directing but things happened so quickly, I felt I needed to slow down and actually find out who I was. It was at this point I told my studio partner I wanted to do a masters.

The first time I heard of the Royal College of Art was in 2006, when I was visiting London to do a short course at Central Saint Martin’s. One of the guest lecturers was part of the Design Interactions programme – I was fascinated. It made me want to find out more about the College, so by the time I was thinking of doing a masters, I was pretty certain where it would be.

I applied from New Zealand, sending my portfolio, and flew in for the interview, spending one month in London. As an international student, it was my family that supported me. You aren’t entitled to any grants.

My work has centred on two research topics: alternative currencies and vision, or how people see the world. At the beginning of the programme we had to pick an issue important to society. I had been researching other kinds of money from a time-based shop that carried on until my dissertation. That grew and developed. My idea is to develop a database for all such currencies.

My vision topic is influenced by me having glaucoma. I’ve been collecting my eye tests to develop a series of 3D sculptural infographics that visualise the areas that are damaged. I’ve been able to trace where my vision has changed.

What I found out through this research is that it’s possible to develop a form of signage for people with glaucoma, to see the world as they see it, so it can be sharp without the need for glasses. I want to carry on developing both projects and work part-time as a freelance graphic designer.

One of the best things about the RCA is that there are no strong boundaries between departments. You can use technicians you wouldn’t normally use. The glass workshop, for example, is just amazing. I did as many interdisciplinary projects as I could – I would be running from one to another getting things shaped or cut out to make projects happen. The AcrossRCA programme is an interdisciplinary week of around six projects to choose from and it really encourages this.

What was most valuable was the people I met and got to work with. The best thing you can do is open up to new practices, do things you never did before and collaborate with as many people as you possibly can.

I went to Leeds Metropolitan to do Fine Art in 2001 and had my own baking business for a while. I worked as an artist but never really found it satisfying – my work was too illustrative and I was more concerned with narrative.

I applied to the Royal College of Art for an MA in Visual Communication and got in in 2006. My dissertation was about how deceptions can work as illustrated narratives – I ended up working on a couple of books about deception and authenticity, one of which, Phantom Settlements, is based around conversations with three artists. Some of those conversations are real, some fictitious.

My plan wasn't to do a PhD straightaway but Al Rees and Dan Fern (now my supervisors) approached me to do research. It turned out I had a clear idea of what wanted: a comprehensive survey of deception and how artists use it and whether or not it can work as fiction.

It started out huge but that’s not OK for a PhD – I needed to have a much narrower focus looking at fictional artists, poets and painters that were for a time believed to be real, exploring how the narrative, text, image and structure work together to make up a story. You have to be much more thorough with the advance of the internet, though it does bring its own narrative structures.

I’ve already written 35,000 words out of my 40,000-word thesis and will spend the rest of the year editing. And doing the practical work. This could be creating a hoax but I’m not interested in that. I don’t see what it could add. I’m more interested in using the strategies in the hoaxes and applying those to text I’m illustrating.

The first year of my PhD was incredibly tough. I’m not super academic and had to spend the first couple of years reading and writing and making close readings of difficult texts. When you start out doing a research degree, you have far less idea, but by the third year, this crystallises.

The commitment you make is scary. I mean, you could be six years studying. Where the supervisors have been great is that they’ve stopped me from getting too complicated or pointed out if I’m missing something philosophical or critical. The reading has been useful in teaching I do as well.

Funding-wise, I got a bursary for the first two years up to MPhil. Then last year, I was awarded a scholarship by the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. I wouldn’t have been able to carry on without it. I also got funding from the Yorkshire Ladies Council of Education, who support women in education. I knew that when the RCA bursary ran out, I would have to start looking at other funding bodies that support PhD students. I also teach on an MA course at Falmouth University and do two days there every three weeks, and in Norwich every week, teaching on the BA in Illustration.

I came into illustration quite naively, not really thinking about it as an industry with concerns. From my PhD, I've been able to develop a more innovative practice – it has alerted me to key discussions and made me more thoughtful in my work.

You should be very clear about why you want to do a PhD. I did it because I really wanted to pursue research. It’s made me much more employable, especially when it comes to teaching.