**Research Firsts Exhibition: Image and accompanying text by Michael Kho Lim**
![street art on a wall in Sakon, Thailand][1]
[1]: https://mfr.osf.io/export?url=https://osf.io/download/2fj7s/?direct=&mode=render&format=2400x2400.jpeg
This photo shows a street art taken during my field work at the Old Town District of Sakon Nakhon in Thailand last March. It represents my mood or mode after having been successful on my first attempt at submitting a grant proposal for external funding. This also reminds me of the 2006 documentary Who Needs Sleep?, which talks about sleep deprivation and the long, extended working hours in the film industry.
Coming from this industry myself, I now see its similarity to the demands of academia—the countless sleepless nights and thinking hours that go into producing high-quality research outputs.