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What Makes a PhD?
The last few weeks haven’t been particularly successful and I have started to wonder what actually makes up a PhD. I thought I would have more time to think, read and ponder. More time to really...
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Taking a Break From Your PhD
As a PhD student you get a rather generous holiday allowance. I think I can take up to 8 weeks holiday a year. I doubt very much that I will ever get an allowance that big ever again in my working...
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Leaving Work to Start a PhD
I made the move from the world of work into a PhD. I tend not to think of myself as a ‘student’ and think of my PhD as a full time job. There are obvious differences between PhD life and work life (at...
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The Final Year Panic
I am fast approaching the final year of my PhD (come the 1st of September it will be official). The past two years have flown by so incredibly quickly. When I realised that September would be the...
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Getting Constructive PhD Feedback
All universities structure PhDs slightly differently with different internal asessments and requirements. Currently we have an appraisal style assessment that we need to complete every 6 months; it is...
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Thinking Ahead: Transferable Skills
On Heather Doran’s previous post, Tom Williamson (Doctor in Systems Biology), commented thus: “I’ve found out the hard way that a PhD does not make you more employable outside of academia, unless the...
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The PhD Student – Supervisor Relationship
The relationship between a PhD student and their supervisor(s) often exists in a delicate balance… the fundamentals of this relationship are illustrated beautifully in the PhD comics, especially this...
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The value of PhD Assessments
Over the past two months I have been putting together my second year PhD assessment. This is an internal requirement for my PhD. The assessment involves submitting a ‘paper’ with my PhD results in the...
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Things I wish I had known at the start of my PhD
I am entering the final stretch of my PhD and this is a list of things that I wish I had known (or things I wish someone would have told me) when I started my PhD… I have also included somethings that...
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Writing a Thesis Plan
I am now starting to put together my thesis. First step was to write a plan. There are a couple of resources on the Internet that might help you create the thesis plan: This website is very thorough...
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PhD time management!
Sometimes I think students are thought to have loads of time to do what they want……..Granted, especially as a post-graduate student, you have the flexibility to organize your own timetable and working...
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Communicating science
I recently attended a day-long course run by a science society I am a member of. The day itself was very useful in reminding me of why it is so important as a PhD student to communicate to others what...
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Positive PhD thinking!
Hi everyone, This week hasn’t exactly gone to plan for me, with my lab work not producing the expected results (leaving me wondering around scratching my head with a puzzled look on my face) and a bit...
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Giving back during your PhD
Hi everyone, I have recently been working with a company based at my university that produces an online educational resource for its community of some of the brightest 13-18 year olds across the globe....
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What I’ve learnt from my PhD so far
Hi everyone, I’ve been delayed in writing my latest blog post by attending courses, helping new PhD students and supervising work experience students, which alongside my PhD work, has left me little...
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The hectic life of a PhD student
Hi everyone, Welcome to my blog of general ramblings! This week I thought I’d fill you in on everything I am up to at the moment, all of which I am enjoying, but also trying to manage effectively! So,...
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10 Things You Will Think During Your PhD
Hello everyone and Happy New Year! I thought I would start my first post of 2014 with a reassurance of the emotions I don’t doubt you’ll experience during the course of your PhD. So here they are, in...
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How to survive your PhD
Hi everyone, I always try and apply what I experience in my PhD to my blog writing, so in this blog I’ve decided to talk a little about what I think has helped me progress to the current stage in my...
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Alternative Realities for PhD Graduates
Let me paint a scenario for you. I’m sitting in a room of budding and intelligent PhD students at my home university in Australia, listening to a seasoned academic tell us how to get an academic job....
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Presenting your PhD
Hi all, I recently presented my PhD at an early career researchers event in agriculture. Hence, I thought it would be apt to talk about my advice on presenting your research from my own experience. 1....
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