Category Archives: PhD

You’re turning into your supervisor

This week I met up with some collaborators. This was the trip that led to a chance encounter with fellow OT blogger Austin Small world, science – just bumped into @occamt's Cambridge-based PhD student blogger Erika Cule http://t.co/1G371GHQ in the … Continue reading

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Have you started writing yet?

Have you started writing yet? is a question I get asked (what feels like) often. Normally, it is a follow-up to What year are you in [of your PhD]? (Third.) Inwardly, my response is not dissimilar to that of Mike … Continue reading

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Creativity

When I was revising for my undergraduate exams, I was exasperated by the sheer volume of stuff I needed to know. I was intimidated by the number of facts I would need to have to hand when I wrote my … Continue reading

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PhD Comics Movie Review

Piled Higher and Deeper – the popular PhD comic – has been made into a movie. The movie is touring campuses around the world. Find a screening near you, or watch the trailer: Imperial College Union‘s Graduate Student Association hosted … Continue reading

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Perspectives from Big Pharma

I came to research in statistical genetics from an undergraduate degree in biochemistry. I learnt statistics as applied to genetics; perhaps a student who studied statistics of itself would have a perspective that is broader than my own. I was … Continue reading

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What does a PhD mean beyond academia?

If a PhD graduate decides to pursue an alternative career apply for a job outside of academia, in some fields, recruiters will understand what is meant by the PhD on their CV. For a research career in industry a PhD … Continue reading

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Expressive behaviour

I first came across the term “Expressive behaviour” in my latest self-help book, The Unwritten Rules of PhD Research. There is a review of this book here. The authors, Dr Marian Petre and Dr Gordon Rugg, introduce expressive behaviour and … Continue reading

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Dilemma

As well as a dilemma, we have the potentially useful term trilemma and even tetralemma (the choice between two, three or four options respectively). But a lemma, in mathematics anyway, is a stepping-stone in a proof, and does not mean … Continue reading

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What are you worried about?

If you are naturally someone who worries, then being a PhD student gives you plenty of opportunities to exercise your habit. You will have research-specific concerns about experiments working and deciding which approach to take. Inherent uncertainty comes with the … Continue reading

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Harder, harder

One careers seminar offered to undergraduates during my degree discussed the pros and cons of pursuing postgraduate study. After the seminar, I spoke to the Careers Tutor responsible for undergraduates in our department. I told him that I was finding … Continue reading

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