{"id":210,"date":"2009-10-24T21:09:14","date_gmt":"2009-10-24T21:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/2009\/10\/24\/a_phd_is_not_a_9_to_5\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T07:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T07:49:11","slug":"a_phd_is_not_a_9_to_5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/2009\/10\/24\/a_phd_is_not_a_9_to_5\/","title":{"rendered":"A PhD is not a 9-to-5"},"content":{"rendered":"

So, I made it through to the end of my MSc<\/a>. There was an 100% pass rate among the students this year – celebrations all round!<\/p>\n

In a previous post<\/a> I was trying to decide upon a supervisor for my PhD studies. The advice I received here<\/a> and elsewhere mirror that offered to Anna Vilborg<\/a> in her post<\/a> on trying to decide where to do a post-doc – don’t do what I did!<\/em><\/p>\n

I got on well with the supervisor of the third MSc projects from the outset, and, of the three projects I had to complete for the MSc, this was by far the one I enjoyed the most. The supervisor and I agreed that the MSc project can be considered a preliminary or preparatory study and that I can work on this topic for a PhD.<\/p>\n

So after a fortnight’s break, I am back at my desk, writing my PhD proposal, preparing a paper on one part of my MSc project, and writing some code to use for the PhD proper.<\/p>\n

Inevitable induction sessions took place early in the first week, including a welcome by the graduate<\/a> schools<\/a>. I have blogged before<\/a> about my penchant for self-help guides. My collection of Imperial’s trio<\/a> of in-house publications has been completed with my copy of Learning to Research<\/a> . In common with the transition from taught to research study, Learning to Research has a less softly-softly approach than its predecessors, and includes a comprehensive description of the rights and responsibilities of both student and supervisor.<\/p>\n

Whilst it does not make its way formally into the Code of Practice for Students and Supervisors, the phrase A PhD is not a 9-to-5<\/strong> was reiterated during the welcome session, both verbally<\/a> (video link) by the Director<\/a> of the Graduate School for Life Sciences and Medicine and in a written summary<\/a> of what PhD students and supervisors should expect.<\/p>\n

Students are expected to<\/strong><\/p>\n

\nWork Hard – PhDs cannot be accomplished with only a 9-5 effort.<\/strong>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If I am honest, I am a little intimidated by this.<\/p>\n

Professor Morley claims that<\/p>\n

\n_hard work placates supervisors.
\nIt makes us happy when you are here long hours and weekends_\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There is one sense in which science never<\/em> leaves me. I cannot be alone in taking papers home, to read in the evening, because they are not strictly related to my PhD topic, but they are interesting nonetheless. Often, often<\/em>, the solution to a problem that I have spent half a day staring at hits me when I am walking across the park, or ploughing up and down the swimming pool, or doing the washing-up. If someone asks me what my PhD is in<\/a>, I can quickly get excited about it and try to explain it, and what I am going to do next, and what it means.<\/p>\n

In that sense, my studies are not 9-to-5, they are more like 24\/7.<\/p>\n

I appreciate that self-doubt is common among postgraduate students (and scientists at any stage of their careers<\/a>), but the reinforcement of the above expectation has me thinking, do I have it in me to work hard enough?<\/em> I like my work, but I have many other things I like to do too. Some are science-related<\/a>, but some are not<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There are many valid work patterns, and to relentlessly evaluate how hard I am working against my perceptions of my peers’ efforts is unlikely to be accurate, but that doesn’t negate the nagging question.<\/p>\n

I reassure myself that I have made it this far, with my own study habits and my own way of working, that I have adapted what I do as I go to meet the demands of the courses. My work-life balance over the next three years is not set in stone – I can change my schedule as I need to. Maybe such a flexible approach does not come naturally to a scientist, but I don’t think anyone is able to tell me that if I am in the office at this time and leave at this other time, that will be “sufficient”.<\/p>\n

The flexibility of the schedule is both a perk and a burden of research. I hope that someone will let me know, though, if I am not getting anywhere fast enough.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So, I made it through to the end of my MSc. There was an 100% pass rate among the students this year – celebrations all round! In a previous post I was trying to decide upon a supervisor for my … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[189,192],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging-the-phd","category-nature-network"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3046,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions\/3046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occamstypewriter.org\/erikacule\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}