I'm doing my masters now and I'd like to know how important it is for a masters thesis area to coincide with what you would like to do for a PhD.

I have the chance to gain some computational neurosci/neuroimaging skills but not in the area I'd like to do my PhD in. Is it wise to conduct a thesis solely to gain skills? Or should I do a thesis connected with my area of interest, despite not being able to acquire the skills I mentioned above.

Can anyone help? Thank you.

Other people will disagree but personally I don't think it is that essential for there to be overlap. I chose a Masters topic of interest to me. My PhD topic was radically different (different thing being researched, 100 years gap in history terms, different methodology etc.).

Also the advantage of having studied other things in your Masters is that it may make you more employable post-PhD, rather than focusing too narrowly on the same thing all the way through.

Hey! I agree with Bilbo- as long as the skills are there then you can learn to apply them to something quite different. I'm in psychology and although I'm working with the same clinical population as I was in my MSc (i.e. people with Alzheimer's), the topic area is completely different and this hasn't caused any problems at all. Other people might disagree, but I don't think it's a problem unless you are planning to do something really radically different! Best, KB

Hi, thanks for your replies. Would it be too much of a leap to go from working with an adult population for my masters to completing a PhD involving something more developmental (i.e. young people).

Hi there

It's definitely perfectly possible to branch out (within reason). I've moved from Psychology (undergrad) to Pharmacy (phd) quite happily. I've also changed clin populations from children less than two years old to end stage dementia patients. As long as you're prepared to put in a bit of hard graft to fill in any short falls in knowledge you should be fine.

Im in a different area to my "core" education.

You just need to prove you are accademically sound, willing to learn and are genuinely keen on the phd area.

Well, my undergrad degree was on pre-primary education (that is the education of 4-6-year-olds), my first master was on special needs education (all ages). Then I did an MBA (completely different field) and now, my PhD is on Sociology!!!!!

This is a change of fields!!!!!!
I never had any problems and I believe that if you like what you are doing, you can do it!