Morning world. I have a feeling only just getting up is going to make my plans for today a little harder to achieve :(

Goal 1: Use the exercise bike
Goal 2: Work some more on chapter 8. Currently it's tripe. I want to be able to hand it in next week, monday ideally.

This. A thousand times over. I only taught one afternoon a week but I felt the evening afterwards, and even some of the morning before, was written off. It might not be too bad for some but I found it really difficult to get back home after teaching and shift gear back into the PhD. I either did nothing at all or something really light (like cursory glances at papers), and ended up feeling terrible the next day.

I couldn't have done done it. The first couple of years I was testing or setting up experiments 9-5, 4 days a week, and then the 5th was spent on taught modules in the first year and internal/external seminars and busy work for the second. I only managed to get time to fit teaching in towards the end of my third year because data collection died down. The weekend was then overflow for whatever I hadn't managed during the week, or the occasional visit to actually see people.

Even if you could fit it all in though, do you want to? You don't want to burn yourself out before you get to the end of it all.

Don't know how much use this is as I (just) missed out on getting mine but I was asked my work and research balance.

What I would do if I had finite time and had to try and manage running my own independant research and that of the actual post-doc position? (I said the priority would go to running the work involved in the post-doc project, and that if needed I'd put my work on hold. Thats the work I'd be getting paid for after all!)

I was also asked if there was anything in particular I had learnt from my phd that sticks with me more than anything else? (Proper control groups!)

I'll try and see if I can remember anything else. Good luck with the interview though :D

:-( I hate that. When you see a job you could do, or might want to do, but there's no way you could afford to actually do it. I think my lower limit is around 24k outside of london. Any less and I couldn't afford to move/travel there and pay the bills and whatnot. I think it's as Jepsonclough said, 25k equating to the same take home as the average stipend.

Ive applied for a perfect job. In an area I love (that inspired me into taking psychology), that I have related experience and research in, that I have some teaching experience for, and is at teaching fellow level rather than lecturer so the competition might be little less hot. Plus, the pay starts at 30k with a relocation fund! I've got my fingers crossed for it because other wise it's back to looking at the jobs with low pay and high expectations!

Sounds like you're not enjouing things, sorry to hear that. Maybe you need to take more control/ownership of your PhD? Have you pointed out the flaws to your supervisors? Could be the first step into shaping the project into something you're happier to put your name to.

I've loved my PhD but I think my experience has been vastly different to yours. Other than the very first experiment I've run the direction and developments have been led by me and assisted by my supervisor. It feels very much like we've worked together to come up with a project I've wanted to do rather me working on a project of his that I've been given. And I think the control is the key thing there. Is there anyway you could get more?

Is there anyway you could link it to areas that do interest you?

I applied for a job that was looking for a masters, but a PhD would be desirable. The difference in the max pay for a masters applicant and one with a PhD was 3k. It's a bit depressing to see jobs like that and realise that the time and effort you've put in has been judged as being worth an extra 3k by HR somewhere. It makes your wonder what you'd be doing, and be on, if the PhD had been skipped.

Not that I'm complaining :-) I love my PhD, and don't regret the last 3 years in the slightest. I'm 24 with plenty of time to work up to a nice wage. I just wish there was a job out there right now with pay that equates to the effort thats gone in.

Just as I started a PhD student I knew was finishing and she gave me the following, paraphrased, advice;

"In your first year you'll be planning to make a big change in the area you're researching. You'll imagine theories and techniques named after you, and be expecting a professorship within the decade.

In your second year you'll be happy with just making a big change in a small section of the area you're researching. A change in the way things are done, or an important study that'll be cited in reference to the subject forever more.

By your third year you'd just be happy making a small change to the smallest section of the area you've been researching. People will cite you or they won't, you won't care. You'll just want to be finished.

Your PhD isn't meant to change the world, it's meant to change you so you can have a stab at it later."


That ranks up there as one of the best and most accurate descriptions of a PhD I have ever been given.

I've heard that some social science research, especially psychology, might start to fall more in the STEM area. My department saw a boost in funding last time round I think because most of the research was judged to fall into STEM. We have a lot of neuroscience research that goes on so that's probably why.

They should leave the funding alone. What they cut now they'll regret later when people leave for jobs elsewhere and research starts to dry up.

I'd lean towards what your supervisor says. If you've used 'I' alot and they've not pulled you up on it then you should be fine. If it was problem they should have mentioned it. Always worth checking with them though if you're unsure. Alternatively are there any theses in the same area/subject as yours so you can double check what the style is in there?

Not enough latin? Depends on the area I guess. I'm in psychology and I have one latin phrase in my thesis, once. And I had to explain what it meant to my supervisor :-) So again, if your supervisors not asking for it I wouldn't worry.

Thats the references done methinks. I'm still missing a few here and there but I managed to find plenty more to add when I go back over chapters! Also I started using Mendeley to collect and organise papers/citations, and it's pretty amazing.

Aha. That makes more sense. I've seen a few positions that have mentioned that you would have to start a HE teaching qualification if you didn't already have one. That must be it. And there I was thinking I'd be done with exams and hoop jumping after the Viva :-(

You might not need a masters but each to their own. I've not done one. I was one of the two that went straight from ungrad to PhD.

I'm going to steal indicative too and leave

Pertaining

The internet sucks you in :-( It is the enemy of progress!

Do you have any thick pile carpets? Odd question I know but if you take your socks off and scrunch your toes up whilst standing on them it can be really relaxing. That may just be me though and weeks of writing up on my own might have melted my brain.

Sometimes I read a chapter of a fiction book I've already read. It something that isn't work, I enjoy and I don't need to focus too hard on to understand.

Or...I pace. It's not really a break but I find I can think really well if I just get up for a bit and move around. Im not an active person in the least but I find it really gets the brain going. I don't even have to be thinking about work I can just daydream.

(up) And then some! That's a fantastic stipend.

Mine was 13k, 14k and now 15k for the final year. It's more than enough for where I live and I don't need to worry too much about money. In my 1st and 2nd year I shared a house with a teacher, and because where we were living was so cheap (and we were so free) we lived like kings. Or at least it felt that way considering our undergrad years.

I think I've got a similar problem to sneaks though. To maintain this standard of living I'll have to avoid some of the lower paid jobs, especially in the london area. Ive applied for one that starts at 35K though, which would be rather nice 8-)