======= Date Modified 25 Nov 2010 11:40:45 =======
Hello all,

I am trying to get some feedback from others on the progress of my PhD. My supervisor seems ok with progress so far, there is a few things he has agreed provide me more support on. I don't really know how important this is, but I feel quite far away from submitting a conference paper or journal paper. A poster is perhaps not so far away. I am almost 1 year and 2 months into my engineering PhD. Am I thinking too much about conferences and journal papers? or should I be? Thanks.

Hey there! I think it is important to be thinking about conferences and journal papers if you want to work in academia, but at the same time I don't think you need to worry about not having got there just yet. I only had one paper published in my first year, and didn't present at any conferences until half way through my second year (I didn't have any results to present until then!). It's pretty normal to be in your second or your third year before you start writing up papers for publication and going to conferences to present- although a poster would be a good start and give you some experience of what happens at conferences and what to expect etc. If you don't want to stay in academia after your PhD then I don't think it matters so much about getting publications, but if you're after a post-doc then I think it's pretty much essential (or at least it is in my field!). Good luck! KB

Hi Thanks, just wondered what your research subject area was Keenbean?

Hey! I'm clinical psychology- working with people with Alzheimer's disease. So a little bit different from what you do! KB

Wow, really interesting, my wife is doing a masters thesis in the music and dementia.