Hi all,

In September I will be picking up my PhD part time and will namely be a distance learner (I live in Manchester but have signed up to do my PhD in Wales). It takes about two hours by train to get to the uni so I will be able to attend for important meetings, presentations etc but a lot of my work will be done at home.

I was hoping someone could give me some tips or advice about maximising my impact/presence within the department, remaining social and basically not being forgotten about! Have read that doing a PhD can be a lonely process and feel that this is likely to be worse as a distance learner. If anyone also has any helpful pointers about what to do (or not do) at the start of my PhD then that would be very much appreciated too.

Thank you! :)

Hi everyone,

I need to give a first year PhD presentation of my project but I am only two months into my PhD. The only work I have done so far is lots of reading and notes. Also, the only outline given by the department is that it's supposed to relate to my project proposal (which I have not yet officially completed/submitted as this needs to be done once I am six months in).

Any advice as to what to include in the presentation would be greatly appreciated! Especially as it is too early for me to include any methodology, data etc. Also, advice as to whether I should declare during the presentation that I am only two months in (hence why I don't have a lot of information to hand!) would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance :)