Hello,

Thanks for your reply. Firstly, I'd like to apologies for the many grammatical errors in my initial post. It's my own fault for writing so late at night!

To answer your question, pm133, much of the research in Computer Science currently focuses on (or at least involves) data science, machine learning, artificial intelligence or IoT. I have been spending my spare time learning ML. However, I fear this will take at least 12-18 months and even then, I may not be able to reach a sufficient level to complete a PhD in the subject.

Hello,

(I apologise for the length!)

My career path to this point has been somewhat untraditional. I began teaching in HE the moment I graduated from my undergraduate degree. I then progressed to be a Course Leader over the next couple of years. I hold a BSc in Computing and an MBA. While my MBA was valuable, my core subject area is computing. The university I was enrolled to at the time did not offer an MSc and as funding was available for an MBA, it seemed a good decision.

I'm aware that my career beyond my current position will require me to have a PhD. I also have a genuine desire to complete the work required to obtain a PhD.

Unfortunately, after many months of going around in circles I'm struggling to choose a topic. As an academic, I teach web development which doesn't lend itself to PhD topics very naturally. While I achieved a first class BSc, the teaching wasn't the best and my role as an academic at a different university has highlighted the real lack of fundamental computer science topics in the curriculum I was taught. This, combined with me not completing an MSc, has made the process of finding a PhD topic VERY difficult.

I'm stuck in a position where I feel the expertise I do have in web development can't be applied to a PhD topic and common areas of research in computing (such as Data Science, Artificial Intelligence etc) are far beyond my capabilities.

I'm not one that normally finds situations overwhelming but this is becoming a major strain on my mental wellbeing. I feel as though I'm spending hours and hours reading journals trying to find something I feel is within my range of knowledge (or at least something I can learn within any reasonable period of time).

Does anyone have any experience of being in a similar situation? Any advice?

I've had some topic ideas. However they don't really tickle the taste buds of my supervisors who continue to push me towards topics that feel out of my depth. Some of the ideas I have are being reached heavily so there has also been originality concerns raised by my supervisors.

I'm pretty lost right know ...

Thanks in adv.