Hello!

This may sound like an odd dilemma to some here... I really would like to apply for a PhD. I'm currently doing a second MA after having completed a first one in the previous year and have been contemplating PhD applications for a while. One thing I am really struggling with though is coming up with the PhD topic or area of focus. I study history and have always had the "problem" of being interested in many different topics and areas. Basically my worry is that I will embark on a 3-year project being too unfocused and not able to find a proper specialization or realizing I don't have the right topic after I have already started. I may be overthinking this but it seems to be a factor that stops me from trying to apply and it would be great to get over that hurdle.

So I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to find the "right" PhD topic with conflicting interests?

Thanks!

Any chance of combining them? I too struggle most of my time with various interests. I am basically a "learnt" chemist who has a Bachelors degree in Biology (Virology) and did a Masters in Biomedical Analysis (Masters Thesis in Bioinformatics). And now I do my phD in the gap between the Aging and Dermatology field, have a collarboration with someone in cancer research and plan to do for my thesis some additional experiments with cutting-edge microscopy methods.:-D So yeah.. specialization? Um.. no!

I am fully aware that I will never be THE expert in one of those fields. But on the other hand I am very good in managing problems from different fields (every tried to get a chemist and a medical scientist to understand each other? ;-)). Perhaps I will never publish in Nature magazines and I doubt that I will ever have a career at the university but so far my various interests have brought me much joy in my research and a job offer from a nearby start up company.

In the end it depends on what you want to do afterwards with your degree? Comparing different fields could be a niche, too ;-).

Hello,

Firstly, please excuse any typos etc - I'm on my phone which refuses to behave itself.

In history it's quite usual (but not essential) to work in a very similar topic to that of your Masters. It gives you a solid background in the lit and theory etc, which can be really helpful.

It might be worth having a chat with your MA supervisor about this as s/he will be well placed to tell you whether you absolutely need a background in your topic before proceeding on to a PhD.

Perhaps taking an inter-chronological or thematic approach?

Ah! Jack of all trades- master of none!

@cloudofash: Well I AM an expert - at working interdisciplinary ;-). Due to my different topics I have never enough time to deepen my knowledge in one.. and since I am always working on the fringes it feels more like creating new fields than to become expert in a known field. For example, I feel always like I know next to nothing when I talk with the aging specialists or the dermatologists. I understand both and can combine their knowledge, but I can't keep up with the deep knowledge of the fields that both have.

We have people in our department who work for 7+ years on ONE protein.. they are the experts, have the nature papers and I am pretty sure they will be one day bright group leaders.

But its the story of my life - I am even the nerd between nerds because of my clashing hobbies. I am used to it - and the thought of working on one protein for the rest of my life (or even 7 years) sounds really scary ;-D.