1 Welcome to the University of Edinburgh. 4 years ago I was sitting - - PDF document

1

Welcome to the University of Edinburgh. 4 years ago I was sitting where you are now. I can clearly remember how excited I was and how much I was looking forward to being a postgraduate student doing research in the field in which I am interested in. I am sure you all have your own motivations which bring you here to do a research

• degree. Maybe you have the same belief that I had four years ago: that anyone can

get a PhD. Full Stop. Because I had seen so many people who had gotten a PhD. But I really wish that someone could have told me that there should be a comma at the end of that sentence rather than a full-stop. Because there are a lot of conditions applied to this statement. 2

First of all, I wish I could have been told that doing a PhD is not easy. I am saying this not to scare you, but to let you be aware of and prepare for difficulties. Because a lot

• f things can go wrong. For example, the materials which are fundamental to your

research are no longer available. After months of optimisation, your experiments just don’t work. Or your supervisor can be very busy – you can’t talk about your problems as often as you want. Or you just couldn’t cope with long working hours or working

• n your own. All of these can happen. And they can happen repeatedly during your

PhD. Take me for example, I was very stressed during my first year of my PhD. Because I did medicine for my Undergraduate, I had done absolutely no research before coming

• here. I even couldn’t tell the difference between 20mL pipette and the 100mL one. So

although I was very much interested in research, I felt so frustrated when I was doing

• it. I didn’t know what papers to read, how to design experiments or troubleshoot. On

top of that, I was new to Edinburgh. I didn’t have any friends here and none of my friends in China had done a PhD before. So they couldn't understand my situations or

• ffer any help. So I felt like I was thrown into the middle of the ocean and I didn’t

know which direction to go. So for months I couldn’t sleep very well because I could not stop thinking about felt I might fail at the end. I felt anxious all the time, 3

especially when I had to present at lab meetings or a meeting with my supervisor. At the end I kept asking myself ‘Why on earth did I choose to do a Phd?” Thankfully though, there was a turning point in the story. Well, many of them. One of them was when I saw this cartoon. I suddenly realised that why I felt it was so difficult was because doing a PhD is indeed a big challenge. It requires a lot of effort before you can see the beneficial outcomes. So I shouldn’t have been feeling so bad when I was just at the beginning of digging out this big carrot. Also you should remember that you are definitely not the only person who feels this way. If you talk to PhD students in your Centre or even in a completely different field you’ll find that everyone has their own problems to solve and their own difficulties to overcome. So having a feeling that doing a PhD is not easy is absolutely normal! And more importantly…there is a lot of help available (next slide) 3

You’ve heard a lot about the support services that the University provides. And actually, there is a long list of them if you go online and look: http://www.ed.ac.uk/staff-students/students/student-services. In addition to these, your supervisors, post-docs in your group, administrators in your centre, or even

• ther PhD students – all of them can be very helpful and give you advice.

But one thing that I want to point out here is that asking for help is not the same as finding someone to complain to. Complaining can sometimes help us to relieve pressure but it is very time consuming and will not help you make any progress. The problems won’t disappear just by complaining. What you need is advice leading to solutions. So instead of complaining that “I don’t think my supervisor is giving me any direction. I should have chosen someone else” Try to ask the question like this: “How should I prepare the meeting with my supervisor so that I can let him/her know what problems I have and give me some advice?” Instead of complaining that “I have spent so much time on this experiment but it just doesn’t work.” Try to ask a question like this: “I’ve tried condition A, B, and C. What 4

else am I missing? What else should I try out?” So go ask for some constructive advice and help. Don’t feel shy or ashamed. I personally have been to the short sessions offered by the Counselling Service, which was very helpful! 4

Another point I want to make is that doing a PhD is not just about the Research question. When people ask me “What are some of the most valuable things you have gotten from your PhD” I think that there are 2 things. It’s not about the techniques I have learned or the positive findings that I discovered. These ARE important but not the MOST important. For me, the most valuable thing I got was the ability to learn and to solve problems independently. This enables me to learn new knowledge and accomplish various tasks, even in the fields in which I am not familiar. So when you are so focused on that specific research question, going into details and details, take

• ne step back. Ask yourself, “If I were given a completely different research question,

can I develop product to solve it?” After your PhD it’s very unlikely that you can do whatever projects you like. Instead, you will often be asked to do something that you are not familiar with. So equip yourself with the ability to learn new things. In addition, when you end up spending most of your time at work and your home has become a bed and breakfast, push yourself out of the lab and the library. Go to a public engagement event (photo on top left), join a EUSA Society (photo on 5

top right), run a marathon (middle photo), go to the Festival (bottom right) or even just simply explore this beautiful city (bottom left). Try something new. Seek more

• pportunities to develop skills, because through these experiences you will find out

what you like, what you are passionate about, what you are good at, and what are the core values that you care about the most. For me, the second most valuable thing that I have discovered is about myself. I realised that I am very shy when meeting

• strangers. So I force myself to attend networking events or give a public talk, like

today! I also realised that I am a very conservative person. So I keep reminding myself to take risks and challenges. So use your PhD to get to know yourself. Encourage yourself to step out of your comfort zone. You’ll find out that you can do a lot more than you think. 5

Last but not least, I want you to always keep this in mind: After all, it is YOUR PhD. This does not contradict what I have just said – to ask for help. What I mean is, after you’ve asked 10 people what you should do next, ask yourself “What do I think I should do next?” After you have gathered a lot of suggestions from different people ask yourself if you agree with all of them. Which advice should you take? If you keep asking yourself this you’ll gradually find that you start to discuss a question with

• thers rather than just asking and listening. You start to have your own judgements

and your own ideas. This is very important because the ultimate goal of doing a PhD is to become an independent researcher. So don’t just sit back and thing, “there will be someone who can help me out with this.” It is your responsibility to take the lead

• f your project.

6

At the end, I want to say that if you are prepared that at some point of your PhD it can be very challenging. And if you are determined to overcome all the difficulties through your own effort and with other’s help…comma, anyone can get a PhD. Full stop. Try to make the most of it! I wish you all the best with your studies. Thank you very much! 7

8

Hello, I’m aware it’s been a very long morning. So I assure you that these are the distilled, very best tips that I can give you today. My name is Donald Slater, I am (as of this week) a 3rd year PhD student. I can tell you that it goes very, very quickly. My research is in Glaciology. I’m specifically trying to work out how climate change will affect the Greenland ice sheet, shown in the background image here. So I’ve been asked to come here today to give you some hints or tips for your PhD and to say what I wish I knew when I started my PhD. Of course, I should say that I haven’t actually finished my PhD yet so it remains to be seen whether any of these tips actually work. But I think they might be quite useful to think about. It’s also very difficult to give one-size fits all advice to research students. Because no two research projects are the same. Some are very, very different. But there are a few things which I think apply regardless of your topic and these are what I would like to focus on today. So I have 2 serious topics to talk about today and 1 which is a bit more fun. 9

The first serious topic is “Presentations”. You may have heard about this already today. In my opinion it is hard to overstate the importance of presentation skills to your PhD. Presentations are the main way that you will share your research with others. Often, say if you go to a conference, you won’t just be selling your research. You will also be selling yourself as a researcher. Presentations are also a great way of pulling your ideas together. They are also a great way of making an argument from start to finish. Therefore identifying weaknesses with your research. So how do we as presenters, as PhD students or Masters by Research, improve our presentation skills? Well I strongly believe that the only way is through practice. So you should take every opportunity that you come across to give a presentation. Seek those opportunities out! That might be internal or external conferences, events like this, outreach events, or University competitions. When you get one of those

• pportunities you should put in the effort to prepare properly. So practice your

presentation, in front of your supervisor, in front of fellow PhD students, in front of your flatmates, or even (most productively I’ve found) in front of an empty room. I 10

think I’ve given about 20 presentations since I started my PhD and I’ve gone from being utterly terrified of presenting to almost, nearly, enjoying it. If you put in these hours, then when you come to give your first big talk at an international conference it’s not such a big deal. This is the time when for 15 minutes you have the undivided attention of all the extremely busy and very important leaders of your field. You want to make that time count! I was at a conference in Cambridge recently, and you could tell the talks which weren’t so great because when the speaker finished and took questions, there were no questions. Just stonewall silence. Whereas the good speakers had loads of

• questions. So presentations are a great way to engage people with your research. But

if you want to achieve that you have to be prepared to put in the hours. So that’s enough about presentations. 10

My second serious topic to talk about is, rather predictably: Supervisors. So I guess, rather like research projects, no two supervisors are the same and some are very, very different. Some supervisors like to come to work in jeans and a t-shirt. Others in a shirt and tie. Some supervisors will be up for a drink after work, others will always disappear straight home. Some might even invite you home for dinner with their family, while others you won’t know after 3 or 4 years of working with them whether they have a family. These traits will reflect on your relationship with your supervisor. Some supervisors will want to know what you are doing every day. Whereas other supervisors might not notice if you disappear to South America for 3 months. Some will know your topic inside out and give you very detailed instructions about what to do. Whereas others the topic might be a slightly new departure and you’ll have to make your own way. None of these are necessarily right or wrong. With the possible exception of your supervisor not noticing you being away for 3 months. That’s pretty disappointing. But the point is you have to find a relationship with your supervisor that works for both of

• you. That’s something that you should talk about with them in the next few weeks. If

11

at any point you get the stage where it’s not working, then again talk to them. Find a better way of working together. But just to put supervisors in a bit of context from a PhD or Masters by Research student perspective, there’s more to the PhD than just your supervisor. So at some point during your degree, perhaps during the middle toward the end, you will start to know more about your topic than your supervisor. At that stage it’s up to you to take

• wnership of your project. The second point is that there are more sources for

discussion and information than just your supervisor. I have found talking to PhD students and post-docs in my department to be a really, really helpful thing. These people are often more available than your supervisor. The final point is that you should never feel like you are some lowly student that is attached to an esteemed professor who has no time for you. Research students are vitally important to a department’s research output. In fact, in my department the PhD students do the majority of the research. PhD students are often behind some of the best things that happen in a department – like social events and seminar series. So let’s all not forget our value to our departments and indeed to the University. 11

So there’s the two serious topics. Here’s one that’s a bit more fun. I’d like to return to the original question which was “What did I wish I knew when I started my PhD?” So here is a map of Edinburgh. We are on the Mound, up at the top. There’s the central area in the middle (says ‘George Square’) and King’s Buildings down at the

• bottom. So here’s some things that you should know:
• Arthur’s Seat, if you don’t know, makes a very good walk. But in my opinion the

best views of Edinburgh are to be had from Blackford Hill

• There is an excellent beer garden to be found at the Pear Tree, near George

Square.

• The Meadows, which are also nearby, make an excellent spot for a summer

barbecue.

• But there’s not much left of Summer to go, so here’s a winter activity you should

all try out – best nachos to be had in life are in Edinburgh, in my opinion, in an old pub called the Auld Hoose, which is near the Pleasance. There is a serious point to this, which is that you have to remember that there is more to life than your PhD. It’s important to have things that you can do that get you away from it. So these items on the map are just a few suggestions. 12

The other thing to remember is to have fun within your PhD or your Masters by

• Research. So your PhD is the stage in your life where you may have the most time and

freedom to follow your own research ideas. Possibly more so than at any other stage if you carry on in academia. Don’t forget to take advantage of the perks of being a PhD student. You may have quite flexible working hours. You may get to travel to exotic places, to visit other academics and for conferences…. 12

….so this was me at a conference. 13

…and finally, a lot of you will have a lot of freedom in where you work. So again I’d like to recommend the Meadows as an excellent place to read papers on a summer day. 14

So I’ll wrap up there, my key points are:

• Work hard on your presentation skills
• To find a relationship with your supervisor that works for both of you.
• Do not forget your value as research students to your department
• Try to have fun both in and out of work

If you can balance at least some of those things, for at least some of the time, then I’m sure you’ll have a great time doing research at Edinburgh. Enjoy it! 15

16