If you just started a PhD, hoping to start in the future or just a keen observer, you are not alone if you have wondered what the PhD journey feels like. When I started my PhD, I had a lot of questions – many things about research felt like a mystery to me. I couldn’t make much sense of why and how a person would spend 3-4 years in a lab working on one project.
Last month I received an invitation from my University to speak to the doctoral students during their induction event. I was very elated and honoured by this invitation, as I couldn’t believe I had come to the point of advising others. It was while preparing my talk that I realised how much I have learnt and grown along this journey. I broke my lessons about my PhD journey into 7:
1. Deepening knowledge
Some universities make it compulsory for PhD students to take relevant courses with a specific credit load in their first year. I realised that my uni and most others in the UK do not take this approach. When I started my PhD, I didn’t have a strong foundation in some courses like AI and Machine Learning. I had to figure out how to acquire the requisite training that will help me to gain a strong theoretical understanding and succeed in my research. I filled this knowledge gap by attending specialised summer schools in my field, some of which I got scholarships to attend. It is possible to enrol in a bachelors or masters course by arranging with the programme leader. Becoming a course tutor (supporting tutorials) is another great way to learn and teach a subject of interest.

2. Adapting to changes
Things are going to happen that are beyond your control during the doctoral journey. Administrative policy changes may occur, research budget may run out, equipment may delay in arriving, bureaucracy may set in, supervisors may leave. In all of it, you must learn to manage that which you have under your control – the PhD. It is your project and no one else can drive it better than you.

3. Developing soft/transferable skills
PhD is a period you can pick up a lot of vital skills that will help you later in your professional life. This could be confidence, writing, presentation, communication, time-management, initiative, and team-working. It is important to self-assess and identify the areas you need to strengthen and seek for opportunities that will help you achieve this. For example, I participated in the 3-Minute Thesis competition as a way of sharpening my public engagement, presentation, communication, and concept simplification skills.

4. Leveraging opportunities
Be it paid jobs, volunteering, developmental training, or community service, there are numerous opportunities you can leverage to sharpen your skills and boost your employability. The university itself has several programs organised for career development, some of which may be delivered through the research office, career and employability, or student union. Some opportunities may be sought outside the university, for example, volunteering at an event in your field. I found many paid student jobs within the university with some targeted at PhD students, thus lessening the competition. Your university may have business-oriented or self-employment training that get you thinking of how to commercialise your innovation after your program.

5. Engaging with public/research community
During a PhD, there is a tendency to streamline your focus only on solving the specific research question and miss out on the bigger picture. Avenues for public engagement will get you thinking about the impact of your research on the wider society. You will begin to ask questions like “how can the research benefit others?, how can I disseminate my research to the wider community?”. For instance, I collaborated with AccessEd charity to disseminate my research to A-level secondary students to improve access to university. One of my motivations for starting this blog, apart from my passion for writing, was to make my doctoral journal accessible to the community.

6. Expanding professional network
The doctoral period provides lots of opportunity to build your professional network. Some of the persons you will meet at conferences, summer schools, will become your colleagues and collaborators. If you think of your research as a piece of work that will eventually be published to the wider society, then it makes sense to be deliberate about meeting experts and peers, and growing the professional relationship.

7. Connecting to support systems
Last but very important one. No person is an island. Though PhD can be a lonely journey, you should be deliberate about getting support from your support systems, be it family, friends, colleagues, PhD graduates, supervisors, and university support groups. Like I hear, it is normal to get stuck or hit a dead end but don’t stay there.

Just remember that you are not alone on this journey. We are in this together π.
Wow… This is really amazing Maryleen!
Thank you for the update, hope to be on the train soon…
This is powerful information.
It is more than enough.
Very concise and accurate
With these, the journey to PhD can be in view. It may not really be easy but with this lecture, one has been adequately informed about what it takes to succeed.
I love it
More Wisdom and Insights
We need more of this guide for those of us that are aspiring to step up our career journey
Thanks alot maryleen for that inspiring information
Quite apt and interesting. You just inspired a soul without knowing. Thank you for this piece of advice, I hope to bag my PhD one day.
Thank you for sharing this.
I’m quite far from being a PhD student, but as a keen observer as you said, I learnt a lot from this advice. Thank you for sharing.
Hey, million thanks. Your journey has ignited a great inspiration in me. And i surely know that someday i will share my success story to inspire others. Grateful connecting, read and learning from ur table.
This is very enlightening for me!
The way you spelt out the things to look forward to is simple and explanatory
A powerful and helpful information.
Thank you Maryleen!