Almost at the start line

The first of my PhD ramblings covered why I personally decided to do a PhD and the various things I needed to consider – career, motivation, financial impact, commitment. From the advice I’ve received, by far the biggest barrier to completing a PhD (and keeping your sanity) is motivation. So I think I wrote that first article more for myself than anything else, as a reminder of why I’m doing this in case I forget at any point in the future!

Who is in the dream team?

The dream team in any PhD line up involves, at an absolute minimum, 2 people.

One person to do all the work (ahem, me). And a supervisor – a seasoned pro of the academic world who has been there and done it, they are an expert in your chosen research area and will guide you through this adventure. I’m very lucky that my team has an additional supervisor, who (I think) will handle most of my ridiculous day-to-day questions and be entirely fed up with me after 3 years.

I also have a corporate sponsor in my team, in the shape of Creative Creatures.

This means 2 things – firstly, that they are mad enough to fund this adventure. But more importantly, that this investment is not just in me, but in their business as well. Everything I learn will be related back to the corporate world and put into practice with real clients. Without this element, I wouldn’t have agreed to do this – doing research for the sake of doing research just isn’t for me, I need to see this make a difference to actual humans and I’m very grateful to have a platform to do this.

How do you go about applying to do something like this?

 I was very lucky to have a corporate sponsor and academic supervisor lined up, and we all already knew each other. From going through the application process, I can see it can absolutely be achieved without having those pre-existing relationships – it’s just more difficult.

You could search for an opportunity… PhD positions are advertised all the time, if you’re lucky, there will be one that fits what you’re interested in. You can apply like you would for any other job.

Or you could create an opportunity… come up with your own research topic and convince a supervisor that it’s a good idea to take you on. Pretty much the equivalent of turning up at someone’s office and convincing them to give you a job, in a role that doesn’t yet exist, because you just made it up.

What hoops do you need to jump through?

After making the decision to go ahead with it, I needed to go through the application process. This involves writing a 3,000 word proposal, outlining what you will be researching for the next 3 years.

3,000 words. To detail 3 years of full-time activity.

That’s 1,000 words to justify each full year of my academic existence.

I’ve written over 500 in this article already… words get used up fast.

Anyway, the rules are the rules. I wrote 3,000 words outlining exactly how I’d change the world in 3 years. Apparently this is entirely the wrong thing to do.

Unlike a corporate business proposal where people want to know specifics and timescales, academic proposals really seem to focus on how keen you are. The detailed plan isn’t required. You need to show you’re really passionate about a subject, that you’re willing to research it in great depth, and to criticise previous research suggesting how you could do it better.

I had no idea that the first YEAR of the PhD is reading?!? Reading and understanding where the world of science is up to, where the gaps in knowledge are, and what can be done to fill these gaps in a meaningful way. Then, after a YEAR of doing this, you then decide exactly what you’re going to do with the rest of your time. Mind blown.

Imagine if this was the way the corporate world worked… your proposal tells a client you’re really keen to work with them, and your first year of working with them will be to understand better. No visible output for them, no impact on the organisation, absolutely no tangible results, for a year. Wow.

But there you go, this is the way it works. It’s a big change from what I’ve been used to.

My proposal (after 3 drafts) was approved by my supervisor and submitted, with a follow up interview to seal the deal.

One month to go…

It’s now one month until the official start date. What does this mean? I have no idea!

In a ‘normal’ year you’d go to the university in person to register as a student, probably meet your supervisor and have people with clipboards trying to get you to join the frisbee society… will that be possible this year? Nobody knows yet. I’m not even sure I’m allowed to leave my house, I’m pretty sure visiting another city is way beyond the rules at this point.

We shall see! But if anything holds up my registration as a student, and therefore delays my student discount at Pizza Express and Cineworld, there will be trouble.