Overview of TreeofLife on PostgraduateForum.com

Overview of TreeofLife

Signup date: 12 Apr 2011 at 3:58pm

Last login: 26 Apr 2019 at 5:18pm

Post count: 2853

Recent Posts

PhD by publication - help finding a uni

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

I'm assuming you're an academic with some published papers.

A google search:

https://warwick.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/phdbypublishedwork/

http://www.kingston.ac.uk/research/research-degrees/available-degrees/phd-by-prior-publication-portfolio/

https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/media/mmuacuk/content/documents/graduate-school/regulations-procedures/guidelines-phd-published-work.pdf

First hits, they all say you can be an external candidate.

I'd just email the postgraduate administrator of the department you're interested in and ask them if they will accept you and what the requirements are.

I was exicted to start my PhD and now it just feels like the bane of my existence.

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Hi this is quite normal. A PhD is training; you are not supposed to have all the answers. You may well make mistakes in the analysis. This is quite normal. Even experienced researchers do this.

If your supervisor tells you are fine, then you are most probably fine

Check in with your GP, health service or counselling service or visit the big white wall to get a bit of support if needed: https://www.bigwhitewall.com/v2/landingUK.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2f

Zotero over Mendeley and Mind-maps

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

1. I've only used Mendeley.

2. I think they do, but I don't really make many notes - I just highlight. I also tend to use it on one computer mainly. I mainly using for storing and searching PDFs.

3. Don't know

4. Don't know

5. Don't know

6. Don't know

Shortlisted for PhD interview - I no longer want to do a PhD - Please help.

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Be honest? Just said what you did here.

Forced to graduate with a Masters at the end of a 4 year PhD

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Hi,

I'm assuming you are not studying in the UK, otherwise it would be after your viva you got a Masters, so the decision would not have been your supervisors'? I wouldn't take your supervisors word for it either - speak to the admin team or head of department first.

The Reddit forumites are correct though. Just put on your CV the date you got your masters. If you are asked in an interview, you have to explain. In non-academic interviews, you probably won't even be asked. I do have a friend who took 4 years to do a Masters - this is common outside of the UK.

Apply for industry jobs and work your way up - lack of a PhD is not a barrier to this. There's also the opportunity of doing a PhD sponsored by an industrial employer at a later date.

PhD delay

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Have you asked your supervisors about this?

change of discipline??

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

You need to be more specific? You need to contact potential universities and ask them directly as well. Look at course requirements online also.

CS: MTech: Java Dev for 5.5 yrs: Looking for PhD

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

PhDs are very competitive in some fields. You need to keep applying. How will you fund it?

Platform to highlight current postgraduate projects?

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

So I may be stating the obvious by suggesting that some form of monthly magazine highlighting current projects would have little to no appeal to either prospective students or current postgrads (in your opinion)?

I think this is highly subjective. Some students may love it, some may have a passing interest and some may not be interested at all. Like with everything I guess.

I'd say I would have a passing interest. If I see a society magazine, I might flick through it, see who is doing what in my area. In the same way I have googled to find people working in other unis in similar areas to me, or browsed conference abstracts etc.

Having a resource like you're describing may be useful, what I'm saying is, there's already resources out there serving a similar function, so I'm not sure I personally see the benefit.

But if it makes you feel any better, I'm not business minded, I'm risk averse and I prefer the status quo, so I'm probably not the best person to listen to anyway!

Platform to highlight current postgraduate projects?

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Quote From joey88:
I appreciate your opinions, I was just interested in a tool to both inform and highlight the type of work currently being conducted across the UK, for people like myself who may have just started a PhD or are looking to proceed with postgraduate study.

If you're looking for that, then you can look at any research group in the UK on their university page and look at their publications.

This tells you the work of the research group and thus what a prospective PhD student might be doing. Most of the publications are PhD student work of course. Most of these will be building on other work by the group or working in similar areas using similar techniques. Many groups have their own websites as well with more information.

I see what you mean, having a database would be helpful, but I think it would be out of date very quickly, as many people would make the entry once and then it would be left there.

Platform to highlight current postgraduate projects?

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Quote From joey88:
Thanks for the reply, how would publishing in a society member magazine be different though? Would it be possible to develop a platform that is cross-institutions, highlighting current projects perhaps with a short lay summary?

It's normally PhD students writing about support funding they've received from the society to attend a conference or do one or two experiments etc. It's not them talking about their results per se.

I'm not sure of the value of something like you are proposing to be honest. Who would read it? Most people don't take too much notice of PhD student research, or what's online about it (now I'm 2 years post PhD I have a different perspective to when I was a PhD student). Other PhD students might but how would they collaborate? Supervisors have the power and the money. The best way to find collaborators and to get your research out there is to go to a conference and speak to people presenting or who has a poster. Then make something work from there. I've had people approach my PI about my research for a collaboration, and it's because of our papers they've read and meeting us at conferences. It's not because of any minor article I might have written about my work or my online presence - that means nothing without actual papers IMO. It might change in the future but I don't think it has at the moment.

Should I see a counsellor or psychiatrist?

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Have you always been like this, or it is a recent change?

I'd say if you've always found it difficult to express your opinions eloquently verbally, then it's not a cause for concern.

I'm also much better at writing than speaking (more time to think first) and experience the same as you - I don't express myself well, even when talking about my own work. Sometime I use the wrong technical words, or I speak colloquially because I have to think about the correct technical words first, so it's quicker just to talk in science slang, almost. It does get better with practice, but I'm still not at the level of other academics. I don't think I ever will be - I excel at writing, not speaking (don't judge me on this post haha). I can't be good at everything.

Platform to highlight current postgraduate projects?

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

Quote From joey88:
Sure, we have a similar thing here, but there is nothing online or in print that helps to promote ongoing projects? I cant seem to find anything anyway.

You can't really "print" or "publish" ongoing projects, if you intend to publish your final work in a journal. If you do that, it could be argued it has already been published elsewhere.

You can highlight your work at conferences, in society member magazines or on a website e.g. your own or things like ResearchGate let you upload information about current projects.

How do I delete a post?

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

I don't think you can. I think you can just delete the content.

Do examiners read the journals in our reference?

TreeofLife 2853 posts
6 years ago

They will read your thesis in detail. They are highly unlikely to be looking at your references.

However, if they know your field inside out, they don't need to look at your references - they will likely know the work just as well as you do and so will know whether you've used the "correct" references or not.