Best of luck Chris!!! Hope it's what you are looking for :-)

I decided to open this thread as i soon have to present a poster once again.The problem is I always have problems on how to start talking to people about my poster. I think I am quite good at making nice posters and then I panick when I have to present them which is a real shame as all my hard work goes wasted. So my question is how do you aproach people and how you encourage them to discuss about your work? What do you do when people pass by and look interested?

I love my PhD because it' s exactly what I want to do at the moment in my life. It entails so many interesting things such as presentations, conferences, meeting the experts of the field etc. and it helps obtaining so many skills during the way. It's hard and challenging enough so that I don't get bored, no day seems to be the same as the previous one. I also get paid for it, so that I'm financially independent. I wouldn't change it for any other job :p.

"especially the failed experiments" this is a nice comment Elsie. Many people (me included) get disappointed about failed experiments and they don't bother writing down what they did, how etc..and i agree that this can be of high value later on when you want to see what went wrong, or what to change etc. Good to have this in mind! :-)

in the uk as people mentioned before, although it's not impossible, it is quite difficult to find a funded phd if you don't fulfill the three year residency requirement, coz most research council scholarships have this as a prerequisite. Maybe you would like to apply to other european countries too such as sweden, germany,switzerland. You can find institutes that have really high research level at the areas of your interest.
Additionally, in the US maybe you can work directly as a PhD student without a master but the whole PhD in the US often lasts much more than a PhD in the UK which could last 3-4 years.

thank u for ur comments. the thing is although i 've been having labbooks for 5 years now i've never thought of them as a proof that i did the work. doing a quick search on the internet i found out that some pretty strict rules excist in some places like u can't tear pages, u can't leave blank pages or u can't just stapple data, u have to sign every page etc. my labbook is kind of a mess stappled pages, corrections with correction fluid etc. i mean is it really important to have it as a proof? i used to have it as a reference for me and my supervisor of course but after ur comments and this internet search i started having second thoughts.

oh i wanted to write now that all pain , sweat, tears and long hours are, i hope you take a good rest...it seems my computer doesn't want to cooperate today.

you houououou this must feel realy great. oh i'm only at the beginning of my journey but someday after some years i hope i post here a similar post to urs Martie. now that all pain , sweat, tears and long hours are now over. i hope you take a good rest now. (up)

oh thanks a million dunni73 for the detailed reply...i think it's worth the effort to keep these books well updated...i'll add the date more accurately from now on since i keep on forgetting it ... and i will continue adding details that may be useful in the future...;-)

Maybe this is more of a personal question, but can u give some insight on what you note down on your labbook? I mean do you only note results? or also methods protocols...things u read and can be used as a reference for future exps etc? sometimes i worry i write down too much like every detail and waste time just updating it every week....and sometimes i find out things would be so much better if i have noted exactly how i did this coz em hm i don't remember really...what do u think???

OK i think it's also important to set smaller goals for each day of the week..some days of the week will be productive and maybe it's more motivating to count them as productive (rather than counting the whole week as rubbish :-)). and have in mind that a schedule is just a schedule to help u organize ur work it's normal that some things won't be done on time it always happens but u can compensate later on..by working a bit longer or working during weekends (not a very nice thing to do though).

ok this is a bit funny (or better say tragic???) i dont know if i achieved my goal today. thing is i did my exp as planned but my results arent easily interpreted and i need the interpretation for my exp 2morrow which unfortunately cannot be rescheduled :p id i dont do it 2mor i will have to redo all the preparation.

ok goal for today to finish this one exp i left in the middle...a lot of stress as i need results for 2mor!:p

Hi all!
As i promised i'm back ...
exp 1 DONE (up)
ep2 PARTIALLY :$ DONE (up)
quite a productive day :-)
keep up the good work and enjoy ur weekend!!!

So I would also like to share my goals for tomorrow in an attempt to be more motivated about achieving them
So here it goes
1. To do this one exp I was supposed to do today
2. To do the exp I originally have planned for tomorrow
Let's see how it goes...
Good luck everyone with achieving ur goals.
I'll keep u updated one how I did 2morrow.;-)