This is a postgraduate forum for students, not a jobcentre. Try google.

I can't help you with the psychology as a career choice question, but am fascinated by this bizarre idea that it's only for "gays and women". Who actually says things like that these days?

Rubyw would love to cheer Scienceishard up but is also a bit grumpy because of having to work today. Perhaps an early coffee break would do the trick...

Hello there, it's Sunday morning and I'm a bit embarrassed to show my face on this thread actually... not a lot of progress to report since yesterday :$

Still working on the so-called easiest chapter and still not done, ho hum, you've heard it all before yeah yeah I know... I worked on it very slowly till X Factor time yesterday, had my dinner and fell asleep. Hard working, huh? I was kept awake by the Hound of the Baskervilles style wailing somewhere round here last night but slept ok despite that and am now back in the same old spot and ready to crack on with it *again.* Definitely can't waste this day! :-s

Armendaf, you've got a hell of a workload to juggle at the moment, it will be difficult but worth it in the end if you can do it. Not long until you've finished!

Lara, I didn't expect to see you again so soon!! Have you discovered a new bug in their system? You could email/PM Pete and he might give you a helpfulness point for reporting it! If there's a character limit on replies it would be useful to know in advance. They can't read everything, surely??!! I have wondered that too. Waiting in anticipation for the next update on the I Am Bored thread? Nah, don't think so!

Anywaaayyy.... I'd better get off this forum before I waste more valuable time.

See you later fellow workers, if you're around.

======= Date Modified 28 Sep 2008 10:35:04 =======
Thanks Sneaks and MicroGeek, that's very nice of you! :-)

I wouldn't understand any of you scientist's research either, it's another language really, though presumably some ideas would be interesting to other disciplinary audiences as an alternative way of looking at something. That's why I like going to those Summer Science exhibitions sometimes.

MicroGeek, you could always do something slightly different later on if you wanted to, sometimes there's scope for a bit of cross-disciplinary collaboration.

======= Date Modified 28 Sep 2008 10:36:37 =======
Academia is a small world, more so when you're working in a specialist area. If you get a reputation for being obnoxious or difficult to work with at PhD level, it won't do you any favours if you're planning on staying in that field post-doc. Unless you're such a genius that people will want you anyway, regardless of whether you're a bit of a pushy prat, can you really imagine a supervisor recommending you for a post-doc post, or singing your praises to their high ranking colleagues in other institutions if you're going to be really impossible to work with? If you are unable to work collaboratively with other people, it won't go unnoticed by those around you, regardless of how it looks superficially in the way you are treated, and is likely to limit career choices further down the line.

Anyway, how do you know staff aren't just enabling him to finish so they can get rid of him and are secretly counting the days until they never have to work with him again? Unless he's got that annoying talent for appearing charming to those in positions of power, so it's just his fellow students that suffer! It's just my observations from working in a research area for long enough to see what goes on, though I'm sure there are plenty of variable examples elsewhere.

Rubyw reckons Tricky shouldn't worry about his hair, as it can't be that bad. Or can it...??!! :p

I'm looking at the cultural meanings of contemporary mourning and memento mori jewellery, and specifically at the relationship between the designs and wider funerary and bereavement practices. :-)

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======= Date Modified 27 Sep 2008 14:17:30 =======
Following on from what Tricky said really, about getting on with people....

Keep your ego in check. It might feel like your research is the most important thing in the universe, but others will have the same opinion about their own work as well. An inflated sense of self-importance or a clash of egos is an ugly thing and does not endear you to fellow students or research staff. You really don't want to get a reputation for being the 'pushy one' or make the hearts sink of any beleaguered staff members you approach when you come into college on a mission to further your own ends. PhDs take years to finish and life will be harder if you quickly become a bit of a diva.

Go easy on the perfume/aftershave if that's your thing, but on the other hand don't forget basic personal hygiene, however stressed or busy you are. You really don't want to empty a room because you stink, and you don't want to give your supervisor or fellow students some allergy-related rhinitis thing either. Particularly relevant if you're working in a communal space or shut in a small office with someone else. This might sound weird, but I'm serious - it is *really* awkward to sort out these things, as a member of staff. It causes no end of atmospheres, and I don't just mean the smelly sort.

======= Date Modified 27 Sep 2008 11:41:00 =======
Lara, that's a brilliant outcome for you!! Well done, that is a HUGE achievement getting the thing finished and handed in to your supervisor! (up)

Sounds an ideal situation - a bit of an extension so you can edit and tweak what you've already done, plus actually get a bit of sleep and have a mental break from it. You'll look at it with fresh eyes after that and will be able to submit a thesis that you're sure is as good as you can produce! Plus you'll have the reassurance of your sup's feedback so it won't be that weird situation when you're the only one in the whole world who's read your work and you don't know any more whether it's any good or not - could either be complete genius or absolute crap. Yours obviously isn't the latter because you've done so much work on it, but other informed opinions are so useful to reduce the anxiety as much as possible!

See you when you're back after the weekend- take it easy, you really deserve it!

I'll be keeping you and Armendaf company with the deadlines as my 2nd draft is due in mid Nov, if not sooner. Artificial deadlines are so useful, it's amazing how you can imprint them into your mind and panic about them as if they're the real thing. I find it a bit scary how you can convince yourself so easily that it's reality, if you did the same for other really negative things in your life you could end up in a right state.

Armendaf, how's things with you?

Pari, hope you had a good day in the lab!

Tractorgirl, it's lovely to hear from you, hope you've having a good break now!

I'm working today on PhD stuff. I've got 4 whole days to try to finish editing these 4 chapters, 3 are partially done but I haven't touched one of them yet at all. It was really stressful at work this week and last night I should have started looking at PhD stuff to start getting back into 'the zone' but I felt so drained that I just couldn't stop crying, a bit pathetic really but there you go. Anyway, today I am ok and will forget about annoying work stuff and switch my mind back to my thesis to pick up where I left it a few days ago. One of the profs said really nice things about my exhibition submission and that I'm a natural at writing.:-) That was nice to hear in my zombiefied state! Plus I ended up redoing all the pics layouts myself so that's all sorted as far as possible, can't do any more than that.

So my aims for today are: get back into PhD mode and finish the easiest chapter today so I can cross one off my list. That will cheer me up today and I need that.

I agree with Badhaircut. You could look at different uni research projects on their websites, as well as details of successful funding bids on the various research funding bodies sites - eg AHRC and ESRC. That would give you an idea of what attracts funding and why, then start thinking about you own area of interest in relation to that. It's not my area, but maybe for eg if it was social policy or criminology, something to do with teenage knife and gun crime would produce a flicker of interest in some places as it's very current.

Vaifan, your research sounds interesting. I get mixed responses to mine, as it's about jewellery and death. I got to the point a while ago where I'd be able to gauge how much to say about the topic to avoid reactions where they might think I'm a closet ghoul or something. Sometimes I just say it's about jewellery as that sounds completely harmless and I've less chance of attracting weirdos. It's easier when you can angle it towards social policy for some people outside academia and your own area.

MicroGeek, good luck with settling into your work, though it sounds like you already are!

My main supervisor said she could only work with students if she respected their work and what they were doing, so mutual respect in that situation is ideal.

I've noticed both my supervisors really like it when I surprise them with new ideas or material that they don't already know about - you should anyway in a PhD as it's an original contribution to knowledge etc, but it's great when you can do that, as you feel sometimes that they must know practically everything as they've been working in that area for so long and then you come up with something extra.

======= Date Modified 26 Sep 2008 17:47:21 =======

Actually jb7445, you'd probably be best finishing your first degree really before worrying about a PhD. If you were doing a masters it would make more sense to think seriously about it, but it seems a bit premature really... you might be completely sick of academia by the time you graduate.