Total night owl too, making it very hard to be motivated in the day after forcing myself to get up early after a late night. I find exercise helps me go to sleep earlier but I rarely have time for it whilst doing a PhD

Anyone got any experience of completing a PhD then going into teaching, either through Teach First or PGCE. I'm considering it but don't know who to ask for advice or share experiences.

Thanks :)

Hi guys,
In the last few months of my PhD and starting to think about postdocs, the only thing is I have no idea where to look. Does anyone know any good sites for biology/ecology/physiology postdocs??

Thanks in advance folks

Good luck!

I agree with metabanalysis - try talking to the adviser s/he may not be aware of the level of feedback you were expecting as everyone is different. If that doesn't work, have a chat to your primary supervisor.

Take it from someone at the end of third year, you need down time to give you the stamina to continue to the end. If you work too hard you'll quickly burn out and relationships with family and friends will suffer. Treat a PhD like a 9-5 job and try to leave your work alone in the evenings. Save your stamina for the end.

Hi Learner27,
By the middle/end of your PhD you should be a world expert in your very specialised field, so you will often find that you know more than your supervisor at this point. At the start of the PhD, as long as your supervisor is supportive and knows enough about your topic to objectively look through/check draft lit reviews etc. I'd say it is fine. Maybe ask your supervisor's opinion- does he/she think they are OK with your project direction? Your supervisor will want you to pass, a fail looks bad on them.

Hey tt_dan,
There's no magic formula that universities/employers look for, just do the best you can. In my field (sciences), 1 paper is good, 2 is excellent. More than the number, however, it's the quality of journal you are published in... 1 high impact journal paper may be better than 4 in low impact journals for example. I agree with Smoobles- published papers make life easier in your viva (supposedly) and show your work is the required standard and national and international conference proceedings also look good. That said, I know PhD students with excellent theses which had no time to publish and they had no problems in their viva. My advice would be to relax, don't worry about perfect publication numbers and do your best. This will be reflected in your viva.