Hi everyone, I know I keep starting threads with silly questions but this is quite exciting, well I think it is anyway!

The PhD that I am starting in September is in an emerging discipline (psychology/sociology hybrid), and I have been told it is very original and a little bit strange, but in a good way. I'm really looking forward to starting it. I have recently read an excellent article in a well-known journal, and have been really inspired by it, it was really reassuring to read something that has been done on a similar area, using a similar approach. I looked up who wrote it and she is a well known professor at a university quite far away from me, I will probably use a lot of her work in the future, I was surprised I hadn't come across her before.

I had a meeting with my supervisor this morning about my MSc dissertation, he is going to supervise my PhD as well so we were talking about how they were going to connect. I mentioned this paper and who wrote it, and he knows her and told me how friendly she was and that I should get in contact with her as my topic is so original, she would be good to speak to. I really want to, from her photo she looks like a really friendly and approachable person, but what should I say? Would it be appropriate to do so at this stage? I think she would be interested in my research, and I do want to branch out and get to know other academics as I'm staying at the university where I did my undergraduate degree so haven't had much chance to do that so far.

Any advice on early networking appreciated!

Natassia xx

It might be easiest to phrase an initial email as a specific but easy to fulfil request e.g. for a copy of a recent, unpublished conference paper she'd given that's relevant to your work. Mention how helpful you found her work and that your supervisor suggested you contact her and give a very brief outline of your work.

Hi Natassia, I would actively encourage with as many academics, who relate to your research, as possible. Although shy in real life, I'm not by any means shy when it comes to discussing my research with academics all over the globe. Networking is so useful! New Zeland, Australia, South Africa, America and Oldham - so many researchers from so many places have been instrumental in shaping my research. You can exchange ideas (cautiously), get feedback and really gain a feeling that your research is actually important and found interesting by many other people.
I remember when I first started out and didn't really know anything. I got in touch with a researcher, very prominent in her field and has written numerous textbooks, to ask her some questions about things I'm not really sure about. She not only answered them, but she actually sent me relevant chapters of her book and some papers. She even read some early chapters of my work and paid me compliments, which helped with my confidence. And then another researcher, who wrote a book that a lot of researchers in many fields start out using was just as helpful. In fact, through my networking I've got rheumatologists interested in and accepting honourary lecturing posts at my university and even my external examiner selected for my viva many moons from now.
Sogo for it. You'll doubtless read widely and you'll inevitably have many questions that you'll want to ask the authors. Many of them are only to happy to open up a dialogue with someone interested in their work. And, as I've alluded to above, there's so much potential in it. I can honestly say that without networking early and widely, my research wouldn't have been possible.

Hi!

I'm currently in the process of developing a PhD and have found it really useful to network with others. It has given me that extra bit of confidence in my project when I get positive feedback and interest from academics in my chosen field. As one of the other users has noted in a previous post, I would agree that you should however be cautious when discussing your ideas. My supervisor gave me this advice: "give them enough information for them to be interested, but not enough for them to steal the idea!" - hope that's useful?

Hi - thanks for the replies! I think I'll definitely contact her, but wait until my proposal has been finalised and accepted, hopefully by the end of the week. Some of her work is related to my MSc dissertation as well so it would make sense to email her before I start my PhD, I'm more confident about doing this now. Hopefully she'll be pleased that I'm doing a bit more research in the area as it's very limited at the moment.

Nxx