Hi Everyone!

I am coming to the end of my first year and will be presenting at 2 postgraduate conferences in the next few months and writing a paper for one of them also. I was just wondering in other peoples experiences are these types of conferences good for your CV if you want to stay in academia or more generally? Or are they more a way of networking and getting practice presenting? Any opinions would be great!

Thanks! :)

These are great to do, for many reasons.

- Getting used to debating your research (useful prep. for the viva - start preparing for this now, by the way!) - you may receive some helpful feedback
- Focusing your research
- Good for the CV (especially if you get to publish)
- Usefull in making others aware of the research you're doing
- PG conferences are healthy introductions to the academic world, (usually) being more 'gentle'. Can therefore help build confidence
- AND useful for networking in other ways for the future

But on the downside
- be careful that you don't take too much time away from your PhD
- try not to ossify your ideas at this time: keep it as an open discussion, and don't be afraid to say that this is work in progress (your ideas will possibly change significantly over time)

Go for it if you can fit it in - but talk to your supervisor about it first (up)