Hi all,

I am due to submit my thesis on the 1st of July and so now am hopefully on the home straight. What I have to do in the next 5 months is totally manageable and so hopefully all should work out as planned.

As I am getting close to the end I am of course getting all the typical questions about what I will do after I finish. I do want to stay in academia ideally but to be honest I just can't bring myself to apply for stuff while I'm still writing up. I know I probably should because otherwise I'll have nothing to do. It is just so hard to see beyond this thesis.

Anyone relate? Do you have a plan for when you finish, or have you started applying for positions?

Cheers

Hi Slowmo, I am due submission around May although hoping for April. I have no plans or thoughts on what to do next. I am PT and was working FT during the first 4 years and have been looking after my babies for the last 2 years. My career break (for children) is soon to be over when this PhD is completed! I am reluctant to think it will be over following the viva though as I am sure there will be corrections to sort out afterwards. I am hoping that the PhD will help me to change career direction so that I can use this qualification but I do have a clinical career to fall back on. I would be interested in clinical research or postdoc research of some sort. Not sure about academia but am open to this option too. To add an extra dimension my hubby is due his last career relocation in the summer and we don't know where that will be so this has a bearing on me getting a job. I will move with him and wherever we end up will be the area I will look for employment. All I can say is that it needs to interest me and pay well to cover childcare costs!!!

Hi There

I'm writing up at the moment and devote two hours a week to trawling through academic websites and newspapers for jobs. I know about six people writing up. Myself and another guy are actively looking and one other has already been offered two postdocs! The other three I don't think are looking beyond their theses just yet. Have a look at the 'Deadline this summer thread...' to get a sense of others on the forum who are writing up.

Everyone's different I guess but it's so competitive at the moment that maybe you could dip a toe in the water to see what's out there?