Hi Everyone,

I am currently doing a Masters, and I have an upcoming PhD interview.
They (the PhD interviewers) have asked that I prepare and present to them my Masters research.

My Masters is in a branch of Toxicology, and the PhD is in another branch of Toxicology.
The problem I seem to be having is - how do I go about preparing the presentation?
I am not sure what to include in it, what to not include, and what should I generally put in the presentation?

They have simply said that they want me to "present your Masters research to us".

I spoke with my current Supervisor and they have advised me that I should incorporate stuff that they want to hear - such as my experience with parts of the PhD field etc.

What do you think? Could you please point me in the right direction? As I am slightly lost/overwhelmed by the pressure of this at the moment.

Thank you and I hope to hear from you soon!

Stephen

Hi Stephen

I suppose the first question is if you know how long it is meant to be. If you don't know I would aim for 10-15 minutes. It sounds like they literally do want to hear about your masters research so I would aim to cover:

What was the problem your thesis was looking at
What literature guided your approach to this topic
How did you go about solving this problem, ie your methods and methodological approach
What were your findings?

Have a look at your thesis table of contents and let it guide you. You don't have to summarise each chapter but nevertheless the ToC should tell the reader the structure and overall contents of the thesis. The interviewers might come at it from the point of view that you were probably a bit limited with your masters as to the scope of your project. Therefore if you were doing it at PhD level where is there room to expand. Would you use different methods etc?

I read your post as your masters and potential PhD being in different branches of toxicology; yet even if your masters is on a substantive [different] area, it still should inform the PhD to a degree.

Good luck with it (up)

Hi Ady,

Thank you very much for your reply - it's very helpful :)

The main problem I seem to be having is - I have not yet fully completed my Masters research (i.e. the project proposal has just been submitted, and the actual lab work will begin next month) which of course means I do not actually have any results to present.

Should this make a difference to the approach you have suggested? Or should I take on board your suggestions despite not having results yet?

Thanks again!

Stephen

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Hi Ady,

Thank you very much for your reply - it's very helpful :)

The main problem I seem to be having is - I have not yet fully completed my Masters research (i.e. the project proposal has just been submitted, and the actual lab work will begin next month) which of course means I do not actually have any results to present.

Should this make a difference to the approach you have suggested? Or should I take on board your suggestions despite not having results yet?

EDIT: Oh and yes they have told me to make it 10-15 minutes long.

Thanks again!

Stephen

Yes, it would make a difference in that it's a big 'no-no' to pre-empt your findings so you would have to couch it more in terms of 'this is what I am investigating...to see if...' So less on your findings and more on your approach, the problem and what the point of your masters research is about.

Also you could include a bit towards the beginning about your motivation for this particular masters - it gives the interviewers a context to work off I think. Finally re the lit review bit - a presentation on somebody's lit review can be pretty dull so I would include the main papers/writers in your area but not a synopise of what they have written. Try to present that bit as lively as is possible. I presume your interviewers will likely know about toxicology but it is likely that there will be at least one person on the panel either from HR or from another department altogether - maybe even something like English or Classics who doesn't know anything about it. Therefore the challenge is to get the balance right between showing you know what you're talking about and not going completely over a person's head. Even the most technically challenging research needs to be comminicated to different audiences. Be wary of using jargon unless you are 100% certain everybody on the panel is familiar with it.

They may listen to your presentation and then leap to the PhD to see if you can make linkages between the two. As I said even in terms of skills or overall approach one should inform the other.

Hope that helps a bit but remember it's just my take on it!

Thank you very much for your help Ady, your posts are absolute gold!

Cheers again ;)