My PhD wasn't pre-planned decision. Like Captain Jack Sparrow I just planned as ship sailed through the sea of research. I first enrolled for Msc(dont know why) but decided to quit after a month.However, tutors in university were impressed with my reasons to abandon the mission and offered research projects..I said let see what happens and jumped into it...to be honest how would you the world unless you live in it..Somewhere down the line I was asked to do one more year and get a PhD...It was like more work than enjoy student life.

Now I really like reading and research, always think if I get pre-planned time for a new PhD I can achieve something exceptional. I really like Geophysics field with lots of maths in it. It'll augment well with my current research of signal and image processing on electromagnetic waves...Does double PhD make sense?

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I know someone who would have done it if his health had allowed him to, but he would have done the second PhD only once he retired... He started preliminary research for it but had to give up on the idea of a whole course.
The only thing is, you're not in your sixties, are you?
A second PhD as a career move seems quite pointless to me. However, I suppose it would make sense to do it if you value your own immediate intellectual satisfaction much more than any potential career, especially in academia. I would understand that. I don't think I would do two PhDs (I'm trying to finish one for now!) but I got into it for the sake of the research itself, not for the outcome in terms of career opportunities...

Couldn't you do the research anyway, without the formality of going for a second PhD? I just can't see the point of it myself. And this is me speaking as someone who has started two PhDs (one full-time left due to falling seriously ill with a progressive disease; one part-time completed successfully) and someone who believes in intellectual fulfillment.

An obvious downside against that is if your second PhD is in a radically different area, like mine was. My first one was computer science; my second humanities. I had to start from scratch, including doing a new Bachelors and Masters. Also if you need lab support to complete your second PhD that could be more of a problem if not actually doing the PhD. But otherwise I don't see the point of it, and would recommend just doing the research yourself and writing it up.

I know someone - a Visiting Professor at our university - who has done three PhDs, all part-time. One was in Geology, one in Politics and one in Education. He's actually used all of them in his career, which has involved international diplomacy over border disputes and border creations! He still raves about his studying (and remains a firm believer in the benefits of part-time study too, which I'm now finding inspiring, as a part-timer myself!) and clearly feels his study has benefited him.

FOLLOW YOUR HEART.

Everyone will have a thing or two to say about what they think you should do. The truth is, only you know where you're happy and if you find happiness in doing another phd ' it don't matter!'. Few people actually do what they enjoy. Go for it. You have nothing to lose. If it does not work out, you already have a phd anyway......


all the best.(up)

Hey there! In one sense I can understand why you would like to do another PhD- I love my PhD and could spend my whole life doing them! But it doesn't make much sense career-wise. Seeing as though you've already got a PhD, would it not be possible to win funding to support your research as a post-doc or an RO? Best, KB

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I know a few people who did two PhDs because, in terms of their research interests, this made sense. One who started, for instance, with a PhD in cognitive science, but then got interested in artificial intelligence and wanted to draw on his first PhD but push in a new direction: he needed help (supervision) so he enrolled in a second PhD. Another who started with a PhD in physics and did a second one on a related topic in philosophy; again, it made sense in terms of combining two disciplines into one research project which clearly required supervision, and which he might not have been able to do alone. And another who did a first PhD in Engineering and is now doing a second in Ethics, but related to some ethical issues in Engineering practices. It can be a smart career move if you are attempting to work on a topic that sits on the periphery between two disciplines, or if your thesis argues that there are insights to be gained from the application of concepts, methods, etc. in one discipline to shed light on a problem or help acquire knowledge in another. These PhDs can be highly original and interesting (where the ideas are, of course, sound and the project feasible.