Hi guys

I am applying for PhDs at the moment and I wanted to ask if there is something you would advice against/for based on your experience.
If you would be to choose a PhD project again, would you do it differently? Are there any questions you should have asked and didnt? Anything that you wish you would have considered? Are there any areas in biology/chemistry science that are hard to get a postdoc in (harder than usual)?

I am torn between structural biology and cancer research. I have experience in both, like both. I was told there are more jobs available in structural biology, if you know specialised techniques such as NMR and crystallography. Is this true?

I think the best thing you can do is go for a project that really excites and interests you, make sure that your potential supervisors are good at their jobs (look up their old students and email if you can) and that you get on well with them. I wish I had done a bit more research into my supervisors before I started, it wouldn't have changed my mind about the PhD, but it might have allowed me to be a bit more independent from the start as you soon realise your supervisors don't have all the answers and you have to figure most stuff out yourself.

When it comes to postdocs, I'm not in your direct field but look on jobs.ac.uk and search for jobs in the fields, do this regularly and you will see where there are more jobs. I don't think there is any field where jobs are plentiful at the moment, and if the differences are only slight again go with the area that excites you the most as it'll be your enthusiasm for the subject which might help you make contacts and get jobs in the future. Good luck!

If I had a chance to do it all over again knowing what I know now, I am not sure that I would have started mine at the time I did or even started one at all. I have got about 2 years to go of my Part-time PhD and so hope to have finished in 5years 3 months from start to finish. i am beginning to map out every step now so that I can meet finished draft and submission goals I am that keen to complete!

Things I have learned: supervisors and topics are important but after 3 years on the same topic (even part-time years) you get over your topic no matter how good it seemed at the start.

A lot can happen in the world in the time it takes to do a PhD and sometimes missed opportunities (arising from staying committed to the PhD) that would have had a real impact on your life, place of residence or workplace do cause regrets.

You can take your thesis to bed at night (in your head that is) but who wants to!

In my professional world, specific Masters are often valued far more than theoretical PhD's, no matter how work related the topic and they don't take as long.

Once upon a time, I thought being an academic was an amazing thing to be…I don't even remotely believe this now or believe that for me this door is still open other than as a part time adjunct (though this is mainly due to my age and the fact that I would earn more in my current work).

On the up side:

It changes how you think about things and also how you write and assess data and other research related matters. It makes you more confident in what you do say (when you say it), and less inclined to pretend to anything or any knowledge you are unsure of.

You realise you can commit to a major project and even when it is only you cheering yourself on…you can do it.

Completing the thesis and then publishing it and papers from it will provide an intrinsic satisfaction and the PhD gives you some credibility here, whether as a professional or an academic.

It might do a teeny tiny bit of good in the world and the world needs as much good as it can get.

My first suggestion is that don't pick a PhD based on work prospects. While there might be more structural biology jobs now, there's no guarantee that that will be the case once you finish. The point of a PhD is really, to gain a higher knowledge or understanding/become a subject expert, but this may or may not be helpful in landing you a job. If you want to do a PhD, go with what you're interested in. Caro is correct in stating that your enthusiasm may be more helpful in the long run for the material than 'marketability.' Your PhD will give you transferable hard skills regardless of whether it's in cancer or structural biology research, which includes research methods, data analysis, writing and so on. Those will be more important at the end of the day than the subject material.

Would I do my PhD differently? I don't think I'd choose a different PhD or handle it differently, as I ended up doing pretty well. I don't have much in the way of publications mind you which I'm working on, but in all, I did have a pretty good PhD experience apart from some physical injuries and mental illness issues. I would still do a PhD in sociology, but I might have looked more at doing an applied social research methods or community development PhD as opposed to the one I have. But, I loved the subject, am enthusiastic about it, and so far this has been somewhat helpful in finding work.

Caro has some good and invaluable advice about researching supervisors and their success in helping students get past the PhD mark.

Always pick a phd topic depending on what you are passionate about NOT about work prospects. This will help you a lot when you are doing your phd and feeling down.

It's a really good point you raise Derose, and I can tell that while my own topic is one I find interesting and can be passionate about, it is not a terribly creative one. I'm thinking about this in relation to my initial degree and initial academic sorts of aims which would have focused perhaps on literary-historical forms of narratives and story in specific cultures or using a more psychological approach to literary perspectives. Compared to my workaday topic at the moment, they both seem so much more interesting.

I've often wondered that if I had done my PhD on a personal choice of topic that I was more passionate about, whether I would have different thoughts about it now at this stage.

However, that being said, many people have to make a choice with a topic and cannot always choose to do exactly what they want or find that they have to connect their PhD with work, and given these parameters, then I guess one needs to make it as interesting as possible but also to be realistic. I certainly tried and when I am writing become fully engaged with my own rather ordinary thesis- but it is rather prosaic and I would have to say I am a bit over it at times. I don't know whether I would feel the same way about a topic in my original field-but those options were not really available at this stage in my life.

So I think this is great advice-be as passionate about your topic as you can-because this is going to help you ride through the dull bits but if you do have to compromise, be aware that sometimes you may just need to plod through things until you get to a more interesting place and that is okay too.