Doing a PhD is a long, challenging but rewarding journey. Earlier this year, astrophysics PhD student Fiona and I teamed up to pass on what we had learned and give our advice for new and prospective PhD students.
The advice was compiled into two videos on my YouTube channel, and two accompanying blog posts on Fiona’s blog.
In part 1, Fiona and I discuss picking a supervisor, getting started, reading papers, and getting the most out of conferences.
Part 1 blog post.
Fiona’s advice for conferences.
In part 2, we discuss doing science communication and outreach, teaching, solving problems, dealing with failure and rejection, and finally, getting started writing your thesis.
Part 2 blog post.
As a bonus, at the end of the part 2 blog post, we also discuss using social media, particularly Twitter, as a scientist.
Especially towards the end of part 2, doing a PhD can sound a bit doom-and-gloom, but it’s really not. This advice was offered as a realistic assessment of the setbacks that some people may encounter when doing a PhD. Overall, I enjoyed my PhD and choosing to do a PhD was one of the best decisions I ever made.
Fiona can be found on Twitter at: @FiPanther
I’m on Twitter at: @DRG_physics
David Gozzard 