12 months in: Upgrade time!

Did you know when a PhD students starts a PhD they are actually registered as an MPhil (a masters degree)? About a year in, the university will “grade” the student to assess if both the work completed and planned work for the next two or so years is achievable and merits a PhD award. If they decide it is, the student is then moved on to the PhD award.

After the initial flurry of feeing like you haven’t done enough, wondering how can reading be your only job, then finally establishing a research question at about the 6 months mark, you can be forgiven for feeling lulled in to a false sense of “I got this”. At the 12 month mark, it is typically the case that you are either knee deep in or just about to embark upon recruitment and participant data. It is during this time that you are asked to upgrade. This is the first time that you will officially be assessed as a PhD candidate and as such, it is stressful! (What if they fail me?!).

But the good news is, everyone who I have spoken to, has felt like this. The absolute sheer terror and feeling that they are not ready to do this and have no way done enough to upgrade right now. But worry not. If your supervisor is telling you that you are ready, trust them, you are ready. You can absolutely do it.

Now, each institute helpfully has a different process to do this so definitely check your guidelines for how to do this and what is expected of you. My experience is at UCL.  

To upgrade from the MPhil award to PhD, I had to put together a report of what my research was so far and what I planned to do in the remaining time. I had to give a presentation on my research and finally have an interview with the examiner.

The report

I found it very difficult to know how long the report was expected to be. I was given a guidance figure of 10,000 words but this was pretty inconsistently suggested. I also found it difficult to know what to include in it. The guidance on my institutions website was pretty vague.

Here is what I found helpful when writing the report:

1. Look at other upgrade reports in your department/division/faculty and try to mirror their format. There is no point trying to re-invent the wheel when there are other people who have already completed this and successfully upgraded. For the first time, PLAGARISE!
2. Style it as you would a research paper: background (try to spend a decent amount of time on this to set the scene as to why this research is SO important), methods, preliminary findings, remaining work to be done including a GANT chart – everyone loves one of those.

On reflection, writing the upgrade report offered me a chance to really think about what research I was doing and to put it in to everyday language. The background helped to inform the introductory chapter of my final thesis as well as some of the methods section.

The presentation

I opted to have my upgrade interview the same day that I gave the presentation. This allowed me to present the research to the examiner. After the interview, he told me that he found it extremely helpful as some of the things I presented very clearly in person, were less clear in the report. So whilst it was pretty intimidating presenting to the examiner, I would absolutely recommend doing this.

I prepared my slides how I would for any presentation – very minimal content and writing. I use it as a prompt for my speech. I went to a training day on presenting with powerpoint and it reiterated that the slides are to enhance what you are saying, not replace it. When you present slides with a lot of information, the audience is confused as they don’t know if they should be listening to you or reading.

I also practiced, practiced, and practiced. Most importantly I practised out loud. Starting at different points throughout the presentation and always with different wording. This was, it is not a script, but a conversation. And, if you lose track of where you are whilst you are presenting, you don’t panic so much (I actually did lose track of what I was saying when I was presenting and I hid behind the computer screen for what felt like a life time! I think it was only actually seconds but I went a lovely beetroot colour).

The interview/exam

Prior to this, I spoke to several PhD students. I was bricking it. I had heard conflicting accounts from the interview being like a formal chat through to it being horrific and the student not passing. So it is safe to say that, just like the peer review process of a journal manuscript, the process can vary dramatically depending on the external examiner and it is key that your supervisor/you think about who takes on that role.

My upgrade exam was far more constructive than I thought it would be. As I said, I think the presentation really helped to set the foundation for the conversations that were had in the interview. The examiners (one internal [my second supervisor] and one external to my department) asked me about my research idea and why I had chosen a particular methodology or analysis without being unnecessarily critical. They suggested ideas that I might want to consider for the future. It felt as though they really understood what the overall aim of the research was and were suggesting ideas that might improve the final thesis.
 

Good luck

Mum, PhD.