PhD Mum

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...

I recently had a job interview for a research post. I got it (which is great news!) but I also got the feedback that I really need to " learn how to sell myself ".  It really got me thinking about the interview process and how it just isn't designed for people like me. I want to be (/I am *must keep repeating to self* ) a researcher. I am good at academic writing (believe it or not from this website 😂). However, there is something innate, call it an internal flaw, that I am just not designed to talk about how amazing I am. Whenever it comes to inevitable "why should you get this job" question, I just freeze. I have attended training days that tell me the sort of things I should  say but somehow between my brain and my mouth, it just doesn't compute. I am sure this is a common diagnosis for many people other than me. But you see, I think my qualities do make for a strong candidate/member of a team: I don't force my view, I take in others opinions...