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...

This was written from my experience of doing a PhD in a Psychology context. Please note, this experience is always going to be different depending on the subject so whilst I would encourage you to read my experience, I can't guarantee that this is exactly what you will go through if you are not doing a PhD in Psychology. So you have started a PhD – this is the most important decision you have made.  To start.  Well done!  (Try to remember why you made this decision and remind yourself of it throughout your PhD as you will question this at least 10 times a week until you finish it). I found the first 6 months of the PhD the most difficult to adjust to. Not only because I was pregnant, but because the pace of it was so different to what I had been used to. The emphasis was definitely on me, as an academic, developing a research question rather than just “doing a research study”. I think if you go through academic life without a break, this transitio...

What a year 2017 was. I managed to finish a PhD (I am officially Dr Nic ;)) with a toddler kicking around at my heels. I have been very lazy of late with my writing. Since submitting the PhD, I keep wondering what exactly I am going to write about. I started ‘PhD Mum’ almost 2 years ago with the aim of sharing my PhD and parenting journey with others who might be interested in doing the same. I was so hopeful that these small little posts could potentially encourage other parents to return to education and perhaps even provide some sort of support for anyone who is doing the same and having a difficult time – we all need to know that we aren’t alone. I find it is hard to write about my PhD journey without feeling like a 'know-it-all'. I think this is what has held me back from writing much about my PhD experience. Having submitted the thesis and the corrections, I know that each PhD candidate has a different journey and experience to get to the submission point a...

I realise that result sections are very different depending on your specialty and your personal style. But I thought I would give tips as to what I have found makes for a “good” results section in any research piece that I have read/written. I currently write about research within a medical context. The people who read my research are generally clinicians with little to no statistical knowledge or who do not frequently read statistical methods, but who have a lot of interest in the findings and potential implementation of the results.    Within psychology, I have experienced the tendency to “fish” around in the data to report the exciting and juicy significant findings, but this is often at the detriment to the overall quality of the research. This is probably the single most important point . Always refer back to your research aim(s) . This may sound like an obvious thing to do. But often, when your neck deep in figures and tables, you can get side tracked and fo...

(within health/psychology) I wish someone had told me this when I first started my PhD. The key to a successful research piece: simplicity. The most basic and most often forgotten point of a study, at any level, is to have a very clear and succinct question(s) in mind that you want to answer. It sounds so straight forward and obvious doesn’t it. But it is amazing how, on a 3 to 5 year journey, you can lose sight of what your research aim is.  "If you can't describe a topic in simple terms, you don't understand it ." (Einstein)  Remember, within your study, you are not going to solve the world's problems.  I started wanting to improve end of life care for all; which in hindsight was very noble of me but completely impractical! In pragmatic terms, you have a time frame within which you need to do the study and present the results - save complexity for the reasons why you should definitely get a post doctorate post. This simplicity then pays off in dif...

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...

The short answer is YES, you can! I know so many fabulous people that balance study and parenthood like absolute legends. Don't get me wrong, it is not an easy journey. But it is completely do-able! It's mainly about deciding what works for you and your family. Think of the study as a job, and you will almost certainly pass.  If you are considering a PhD, I thought it might be helpful to describe what my worries were before I started. They can be broadly grouped within 3 domains: work/life balance, money, value. Work Life balance: do I have time for a PhD? You will find there are times when you have to focus on studying (e.g. If you are recruiting or running experiments) and have to be in the office/lab. There are other times that are much more flexible. For this reason you can find you can work in the office less frequently than a standard 9-5 job (and a PhD is a job) -   @mother_pukka  talks about "flex appeal", and a PhD is the ultimate in this. It is ...