PhD-life

Hello MOOCers,

today I am going to tell you a little bit of what I am doing in my PhD and my main activities throughout the day!

1. FORAMS (a.k.a. Foraminifera)

Figure1. Best of Foraminifera

My main aim is to look at how topographical features such as abyssal hills (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyssal_plain) affect benthic Foraminifera (those that live on the seabed). For that reason we took samples in 2011 during the James Cook Cruise 62 from the Porcupine Abyssal Plain Area (PAP) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porcupine_Abyssal_Plain).

Figure 2. The James Cook in action!

2. LAB

Back in the lab, I pick out all the forams in the samples and try to identify what species they belong to.

Figure 3. A typical day in the lab

3. Pictures

Another important task is to take pictures of every foram species I encounter. In the end, I hope to make a photographic atlas showing all the species present at the PAP.

4. Stats

In each of the study sites there is more data available about grain size, slope of the abyssal hills, food availability etc. which I combine with my foram-data and try to find correlations by using statistical software. This part is also fun as I get the chance to sit in my lovely office and have a cup of coffee!

5. Workshops, conferences, paper writing

Of course, PhD-life would not be the same without participating in workshops (enhancemy skills in certain areas e.g. statistics) and attending conferences (present your work, exchange ideas and/or make connections with researchers working on similar subjects).

Scientific articles, sometimes referred to as papers, are another important part of every scientist/researcher.Papers are the means by which scientists can make their work known to the rest of the scientific community. They are published in scientific journals (there are hundreds of them, each specialized in a certain area!) and are available online to everyone (a subscription to the journal is necessary though, apart from open-access articles such as those you have seen in the course). This is particularly important, as it helps us, scientists, communicate and combine our knowledge to test new hypothesis, validate old theories or tackle current environmental problems.

6. Marine Life Talks

These are talks aimed for the public given the first Thursday of every month, covering various aspects of marine (or aquatic) science such as biology, ecology, archaeology, geology or maritime activities etc. They first started 10 years ago in the National Oceanography Centre (Southampton) (NOCS) and have been running since with great success. Now they are organised by me and Matteo Ichino (also a MOOC facilitator) and another PhD student (Jen Durden) in our group. They are great fun and many a people turn up every month. Next week’s talk (now that I have the chance to advertise it) is: “Crabs, eels and rubbish: long term studies on the River Thames”, by Dr Paul Clark from the Natural History Museum (London). You are all welcome to attend! Date and time: 06/03/2014 at 7.30 pm.

More info: http://noc.ac.uk/news/marine-life-talks

7. Demonstrating and volunteering

Many PhD students have the option to demonstrate in lectures or practical sessions for undergraduate courses. The online course “Exploring our Oceans” is another example. I personally try to do it as much as possible. Regarding the online course, I thought it would be a great idea to interact with the public, make them aware of our work and give them useful information about our oceans.

7. Social activities

There are a lot of such activities in NOCS : sport activities (volleyball, circuits, football etc.), post-graduate coffee, social hours, cake sales, all at a weekly/regular basis, which help me to socialize and get to know other people working in the building. It is much more fun when you have familiar people working around, plus you don’t feel alone when you stay until late in the lab trying finish your work!

So more or less, that is what I am doing during my PhD. It would be nice to hear also from other undergraduates, masters or PhD students.

How did you find it? Did you have this in mind when you were thinking of PhD students?

Image credits:

Fig.1) http://geologyinart.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/foraminiferal-sculpture-park-question.html

Fig.2) http://www.amtblog.org.uk/index.php/category/andy-rees

Paris Stefanoudis says:

February 17, 2014 at 8:21 am

Hello Judy,

when you talk about writing scientific articles, I actually quite enjoy this process. It makes me realize that I also contribute to science, and all the lab work is translated to something worth knowing about. Nowadays at least in our area, every PhD student is more or less expected to publish 2 papers from his PhD but of course people try to write more, so I heard a case when someone finished his PhD with 7 (!) papers. The number will depend on the amount of work you have done and your supervisor’s willingness to help you with that. The length varies depending on the journal you are aiming for, but I would say an average of 10-12 pages is common. The audiences you are writing for are assumed to be familiar with the field, however there is always an introduction which gives more general information and references about the topic of interest.

I like the word stickability. Sometimes you have to cope with situations where you don’t get any results and start asking yourself why you are doing all this etc. In such cases, stickability is what you should have in order keep on working. So I would not change this piece of advice or maybe I would only add the stereotyical “you have to be enthusiastic”, which personally is the main driver of my PhD.

Judy Hemingway says:

February 17, 2014 at 10:24 am

Hello Paris,

I agree that enthusiasm is essential when studying, especially for long projects such as doctoral research. I’d be interested to hear from other MOOCers about how enthusiasm drives their study.

For me, enthusiasm has three stages:

1. It’s needed at the start when your mind begins to whirl around current interests and possibilities – and it’s often at this point that supervisors are very helpful since they know the field and what’s already been published so they’re aware of gaps in knowledge to which you might contribute. They also know where funding is available.

2. Enthusiasm sustains you throughout research both when things are going well and when you’ve hit a seeming dead end and need to rethink.

3. Enthusiasm is heightened at the completion of a project as this is when you can see ways forward such as how to disseminate (publish) your findings, how to develop your work, and what leads can be followed up in new projects.

Judy Hemingway says:

February 16, 2014 at 11:32 am

Hi Paris,

I completed my doctorate at the Institute of Education, University of London just over 10 years ago and enjoyed reading your account of doctoral research. Unlike your studies, mine was desk-based research so I didn’t have opportunities to do lab or field work – variety is important.

What you haven’t said much about is what writing is like. When do you write, how often do you write, how long are the pieces you write and what audiences do you write for? How do you feel when writing?

Before I started my research (a geographical exploration of illicit drug-using), I asked a doctoral student what the “secret” was to doing a Ph.D. I had been expecting an elegant and elaborate answer. But after some thought, he said one word, “stickability”. That was the best advice I ever had.

PhD-life

Related

Leave a Reply Cancel reply