As we get ready to welcome SCENARIO Cohort 7 in September, here are some good advice and top tips for new PhD students from Scenario graduates Rebecca Emerton and Kirsten Lees.
The Social Metwork blog from Reading’s Department of Meteorology also has some good advice.
“What I wished I knew at the start of my PhD” – here are some top tips from current students and Scenario alumni:
- Talk to as many people as you can, ask as many questions as you can think of, even if you think they are stupid
- Be pro-active: If your supervisors don’t organise a group meeting in the first semester, organise that meeting!
- All research is different – don’t compare your work to others’
- Start with good habits and stick to them – keep good notes, log what you’ve read, use version control on your code – it’ll save you time in the end
- Make the most of opportunities at the beginning of your PhD – you’ll be too busy at the end!
- Start writing early
- Year 1 is a bit scoping exercise.. don’t worry if you don’t feel you’re achieved much my the end of it
- It’s important to have a plan and targets from the beginning in order to stay on track.
- Do all the fun things!
Dr Emma Hellawell, Daphne Jackson Research Fellow at the University of Surrey, has given some good advice to new students as part of our Induction programme – read it here.