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A PhD or Industry?

By Joseph George Walters, PhD Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy How would you even begin to know if a PhD was right for you? Testing the waters of both working in industry and academic research helped me to decide. An Uncertain Future As a second-year undergraduate, I was not sure what to do after my …

My PhD Journey So Far

By Luke Francis, PhD student Having reached half time in my four year PhD programme, I think the time is right to think about what doing a PhD is all about – and share this with the lucky reader! Firstly – why did I do a PhD? Halfway through my fourth year of my MSci …

Starting a PhD? Dip your toe into the world of careers

By Kirstin Barnard and Lucie Whitfield, Senior Careers Advisers (PhD students and Research Staff) Hello and welcome to Nottingham from the Careers and Employability Service. We’re here to support your career journey every step of the way: to develop your ideas and plans, make the most of the opportunities on offer at the University, and …

How Do You Know a PhD Is Right for You?

By Jo Workman, Employability Education Projects Officer A PhD is a huge commitment, taking three or more years to complete, and resulting in the creation of new knowledge. But how do you know whether it will be the right move for you? We asked two psychology students to tell us how they progressed into their …

Alternative Ways to Find Postgraduate Funding

By Naomi Imms, Information Officer So, you’ve decided you want to do a masters or PhD? It’s an exciting prospect, whether you’re doing it to enhance your job prospects, kick-start an academic career, or for pure love of the subject. But have you worked out how to fund it? Perhaps you’re planning to get a …

On to the second; a post-hoc analysis of my PhD year 1 and where I think I’m going

By Andrew Wilhelmsen, PhD student It feels an awful lot like I started my PhD no more than a few weeks ago, yet here I am writing reflections on what has actually been an entire year. I’m not sure where those mysterious 365 days went in all honesty. I’m fairly confident I’ve spent longer times waiting to be served …

There’s More to a PhD than Studying

By Rowland Seymour, PhD Mathematical Sciences I chose to do a PhD because I enjoy doing research, but I didn’t realise the other skills I would develop along the way. Doing a PhD has helped me become a better public speaker, be more creative in my thinking and most of all, be more confident about …

How I Put My Postgraduate Experience to Work

By Kirstin Barnard, Employability Education Projects Officer I wanted to write this blog to share my experiences about how completing my postgraduate course not only gave me an extra level of qualification, but also a springboard to a new set of skills and strengths for my career journey. In the beginning Having had a successful …

Coffee and Connections – Food for Thought at a Networking Brunch

By Andrew Wilhelmson, PhD researcher A couple of weeks ago, I took a short break from my desk to head on over to a PhD Networking Brunch being held in The Studio. Asides from a great excuse to take a break from reading the colossal stack of papers sitting next to me. I hoped the …

Searching for Jobs Beyond Academia?

By Clare Jones, Senior Careers Adviser PhD researchers often begin a careers discussion with me by asking questions about where they should start looking for jobs. They may then add that they are uncertain about what career paths are open to them other than academia.  This second statement is crucial, as it’s difficult to effectively job search without having …