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PhD Skills and Career Implications

By Joseph George Walters, PhD Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy An annual skills audit is a requirement for doctoral students. It is used to identify skills that a student might lack and then record improvement. This blog post highlights the career implications of my skills audits, and how they have contributed to the development of …

A PhD? Where?

By Joseph George Walters, PhD Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy In my previous blog I wrote about the experiences that played a part in my decision to pursue a PhD. In this blog I look at the main factors that I considered when deciding to do a PhD at the University of Nottingham. The Location …

Growing Your Network as a PhD Student

By Dr Harry Hothi, co-founder of DiscoverPhDs The term networking can sometimes feel like another buzzword used in the job market. Actually, networking as a PhD student can have a real positive impact on your development. It is something every student should make the time to do. What actually is networking? Networking is a skill …

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 …

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 …

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 Pedalling the Path Less Travelled Helped Me Explore Career Pathways

By Andrew Wilhelmsen, PhD Life Science After finishing my master’s degree, I had all the career focus of a wayward roaming, itchy-footed vagabond and all the wanderlust of a, well… wayward roaming, itchy-footed … you get the point. So, I hopped on a plane to Singapore and decided to go on a bike ride, for …

The Graduate Jobs Fair – it’s for PhDs too!

By Clare Jones, Senior Careers Adviser (Research Staff and PhDs) Discover what a career outside academia has to offer and how your specialist knowledge and skills can be applied in a range of areas. Whether you are at the beginning, or nearing the end of your PhD, visiting the Graduate Jobs Fair is an opportunity for …