Q&A: Where should I do my PhD?

I recently received the following question (edited for anonimity):

Hi Eva
Hope u r doing well..?
Recently got 2 offers for Ph.D program, one from University Nr 1 in Australia and the other from University Nr 2 in New Zealand with Full Funding.
In march 2016, i had sent an email to the professor from University Nr 3 in the USA requesting him to take me as a Ph.D student in the department of SomeKindOf Sciences. After 5 months he replied to me asking to submit application as soon as possible for Spring 2017 bcoz he is fully ready to take me as a Ph.D student in his department. I have submitted my application for Ph.D program under his Supervision.
Now, my question is which country i should select among these 3 countries, i am in confusion right now..?? Please do suggest. Thank u so much..!!

Here's my answer:

Dear Reader,

Thank you for reaching out to me through my blog.

As I understand it, you have the choice between 3 universities for your PhD, and one of them is fully funded? In that case, I’d say, go for the fully funded option. If all of them are funded, I’d recommend you to pick the project that you feel most excited about – 3 or 4 years can be a long time. The university itself does not matter that much – as long as you publish and get the chance to travel to a few conferences, the ranking of your university is not that important.

Another element to consider: if you are planning to move to the USA long-term, the school in the USA might be your best pick.

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: How to prepare for your PhD defense

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

Let's talk today about the very end of the PhD journey: your defense (or viva, if you are in the UK). Depending on the university or country you are in, your PhD defense can be the very last step in a long process, on the day when you receive your diploma (as in the Netherlands), or it can be a step prior to the final submission of your dissertation (as in the USA). If you are interested in the procedures and experiences of former PhD candidates in different countries and different disciplines, be sure to check out the "defenses around the world" series on PhD Talk.

To prepare for the actual PhD defense, some argue that you don't need to do anything at all. In the end, you did your research over the past few years, and nobody knows your work as well as you do. However, going into your defense without any preparation at all is not something I recommend. If you were organized during your PhD, and starting writing your first chapters early on in your journey, you may need to revise some elements again, and reread some key publications. Moreover, your defense will depend on your committee, so preparing for your defense by keeping your committee in mind is essential. Finally, preparing for your defense will help you prepare mentally for the challenges of the day itself, and will give you some piece of mind.

As I blogged my way through my PhD, I wrote extensively about my journey to my defense, from the point where I was pottering around in the laboratory to the actual day of defense and graduation. You can read all about the steps between my draft thesis and the joyful day in "On the road to the defense" part I, part II, and my experience about the defense itself. Besides the experiences of myself and fellow PhD students, I've learned a great deal about defenses by hosting the "Defenses around the world" series on PhD Talk - a massive thank you to all guest authors who so openly have shared their experiences.

Shortly after defending my thesis, I wrote about my 10 best tips for the PhD defense, as well as how to prepare for your defense. I spent a lot of time preparing for my defense - and in hindsight perhaps not all of these activities were equally necessary. At that time, they were important for me, because spending a lot of time on preparing, and thinking about everything that could happen, helped me feel a bit more secure for the defense. If you feel like you need to prepare deeply to calm your nerves, by all accounts, do so. But if you feel confident about going into the defense, there are just a limited number of things you need to do to prepare for your defense. You can find my top picks for preparing for the defense in the following list:

1. Go to conferences
Presenting your work at academic conferences is a crucial part of your PhD journey. If you've presented your work a few times for an international audience, and answered questions, you are better prepared than when you've never had the chance to travel and present your work. Every time you present your work, you will a bit more confident about your work. Every time your present your work, you will have practiced and sharpened your presentation and presentation skills a bit more. For these reasons, use your PhD time to present at as many conferences, workshops, and industry events as possible. All this practice in the years prior to your defense will make you better prepared for the big day.

2. Know your committee and their work
The questions you can expect during your defense will depend on your committee. As you prepare for your defense, don't make the mistake of navel-gazing at your own dissertation. Instead, try to take a step back and evaluate your work through the eyes of your committee member. Check out the most recent publications of your committee members to be fully up-to-date with their work (you don't want to make the mistake of being completely oblivious when a committee member hints at the fact that he/she worked on something interesting for your research very recently). Don't assume that you read everything while preparing your dissertation - check out the latest and in press publications. If you've had a chance to meet with your committee members during your PhD and while preparing for the defense, revise your meeting notes, and identify their main points of criticism on your work. While some committee members will tell you their exam questions in advance, other members won't give you an idea, and will leave you guessing. Try to come up with at least five possible questions per committee member, and prepare additional material to answer these questions as needed.

3. Revise the crucial papers
Brush up on your knowledge of the literature. Besides checking the most recent work of your committee members, make sure that you do a brief search on recent publications in your field, so that your literature review and your knowledge of the literature are fully up-to-date. Don't stop following the literature on the day when you finish your literature review chapter! Besides working on your general knowledge of the literature, identify the papers that were most important for your work. Prior to your defense, make sure you read these papers again to refresh your memory, and to address possible questions about the foundations of your work.

4. Prepare for broader questions
When preparing for your defense, don't expect any open doors. Instead, you should prepare for questions that are either at the periphery of your work, and much closer to the work of your committee members, or for questions that test the assumptions and basics of your work. Make sure you have a solid foundation to answer such questions. Besides these questions that sit right outside of what was the main focus of your work, there are also the questions that focus on the broader scope of your work, other fields of application, and future work. Such more general questions can be asked at any PhD defense, and you can find a list of possible questions here, here, and, here. Make sure you practice preparing answers to these questions, and bring additional material for the defense where needed.

5. Know the room and the tools you can use
Get your logistics for the day of your defense all sorted out long in advance. You don't want to be running around campus, borrowing a laptop last-minute, or arranging coffee for your committee members. Ask for advice from a post-doc who recently defended to see if you thought everything through. Make sure you understand all the procedures, and when in doubt, ask and double-check with the office responsible for the defense. Know where you will present, and which tools are available in the room. Will you be using a microphone? Will you be able to project visual material and use audio in the room? Are there other tools available? In Delft, the rooms standard have a digital overhead projector, which you can use to show parts of your dissertation, sketches, and other material. Depending on the tools you have available, make sure you bring the right material to your defense.

6. Be your best self
Don't get too stressed about the defense itself. If you get stressed, you'll have a harder time thinking clearly and replying the questions in a way that is satisfactory for the committee. I started my defense really nervous, and I can barely remember how replying the first questions went. Once I got calmer, everything went much better. Besides your stress levels on the day itself, make sure that you are rested prior to the defense. Get enough sleep in the weeks before the defense, and eat healthy food. Consider yourself as an athlete preparing for a big effort: make sure you are in your best condition to give it your all on the day of the defense.

7. Plan your party
Your defense is a day when your friends and family gather to celebrate your success. Don't forget how important and valuable this day is for all of you in your stress for preparing for the actual defense. Unless for weddings and perhaps special birthdays, there are not that many occasions where you can have that many of your loved ones together, to celebrate you and your success. Your family may even be traveling internationally to attend this special event. A special event it is, so make sure you make it a special day for everyone attending. Arrange a reception and a nice dinner, for example, or any other form of celebration as you see it fit.

Paid opportunity for PhD candidates

Dear readers, I recently received the following announcement for a paid position for PhD students in the development of online courses. Hope it can be useful for some of you!

Dealing with Lab Stress

Today's guest post is a contribution from Seán Mac Fhearraigh, PhD. Seán was a PhD student at University College Dublin & a post-doc a Cambridge University where he studied mechanisms of cell division. Currently Seán run’s an ELISA assay company where you can find some great information on ELISA assay protocols and ELISA kits.

No matter what day of the week it is, whether it's Monday and you have just arrived into the lab or it's Saturday night and you still haven't left the lab, the stress of experiments never leaves you. Mainly due to experiments not working and deadlines, or lab meetings inching ever closer, the cycle of stress associated with experiments can soon consume your thoughts. Endless thought cycles of whether your experiments will work, what you might need to do to optimize them, or what experiment you will have to do next after your current experiment is completed.

Therefore managing your stress levels can be key to maintaining a clarity of mind. In order to reduce your stress levels, you first need to identify where the source of stress is coming from. Often many post-docs/PhD students undertake multiple experiments at the same time, with the idea of achieving more in a reduced amount of time. However, increasing workload will not directly correlate with increased output of results, your Nature paper will not come any sooner!

Applying the 80:20 rule to your experiments may yield greater results and therefore reduce your stress levels. The idea of the 80:20 approach to experiments is to carry out the key experiments that demand 20% of your time but give 80% or results, or make your boss happy 80% of the time! In other words, identify the experiments that are the most important in progressing your project forward or getting closer to your paper and don't stress about the rest.

Changing your lifestyle can also hugely reduce your stress levels in the lab. Surprisingly, arriving to the lab on time at 9am will be beneficial to your work output. While most post-docs are still in bed dreaming about experiments or on their bike on the way to work, arriving into the lab early will motivate you for the day; furthermore it will motivate you to leave at a reasonable time and fill your day to the max instead of meaninglessly browsing on your laptop. Arriving on time to work will also give you a proper eating routine, instead of spending your day hypoglycemic stressing about whether the canteen on campus will still be open, having lunch at a regular time will remove one less stress about when you are going to eat.
Leaving the lab at a reasonable hour will also allow you to have a social life, Skype your family, go out with friends or even go the gym and work out. Working late into the night in the lab surrounded by mice, fish, worms or complaining to your lab mates about your PI or how your experiments have not worked will just stress you even further.

Q&A: Self-funding your PhD

It's time for another Q&A session. Some time ago, I received the following question from a reader:

Dear Dr. Lantsoght, I'd like to ask you about the funding issues relating to PhD studies. Some PhDs are advertised as 'for self-funded students only'. What does that actually mean? Is it referring to funds as in, I'lll have to pay for international fees by myself (a non-EU student looking to study in UK) or fund as in I need to scout for...a grant? bench fees and all? Thank you!!

While I'm not entirely sure about the UK, I'll reply your question from my perspective - having done graduate studies in the United States and the Netherlands.

First of all, self-funded PhDs in the Netherlands are extremely rare, but I know one person who was looking into the option. A PhD position in the Netherlands is traditionally combined with becoming an employee of the university, including salary and social security and all that. A Dutch PhD program is research-only, so no coursework. As a result, Dutch universities do not charge tuition and fees during the PhD - it really sits apart from Master's studies. So, if in the Netherlands, you want to bring funding for a PhD by self-funding your PhD or by bringing funds through a private company, you will need funds that will cover your salary, your office space, the university overhead, the use of lab equipment, the cost of your experiments... It gets extremely expensive really fast.

In the United States, a PhD program is the continuation of a Master's program, and the program will contain coursework, a qualifying exam, a proposal stage and then the dissertation and defense. In an American PhD program, you need to pay tuition and fees. You can either pay for these yourself, or you can find a position as a research or teaching assistant, which will cover these costs and will pay you a small stipend to pay rent and food. Again self-funding is rather rare, although I think it is maybe more related to the prestige that comes with getting a scholarship or teaching/research assistanceship. I've only once heard somebody mention that his parents funded his MSc and PhD, but I'm not entirely sure if that also meant that all the costs for using the lab and office space and so on had to be paid by the student.

As for the UK, I really can't tell - so I hope some of my UK-based readers might want to chip in on this topic? Has anybody self-funded their PhD? How was your experience?

Q&A: Working from your parents' house

I recently got an interesting question, of which I'd like to share my answer with you.

Here´s the question:

Hello,

This is a random cry for help but I am writing my dissertation and just moved back in with my parents at the same time. Uninterrupted writing time is impossible, I am now the maid and house project do-er of all things and I haven't written a word. My defense is in October and I'm teaching part time at a local university. I have my dual monitor set up and all my resources here at the house so working elsewhere hasn't really worked well for me. Any advice on navigating this without being a terrible person and telling my parents to leave me alone!? I'm also almost 30 and have been out of the nest for over 10 years just moved back in to save money. I feel so ungrateful but I can't get anything done and I need to graduate! Thank you so much...

This is what I answered:

Hi Reader,

Thanks for reaching out to me through my blog.

I understand you are in quite a complicated situation, and that it might be hard to work from your parent's house. Way back when I was still studying in Brussels, I returned homw to study for exams while my parents had health problems, and it was difficult balancing studying and taking care of them (and worrying). After my PhD, I returned to my parents' house while I prepared for my move to Ecuador, and tried to work over distance for TU Delft. My mom was very happy to have me back with her, so it was hard for me to shove her off and tell her that I really needed to concentrate on writing that paper... Long story short, I understand how being back at your parents house can not be an ideal situation, and how you also try not to come across as grumpy and ungrateful.

With that said, I think there are a few things that can help you:

1. Make a to do list
If you need to fix things in the house, cook, run part of the household and all that, it helps to make a todo list. You can't fix all the problems of the house in a day or in a week, so you might want to make a list of what you want to/need to do first, and then distribute that over time.

2. Make a planning and a schedule
Distributing tasks over time, you might for example think of what you can reasonably do in 1 - 2 hours a day. Clean the bathroom, cook, and replace the shower curtain, for example on one day; groceries, making soup, and giving the kitchen a good cleaning the next day? You can, for example, block the time period 5pm - 7 pm for those tasks. You can use google calendar to make a weekly template. Put in your calendar your teaching hours, including the commute, and then see if you can reasonably fit, for excample, 10 blocks of 1,5 to 2 hours in your schedule for writing, so that you know that those need to be your uninterrupted writing times.

3. Pomodoro?
Have you tried the pomodoro technique of working in short bursts of time? You can set a timer for 20 minutes to draw a specific figure, write a certain paragraph, revise a literature source. After 1 pomodoro, you get 5 minutes of break, psosibly to interact with your parents - you can come out of your room and have a quick chat with them. After 4 pomodoros, you take a 30 minute break - have a coffee with your parents and talk a bit with them.

4. Noise-canceling headphones
I love noise-canceling headphones. They are big and chunky, help to obliterate all the noise from outside, and they also signal to other people "I'm busy, please come back later". They are rather pricey at about 300 euros, but if you can spare the money, it's a really good investment.

Do these ideas help you? Please let me know how it is going.

Best,
Eva

PhD Defenses around the World: a Viva in New Zealand

Felicity Bright is a rehabilitation researcher and lecturer at AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand. Her professional background is in speech-language therapy. She recently defended her PhD, entitled “Reconceptualising engagement: A relational practice with people experiencing communication disability after stroke”. Felicity is currently working to disseminate findings. She is exploring how best to work with rehabilitation practitioners to implement the knowledge gained through her PhD, and is working on several projects to extend her doctoral research.

In New Zealand, it is common to do a viva as part of the PhD examination process. It is compulsory at most universities. At AUT University, the viva is attended by the convenor (a senior academic member of the university staff who oversees the process and ensures it follows regulations and is fair to the student), the three examiners, the student and their supervisor/s. The examiners may attend in person or via videoconference. The supervisors are there to support the student and may not participate in the viva.

My viva was scheduled in late March, four months after I submitted my PhD for examination. One week prior to the viva, my primary supervisor and I met the convenor to discuss the viva. At this time, I found out who my examiners were and received their reports. I had had several conversations with my supervisors and suggested names; the three examiners were all people we had discussed over the course of my study. The reports were de-identified, though it was possible to guess who wrote which report (and my guesses were correct!). I took a few days to read and digest the results. I discussed them with colleagues, and did several mock vivas with my supervisors.

However, five days prior to my viva, I broke my foot. I spent two nights in hospital and had surgery. While I was initially convinced I could do the viva as planned, it didn’t take long for me to realise that wasn’t going to be possible. I couldn’t sit for more than 20 minutes, let alone have a robust scholarly discussion about my research! The university postgraduate office was able to reschedule the viva for two weeks’ time. This extra time gave me some breathing space. After my mock vivas, I’d been highly anxious. That anxiety dissipated and I went into the viva feeling cautiously confident: confident in my knowledge and my contributions to knowledge, and confident in my ability to answer questions, even the tricky ones!

On the day of the viva, my supervisor and I arrived at the University Postgraduate Centre, where all vivas are held. The staff were welcoming and showed me into a waiting room which they’d set up for me, with extra chairs and pillows. I had a last minute change of convenor, so met her briefly before it started. While I waited, the postgrad staff were getting the videoconference organised. One examiner was in the country on holiday and was able to attend in person; the other two were on video. I was called in fairly quickly and re-introduced to everyone. I’d met all of my examiners at different times – aphasia rehabilitation research is a rather small world!
My convenor explained there would be four core themes they would focus the questions around, and I was invited to start the viva by providing an overview of my research. I spent about five minutes discussing the research, starting with the experiences which prompted my research, through to detailing the novel contributions my research made. I then spent the next hour or so responding to their questions. When the examiners submitted their reports, they provided a list of questions. These were not given to me, but the likely areas were evident in their written reports. The viva was did not take a transactional question-answer format. Instead, it was a discussion which occurred in response to questions about the research methodology, process and findings. The examiners also queried how the findings connected to other research in the field, and discussed areas for future research.
After an hour when the examiners had asked their questions, my supervisor and I left the room while they deliberated. When I was called back in, I was advised of the outcome. I passed with no amendments, bar correcting spelling errors. After this, the convenor left. After a brief chat with the examiners on videoconference, they signed off, but my supervisor and I kept chatting with on-site examiner for a while longer. This was a nice relaxed way to finish.

My viva was an enjoyable process. The time passed so quickly. While I’d been a little nervous before arriving, as soon as I went into the examination room, I felt at ease. As I’ve heard others say, the viva is the only time you have the opportunity to discuss your research with three topic/methodology experts who have read your work and are interested in it. My examiners asked some challenging questions (tip: always have a sip of water before answering the question – it gives you some time to think). They were all interested and encouraging and made thoughtful suggestions for how I could extend my research further. My supervisor made notes throughout the viva, which meant the key questions and areas for further consideration are captured for me to reflect on further. The viva was a very positive experience, and I’m very pleased I had the opportunity to discuss and defend my work.

After the viva, there was champagne. My colleagues came, as did my second supervisor, and I was able to start to relax, before heading home to the onslaught of small children and the routine of everyday life. Later that week, I went through the thesis, fixed the spelling errors, had a last minute issue with Endnote (thank goodness for the patient university librarian), then submitted it to our online repository, printed copies for the university, myself and my supervisors, and wrote the synopsis for graduation in July.

Q&A: PhD in Europe

Another episode in the Q&A series!

I got the following question:

I am seeking information for an Ecuadorian to do a PhD in Europe. Can you please suggest what websites to go to?

My reply was as follows:

You can check Academic Transfer which shows all positions in The Netherlands.

The best way to find a PhD position, is to have a direct contact with a professor with whom you’d like to work – it is typically their decision to hire somebody as a researcher, unlike the USA where you have to apply to a program.

My reply was a little hurried, so let me expand a bit more here.

Besides AcademicTransfer, look out for openings through the websites of universities, their Twitter accounts, and don't forget to read up on information on European projects in your field (i.e. projects with funding from the European Union; these typically extend over a number of countries and research groups).

Other websites you might want to check are Engineeroxy, Academia.edu, ResearchGate and LinkedIn.

And the, you need to find direct contact with a professor. You can cold-call or send an email, which is what I did. The secretary later told me that I was lucky, because about 20 people every day send an email to apply for a PhD position. Perhaps the fact that I wrote in Dutch instead of English made me stand out. Besides cold-calling or mailing, you can try to get introduced via a mutual acquaintance. Or you can attend a conference where this professor will be presenting, and try to have a quick chat with him after his talk.

Edit on 25/08/2016: Right after sharing this post on Twitter, I heard that in Germany, there exist semi-structured programs (more like the system used by the universities in the USA). These programs allow you to apply directly. An example is the PhD program in Cultural Studies from the Justus-Liebig-Universitaet Giessen.

Q & A: Applying for a PhD with average grades

Time for another episode of the Q&A series! (Not so) recently I received the following message (edited to protect the writer's anonymity):

Hi there,

I want to do a PHD, very keen to do it but my school academics and under graduation academics were not that good due to my sports activities. I have been a national level player and missed my classes for my sports practice. However, I have improved my scores in MBA. I have two years of work experience in Human Resource and at present I am pursuing a Diploma course in Something from Somewhere.

I am very keen to do a PHD after this from a reputed university which can help me get into teaching later. Request your guidance to help me give some information which can accept my PHD application and also the list of good colleges, if you are aware of, who can consider me with my average academic background.

Thanks in Advance

As always, let's break this question down.

I want to do a PHD, very keen to do

Very good - motivation is super important for a PhD.

but my school academics and under graduation academics were not that good due to my sports activities. I have been a national level player and missed my classes for my sports practice.

I think you can frame this very well when you apply for a PhD position. If you've been able to get your degree and be an athlete at a high level, that certainly tells us something about your time management skills, dedication to your studies and discipline. You can focus on what you learned by being a pro-athlete, and how you plan to take that special experience into your PhD program.

Secondly, if your PhD program is more research-based than coursework-based, your ability to study and your ability to do research are two separate things. Your ability to study sometimes unfortunately relates to how much information you can cram into your head to pass an exam, or how smart you are in figuring out what will go on the exam. Your ability to do research of course requires a certain level of intelligence, but research is a different skill than studying.

One final comment: my first year at university was not all sparkles. I had some trouble adjusting, was very affected by the way I was treated as a woman in an engineering program, partied too much and my grades were so-so. I didn't fail any class, but I passed without honors or anything. My grades gradually climbed up over the years as I figured out what was expected from me on exams, and as I gained confidence and learned to brush off the stupid remarks and everyday sexism.

I have two years of work experience in Human Resource

If this work experience is relevant to the PhD program that you want to apply to, take full benefit of the fact that you have industry experience. Otherwise, you can frame your work experience as a form of maturity, and that you have some real-world experience.

Request your guidance to help me give some information which can accept my PHD application

Hmm, that all depends on your field. What do you want to study? Who do you want to work with. If you need some guidance on selecting a PhD program and advisor, please check out this post.

the list of good colleges, if you are aware of, who can consider me with my average academic background.

Again, depends a lot on the country. If you want to go to a US university, your GRE grades and TOEFL (if necessary) will also tell them something. Your statement of purpose will be very important - you can use that opportunity to stress your former athletic career and your real-life work experience.

If you are going to go to a European university, a lot will depend on the contact you develop with your possible future advisor. Since you will be in a research-oriented PhD program, you need to make sure beforehand that you research plans and even your character are compatible with your advisor.

Hope that helps! Good luck with the applications.... and to all other readers, feel free to shoot me some more questions.

PhD Defenses around the world: a PhD viva from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland

Today, I am hosting the experience of Erin Dyer Saxon in the "Defenses around the world" series. Erin is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Center for Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution at Endicott College, Beverly, MA (USA). She read for her PhD at Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), and sat her viva in December 2011. Erin’s doctoral research was comparative research on mediation practices in the US and Palestine, including field research in Bethlehem, West Bank. In particular, Erin’s research interests focus on transformative mediation, Palestinian sulha, culture and conflict resolution, nonviolence, and the nature of dispute resolution processes in conflict areas.

I had the good fortune of having a genuinely strong and positive relationship with my doctoral supervisor. I had already developed a research proposal and timetable when I applied for the degree, and my supervisor used this template to guide me through the stages of developing my work. I started writing on day one, and my supervisor began providing feedback shortly thereafter. As the time wore on that part of the process was never daunting, and I learned early on that the PhD is not just solitary work; a PhD is a conversation that starts long before the viva.

Before the defense
After the first year of the degree, I had an internal defense with two examiners from our department (the Irish School of Ecumenics). The purpose of this “transfer viva” is to consider the proposal for the research degree and to examine a small body of work. In my case, I had developed my research proposal following an intense literature review, and submitted a chapter that I had prepared for the examiners. The examiners ask about the literature review, the methodology for the field research, and the goals for the thesis. When successfully completed, the student transfers from being student on the M.Litt (research Masters) register, to formally being a PhD candidate.

Planning the viva
Before submitting the thesis in draft form to the Graduate Studies Office, I was able to give my opinions for the make up of the committee and prospective dates. My supervisor submitted the requests for the internal and external examiners, and I was fortunate that after submitting on October 1, my viva was scheduled for the morning of December 20. I combed through my thesis to find any typographical errors and major points that I wanted to make, so that on December 20, I had a color-coded master document to work from.

The day of the viva

My defense was very intimate and, thankfully, a closed affair. It was not open to the public, faculty, other candidates, etc. My committee was made up of my internal examiner familiar with Palestinian culture and a specialist on ecumenics, peacebuilding, and religion, and my external examiner who was a specialist on international conflict resolution. Another internal faculty member chaired the viva but was not part of the assessment. My supervisor was present for moral support but did not provide any commentary.

The viva itself
My examiners had met before we arrived to discuss their questions and expected results based on the print copy. When I entered the room, the chair provided an overview of the meeting and what to expect. My supervisor and I had already been through this a week before my viva in a “mock viva” so I felt calm and prepared for this moment. I was asked to provide a summary of my thesis. After this stage, the examiners asked me a range of questions on my thesis and my findings. Despite having a thesis with color-coded post-its to guide me, I did not need to refer to the document once. The questions the examiners asked had little to do with an argument on a random page and everything to do with the new knowledge I had to share. The viva was, truly, an enjoyable and gratifying experience where I could converse with highly respected scholars on my research and its implications. Whatever stress I had going into the viva, I was propelled through it by a deep sense of community and inquiry.

Accepted as it stands
When the examiners questions were finished, my supervisor and I were asked to leave the room so that the examiners could confer with one another. We hadn’t even made our cups of tea before we were called back in! My examiners congratulated me: "We are pleased to recommend that your thesis is accepted as it stands." This meant that I did not need to make any amendments to my thesis to submit it as a final bound copy to the Graduate Studies Office – the examiners were satisfied with the product that I defended that day. This result took me by surprise – but my supervisor had clearly anticipated it! The committee, my supervisor, and I enjoyed freshly corked champagne before heading to a celebratory lunch. Here, I was called Dr. Erin Dyer for the first time and no longer considered a student, but a colleague.

Q&A: Proposal and literature review

I've been slacking a bit in replying your questions that you sent me - sorry folks! Between running the defenses series and the "how I work" series and regular work, things have been a bit hectic.

But here I am to reply another question from a reader:

Hello,

I enjoyed reading your articles.
Would you kindly suggest any useful books on how to write a good proposal?
Also, would you be able to advise anything on literature review? Which sites are best and what technique are you using?

Thank you in advance.

Let's break this question down into different parts.

1. Information on how to write a good proposal

My PhD program did not require a proposal. Essentially, in the Netherlands, you get four years to do research and produce a thesis. No coursework, no comprehensive exams, no proposal, nothing at all.

I've replied a question on how to make your presentation for a proposal in the past. An excellent overview of the elements you should discuss in your proposal is this source from Columbia.

But let's break it down into the components you need into your proposal:
- literature review: more about that in a minute, but you should show in your proposal that you have gained an understanding of your field, so that you can pinpoint the lack of knowledge on the topic you want to work on.
- problem description: what problem are going to study? Why is it important? What do we know so far (form your literature review), and where is your work going to take us?
- research question: This topic is actually the core of your proposal, and will be the core of your research. Always know very well what your research question is, so that you can return to the question regularly and check if you still are carrying out research related to your question, or if you got off on tangents.
- methods: How are you going to tackle the problem? Experiments? Computer modeling? Theoretical derivations? Again, show that you know the existing literature, and how you get hints from there on what would be the way to go.
- backup plan: if your methods give bad results, what are you going to change? Do you have a plan B?
- planning: How are you going to make sure you graduate on time? Do you have a planning? Do you have sufficient buffer in your planning in case something goes wrong?

2. Literature review

Love it or hate it, the literature review is an essential element of scholarship. I really like and recommend you to take the Literature Review Bootcamp - I've gone through the material and I think it covers everything you need to know about the literature review from A to Z.

On this blog, you can also find some posts of myself about the literature review. There is a guest post with three super important tips for your literature review, my method on how to grind through a large amount of literature , and a question from a reader about the literature review that I answered. If you're interested in my method of archiving, you can find a post here. Nowadays, I do mostly use Endnote, and I still have a lot of the paper copies of my PhD days in a box in my mom's house on the other side of the Atlantic.

My main advice for the literature review is: follow your instinct and read a lot. You'll find that point when you know the field, when you read a paper, and suddenly you are nodding in agreement, because you've seen similar things a number of times before. Or you might be shaking your head in disapproval, thinking that the authors missed out some information from a paper you read before. When you reach this level of interaction with the literature, you have internalized the information. At that point, you don't need to do a major reading effort anymore.

I'm framing this as "not having to do a major reading effort", as in: not having to sit down for days on end with endless files on your digital reader or piles of papers in front of you. You do still need to follow up with the literature. Here you can find a post I wrote about keeping up with the output. You can also start to read at different levels. Through ResearchGate and Academia.edu you might want to follow people who publish in your field, so you get notifications about their new publications.

A helpful trick to learn as well is speed reading. For us non-native English speakers that requires a certain level of the language before you can dive into speed-reading. It took me quite some years to get to that point - so don't panic if it doesn't come to you naturally.

I hope this gives you some ideas for your proposal.

Q&A: How to apply for a PhD program with a disappointing MSc thesis grade

Pasha says thank you for following my adventures

I recently received the following email from a reader (edited to preserve the anonimity of the reader):

Hi Dr. Eva

I am a huge fan of your blog. I also follow you (and your cat) on twitter. Keep up the good work.

If you don't mind, I really need your advise on an issue that has continued to hamper my PhD applications.

I had a C grade on my master's thesis work. This was highly unexpected and unacceptable. During the final writing of my thesis I had technical issues with the storage drive for my data and literature reviews. This delayed my work, and as such I had to apply for an extension on my thesis submission date.

As an an unwritten rule in my department, any student who extends the department approved submission date automatically loses some points in the final grading (e.g. a thesis that was supposed to receive an A gets a B grade instead).

The quality of my work was definitely above average, at least. It is presently a manuscript in preparation. The rest of my academic grades is [edited] pretty good, but the thesis counts for half of all credits [edited]. This greatly affected my grade point average.

Since then I have found it difficult to successfully apply for PhD positions as most schools are reluctant to take a student with a C grade on the masters thesis.

My question is this: How would you advise I go about explaining this in my application letter, for e.g? Do you think it is important to mention it in the application at all? Do you have any other advise that can help me out? I would eternally be grateful.

This singular event is greatly derailing my ambitions to pursue a career in academic research.

Thank you for your help and time.

I replied as follows, and hope it might help someone else in a similar situation to prepare for his/her application:

Dear Reader,

Thanks for reaching out to me through my blog, and thank you for your kind words on my blog.

I’m sorry to hear about the troubles you are having with your PhD applications. Unfortunately, professors are people, and not all of them treat all students equally (I have had my share of horror in that regard, because of my gender). With that said, I think it is difficult to use your application letter to explain the situation – depending on who reads it, they might think you are just making excuses for not having worked hard enough (old boys club of academia, anyone?).

What I see as an opportunity for you to stand out in your application is to highlight your successes. How’s that paper coming along that you mentioned? Try to have it in revision as soon as you can, so you can say that your MSc research has led to a paper that is currently under revision. From my experience of sending my BSc students out in the world, the ones that I have published with, whose BSc thesis led to a conference paper, seem to get really good opportunities for an MSc, even though they might not have a GPA of 3.5 or higher.

How is your relationship with your thesis advisor? How is his/her “weight” in the academic field? Do you think a recommendation letter from him/her could be a big plus for your application? Or did you work with other professors who are heavy weights in their fields, that could endorse you as a candidate? Or outside of your institution – people from the industry, if you did an internship or worked for a while? See if you can get a “big name” behind you.

Another point that tends to work well for applications: do you have any extracurricular activities that you can highlight? Can you show how you’ve combined for example competitive sports with studies? Or how you’ve managed to develop other interests and learn extra skills outside of your MSc program?

If all else fails: do you have the chance to meet with a possible future PhD advisor? Do you have a chance to attend conferences to meet some senior academics and see if they might have an opportunity for you?

Hope that helps,

Eva

Australian PhD completion: Not with a bang, but a whimper

Today, I am hosting Dr. Deborah Netolicky for the "PhD defenses around the world." Deborah is an educator, school leader, cognitive coach and researcher with 16 years of experience in teaching and school leadership roles in Australia and the UK. Her PhD explored the ways in which professional identities and school cultures can be transformed by professional learning and effective leading of teacher learning. You can find her tweeting as @debsnet and blogging at the édu flâneuse.

My great land Down Under suffers and benefits from the tyranny of distance. For PhD candidates, this means that, despite the modern-day wonders of air travel and Skype, there is no viva or oral defense. No public moment of defending the PhD. No nail-biting preparation for answering questions while pouring wine and pouring over viva cards. No way to look deep into your examiners’ faces to see their response to your work. Somehow, our neighbouring New Zealand manages to fly examiners in for an oral examination, but we do not.

As an Australian candidate, once my PhD thesis was ready for submission for examination, it was printed, spiral-bound and posted to one Australian examiner (at a different university to my own) and two international examiners. I had not met any of my examiners, although I knew them through their work. A pdf copy was also emailed. These people would never meet to discuss my dissertation, but would examine it in their own time and place, write an examiner’s report with commentary and a recommendation, and email the report back. The three reports would come from their various destinations and converge back at my university.

The options of examiners in the Australian system are to recommend:

1. the PhD be awarded with no revisions to the thesis;
2. the PhD be awarded subject to the insertion of minor revisions;
3. the PhD be awarded subject to the insertion of major revisions;
4. the thesis be heavily revised for re-examination, which might include rewriting or collection of new data;
5. the PhD degree not be awarded, but the thesis be revised and re-submitted for an MPhil; or
6. no degree be awarded.

Category 1 means that the thesis can go straight to the university library, and the university can then go through appropriate processes to award the PhD. Categories 2 and 3 mean that the thesis needs revision, with all examiners’ recommendations addressed. This does not mean that all recommendations need to be made, but all need to be considered and responded to. Like the peer-review process, the author may choose to articulate why a particular change has not been made. Category 2 and 3 changes are signed off by the primary supervisor. Then, a report outlining the revisions is sent to a Dean for sighting and sign-off, before the candidate is ready to be moved through to degree conferral. Category 4 means the revisions are more cumbersome, and the thesis goes for examination again. Again, the wait of many months for the reports to return. More uncertainty about the result (although apparently few candidates fail on their second attempt at examination). Categories 5 and 6 are every candidate’s worst nightmare: a fail with either a Masters or nothing to show for years of work.

And the wait is both liberating and excruciating. Liberating because control is out of the candidate’s hands, and nothing can be done until the result is known. Excruciating because so much is riding on the interpretations of three individuals.

The time between submitting an Australian thesis and getting the examiners’ reports back is about four to six months, even though examiners are asked to return their reports within six weeks (and some do). For my own PhD, I submitted in October and received the examiners’ reports in February.
My thesis required amendments without re-examination. While in some ways I had hoped for a Category 1 pass (no revisions! what a perfect specimen of a thesis!), on reflection I realised that having the opportunity to make corrections made my final product better. While it took some time to tease out the three somewhat differing reports, the feedback of three experienced and generous academics allowed me to strengthen and clarify my thesis before it found its final form for posterity.

My corrections took me about two weeks of obsessing over, dreaming about, and working hard at them (in between my almost-full-time job and parenting my young children). There were two supervisory meetings in this time; one to clarify and agree upon my approach to the corrections, and one to tweak and sign off the work done. Microsoft Word’s ‘Compare’ feature was invaluable for checking where and what corrections had been made between the submitted and the amended copies.

After supervisory sign-off, the amendments report was sent to a Dean on a Friday. The Dean signed off my amendments on the Monday. That was a lovely moment, when I knew that the work was done, and what was left to do was just process and waiting.

I was then told that I could print my final copies of the thesis for hard binding, with buckram cloth and gold lettering, and submit an electronic copy to library. I did so, and the thesis was soon online, a reference with my name on it and a downloadable document.

The official conferral happened at a university council meeting in April, and I have already received information about graduation in September.

My Australian experience shows how the PhD here sputters to its fuzzy conclusion with a whimper, rather than ends with a bang. I submitted in October, three years after enrolling. Yet that was not near the end of the doctoral journey. In February I received the examiners’ reports and made my amendments. In March the final copy was signed off and submitted. In April the degree was  conferred, after which I was able to call myself ‘Doctor’. And the graduation ceremony, complete with Tudor bonnet, will not be until September.

So, while my Australian geography has saved me from the stress of an oral defense, part of me longed for the opportunity to hear my examiners articulate their thoughts and ask their questions, to discuss and defend my work. As an Australian candidate there are many small milestones which can be celebrated, but no one glorious moment when the doctorate seems complete.

PhD Defenses around the world: a defense in political science from Penn State

Today, I am hosting Daniel J. Mallinson to share the experience of his PhD defense for the "PhD defenses around the world" series. Dan grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (though he is not Amish). As an undergraduate he studied political science at Elizabethtown College. He worked at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and then the Inspector General’s Office at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services while doing his masters at Villanova University. He returned to graduate school full time at Penn State, earning his Ph.D. in political science in 2015, and now works as an Assistant Professor of Public Administration and Political Science at Stockton University in southern New Jersey.

December 3, 2014 – D-Day is two months away. No, not defense day, but my first child’s due date. It was also time to finish up my dissertation and defend. Having accepted a job offer the month before, my wife (a postdoc in Kinesiology) and I decided that a pre-baby defense would better allow me to help in the transition to parenthood. No problem, I would gather the committee in mid-January and wrap things up before the February 3rd due date. Multiple rounds of Doodle Polls later, it became apparent that there was not one day in January that all of my committee members were physically in State College. Furthermore, those that were traveling were not able to teleconference in for the defense. So, January was out. My wife and I discussed the situation and decided to set the defense date for February 4, the day after our baby was due. We also set a back-up date of February 25 so that I could still hit the early deadline for a May graduation.

Gratefully, wrapping up the dissertation was not a large source of stress. I had received helpful feedback throughout the process, and my committee generally seemed pleased. That said, there had been significant discord over one particular chapter that I still decided to keep in the final project. So, there was much uncertainty regarding that particular part of the dissertation. As time ticked away and the due date neared, we were also uncertain as to whether our baby would wait long enough for me to defend. We had few signs of early labor, but the baby was positioned to come quickly when the time came. During the months of December and January, we largely went about our days, but both the defense date and due date hung over my head as I tried to prepare. Defending a dissertation is an important life event, but it seemed small in the scope of also preparing to welcome new life into the world. Especially our first child. The days passed and baby Mallinson seemed increasingly determined to let me finish.

Of course, you hear that first babies often come late, but there are plenty that come early. I was fortunate that ours did, in fact, arrive late. The due date came and passed with no signs of our baby wanting to go anywhere. So I prepared for and carried through with the defense. Our department has an unusual process for defenses. They are technically public, but are not advertised and the candidate almost always meets with just the committee. During the defense, we had a very pleasant and constructive dialogue about the project, holes in my logic, and potential avenues for future work. As far as defenses are concerned, it was a great experience. While gathering for dinner and drinks that night with friends and my very pregnant wife, the whole thing felt surreal. In a yet un-recognized blessing, my committee asked for few revisions, allowing me to file the final paperwork and the dissertation the Friday of my defense week, which was only 2 days after my defense.

That same day, February 6th, we had a difficult OB-GYN appointment. My wife was committed to giving birth naturally, but it turns out that baby Mallinson was very content staying put. Perhaps we had willed too strongly to let me finish my defense and dissertation. So, an induction was scheduled. Little did we know in December that not only would our little one not come early, but we might have to push the process along. As my wife left her last day of work before six weeks of maternity leave, which happened to be the same day that I filed my final dissertation with the Graduate School, we were again uncertain as to how the next few days would progress. We were anxious about an induction and had an army of people praying that our little one would come in its own time. The following day, my wife went into labor, and on Sunday morning February 8, four days after my defense, our little Peter was born after an intense, but relatively short, natural labor.

Many graduate students, such as my wife, remember the chaos and stress leading up to defense day, with cramming in final analyses and revisions. I, on the other hand, was fortunate that this was not my experience, but my defense was stressful in other, unique ways. When I think back to those days, I will remember all of the uncertainty surrounding the birth of our little boy. The wonder of his birth certainly overshadowed the fact that I had reached a culminating point in my educational journey. And therein lies the greatest lesson of this experience. Defending my dissertation was a culminating experience, but the birth of my son was deeply meaningful in a way that the Ph.D. was not. The Ph.D. was really a milestone in the longer arc of an academic career, whereas my son has changed my life forever. His birth and my defense experience also taught me about grace, humility, and faith. Grace for myself and for others, even when things were not going the way I thought they should. Humility in the juxtaposition of my achievement and new life. Faith in God’s provision.

PhD Defenses around the world: a defense in medicine from New York

Today, I have invited Rachel Ames to talk about her PhD Defense. Rachel completed her PhD in the Pathology Department at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where she currently remains as a research fellow while applying for postdoctoral fellowships. For her PhD thesis work, she studied transcriptional regulation of CD4+ T cell responses to Plasmodium parasites. In addition to immunological research, Rachel is interested in improving research training quality and efficiency, and in effective science communication to diverse audiences. You can connect with her on Twitter @rachelyames.

Here's a "secret" no graduate student really likes to admit - many of us imagine ourselves defending when we watch another student's thesis defense. You think about what it would feel like, what you would say - and then sometimes worry that that day will never come. So when that day finally arrives, it feels like a somewhat surreal experience, with both feelings of deja vu as well as the new excitement of this rite of passage finally happening.

At Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, students must obtain permission to write and defend their thesis from their advisory committee, comprised of at least three faculty members in addition to your mentor. In addition to completing all required coursework and a qualifying exam, our university requires a manuscript be at least submitted to a peer-reviewed journal as a degree requirement. Permission is therefore usually obtained after this paper is submitted, or if the student appears to be very close to that point (the manuscript can be submitted up to the day of your defense, technically, but that is not recommended!). The written thesis document is to be distributed to the thesis committee members three weeks prior to the defense date to allow time for the committee to assess the document and raise issues in advance of the defense, if necessary. Typically, the thesis committee consists mainly of members of your advisory committee (if scheduling allows), an alternate to ensure sufficient quorum in the case of a last minute cancellation, and one expert in your field from outside of your institution.

I defended my PhD thesis last November, and I found it to be a truly enjoyable experience. Both Albert Einstein and the State of New York require a public seminar as a portion of the thesis defense, which is then followed by a closed-door oral exam for one-to-two hours. Because of the public seminar format, many students take the opportunity to invite family and friends, and it is really nice to share that occasion with those individuals who have probably spent many years wondering what exactly you were doing with your time. Often, even for friends in my own graduate program, their thesis defense was the first time that I really grasped the big picture of what they were studying, as we were spread out in different departments. It is also a nice opportunity to thank all those who supported your PhD work, both from a scientific perspective as well as those who supported you personally - who are just as essential to the work but are not frequently publically recognized.

The oral exam, for me, was also very pleasant - after countless hours writing the thesis in a mostly solitary setting, I found it to be really enjoyable to discuss the field and my data with my committee during the defense. This session is typically a relaxed discussion, mostly regarding implications of your work or any questions the examiners may have regarding the specifics of your field. The qualifying exam, which takes place two years into the PhD program at Einstein and involves a grant-style proposal of your project, occurs at a time while you are often still trying to wrap your head around all the basics of your research, both the techniques and literature of the field. By the time of the thesis defense, you should know well which things you know, don't know, and what is still to be discovered, and that deeper knowledge makes discussing the work so much more enjoyable, rather than feeling like a classic "exam."

The PhD process is a test in itself, both testing you day to day on your understanding of basic principles and your field, as well as testing your mettle over many years of hard work. Rather than an intense exam, the day of my defense felt more like a capstone of that process, an opportunity to look back at what I had created and learned, and all the people that had helped me get there.

PhD Song

Some time ago, I received a nice email from Stephen from Sweden. He wrote me about the song he developed that described his PhD experience. I enjoyed it very much, so I decided to share it here:



Have fun with this!

PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: How to get the most out of career events

This post is part of the series PhD Talk for AcademicTransfer: posts written for the Dutch academic career network AcademicTransfer, your go-to resource for all research positions in the Netherlands.

These posts are sponsored by AcademicTransfer, and tailored to those of you interested in pursuing a research position in the Netherlands.

If these posts raise your interest in working as a researcher in the Netherlands, even better - and feel free to fire away any questions you might have on this topic!

Continuing with the career theme, we are going to look at career events today. While this post is written from the perspective of you, a prospective PhD student or post-doc, who is visiting a career event, you can also apply these tips and think about these elements when you go to visit the exhibition area of a conference and talk to possible future employers.

You might think that in the 21st century, your future job is something you will arrange all online. But good old career events are still a very popular choice for job seekers and employers to meet each other. One of the big advantages of going to such an event is that, while strolling along the stands and talking with representatives of different companies and universities, you might actually learn about option you would have never thought about.

I think back to the first career event I attended. While I was hoping to land a scholarship to go and do a second Master's degree in the United States, I was also keeping my options open to find a job. I signed up for a presentation of a company randomly, sort of thinking it would be not the type of company I'd be interested in. But their presentation was informative, showing cool construction projects, and they explained that in their company, engineers work on a project through all stages. Virtually every where, you pick your part of the construction process, such as design, and stick with that. But they had a different philosophy, their engineers work on the bidding, design and planning of the project in the office, and then put on their boots and go supervise the actual construction of the project. I talked to them afterwards, inquiring about international opportunities, and was happy to hear that they have offices all over the world, and would certainly consider sending me a couple of years to, say, Denmark. Even though I ended up getting funding for my studies and becoming an academic, this experience taught me to have an open mind and explore opportunities at career events.

So, say you are somewhere half-way your PhD program. You might have a feeling that you'll never graduate and that you still have a mountain of work to overcome, but in reality, it might be a good moment to just start informing about career events. There's not a career event every Tuesday on the town's market square, so you might want to inform about the interesting events in the upcoming year. If you've found a career event that you want to attend, don't wait until the day of the actual event to go play tourist over there - plan, and make sure you can get the most out of it!

Before the event

As I said before, if you want to get most out of the event, make sure you plan ahead. Don't just take the train and show up, but do these few things in advance:

1. Revise your resume: make sure you have your full academic resume up to date. With full resume, I mean a resume that describes you in a paragraph, has your educational background, your work experience, your publications, your professional membership, your committee appointments, an overview of the journals you are a reviewer for, other service appointments, and perhaps something about your additional personal interests. Don't forget to mention your blog if you have one!
2. Summarize your resume: A full resume can go on and on for pages - nobody who gets introduced to you at the first time would be interested in reading the entire thing. Put yourself in the shoes of the exhibitors at career events: they get stacks and stacks of resumes. So make sure you have a shortened resume - maximum 1 page, I'd say, but a resume that highlights your biggest achievements. Print a large number of copies of this document!
3. Check your online profiles: If an employer is interested in you, chances are he might Google you. If you are months before a career event, you have plenty of time to revise your online profiles, see what Google finds about you, and course correct if necessary. Check out an earlier blog post about online branding for scientists if you want to change what can be found about you online.
4. Read the descriptions of the employers and institutions in the exhibition: Learn who will be there. It might take an entire afternoon, so go somewhere comfortable, get a coffee, read through the descriptions of the employers and institutions and look online for further information about them. Take some notes (thank me later).
5. Identify down the 10 most important booths to visit: Go through your notes, and see which are your top 10 exhibitors to go and visit. Check out the map of the exhibition area, if the venue is large, and highlight the booths you need to visit. If you think you'll be short on time, make an itinerary.
6. Identify your networking options: Will there be a drink at the end of the day? Can you meet up with a certain group for lunch? Make sure you take advantage of your time at the event to network.
7. See if there are presentations: I highlighted the importance of presentations in which companies can show what they are actually doing and give you a hint of their workplace culture. If there are presentations, make sure you can attend some of these. If you're interested in a company, don't be afraid to ask questions at the end of the presentation and follow-up with the presenter. You can't wish for more direct access to the company.

During the event

1. Hand out your resumes: You printed a good number of your short resumes? Good! Now don't be afraid to hand them out to people at their booths.
2. Hand out your cards: Your resume is not something you put into every one's hands, so make sure you also carry cards. If you make new acquaintances, it's good to have cards with you and hand out your contact information.
3. Talk to people: You're at the event to shine. While for some of us, talking to people you don't know is very intimidating (for me that sure is!), conversation is nice. It can be awkward, but most often it is not. Just ask questions, and get people to talk about what they are passionate about, and the awkwardness will be gone soon. If you are scared, think of the powerposing trick.
4. Don't be scared to have a quick chat with booths that might not interest you: You never know what you might learn from these booths. They might not directly be the holy grail for you, but they might have something interesting to share with one of your friends or colleagues.
5. Politely walk away from booths that are a disappointment: If a company you were really interested in, seems to be a disappointment once you start to talk to them, you don't need to keep talking to them. Find a polite way to back off, and go. If a company, for example, seems to have different rules for women (i.e. tell you, as a woman, that they "can't" send women out to projects in the field), then you have no reason to keep talking to them. Just thank them for the explanation and back off.
6. Enjoy the networking events: Enjoy the time of the drinks, meeting cool young people, and loosen up a little bit. A career event might be stressful (and trying not to spill your coffee all over yourself equally stressful), but at the end of the day you can take a breath, have a drink, have a chat with people in the same situation and stop holding your breath.

After the event

1. Write thank you emails: If you had a nice talk with an exhibitor or with a fellow young job seeker, don't be afraid of sending a short email to thank them for the good conversation. When I get a thank-you mail after a conference, it always brings a smile to my face. There's nothing intrusive or wrong about sending a kind message
2. Archive your information: Archive flyers and information of interesting companies. If you need to take action on something, do so before you archive the information. Thrash what you don't need anymore.
3. Connect with new contacts: If you met new people, for example during the networking events, you can see if you can connect with them on LinkedIn, ResearchGate or Academia.edu.
4. Follow-up: If you left your resume, and an exhibitor told you he/she would contact you, but you haven't heard from them, say, after a month after the event, it can simply mean your one sheet of resume got lost. Don't be afraid to send an email to follow-up and inquire if there is still interest from this company to see your possible future options with them.

These are a few elements you can think of the prepare for a career event, take full benefit of it while you are there, and then make sure you take the right steps when you get home. Good luck in attending events and finding your next step in your (academic) career!

PhD Defenses around the world: a viva at Imperial College

Today, Syed Anas Imtiaz from Imperial College talks about his viva at Imperial College for the "Defenses around the world" series. Anas is a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London where he completed his PhD in November 2015. Earlier, he did MSc in Integrated Circuit Design at the same university. His primary research interests include biomedical signal processing, intelligent algorithms development and design of wearable EEG systems for long-term monitoring and automatic diagnosis of several neurological conditions.

I finished the final version of my PhD thesis in the first week of September. It was a huge relief and I felt like my PhD is complete. A week later, I submitted the PDF to be printed and dispatched to the examiners. I was also quite confident around this time of having no difficulties in the viva. This aura lasted until I received an e-mail on 7th October 2015 notifying that my viva is exactly a month away. This is when I went blank. All that confidence was gone. I started panicking. After a couple of hours, I steadied myself and sat down to make a plan on what to do in this one month prior to the viva. This included reading the thesis again in fine detail while making notes and writing down questions that the examiners may have.

For those unaware, the viva voce exam in the UK generally takes place behind closed doors. Apart from the candidate being examined, there are two or three more people in the interrogation room. This includes an external examiner, an internal examiner (from host institution) and, optionally, the candidate’s supervisor.

On the exam day I bumped into my supervisor just outside our department building and instantly told her how nervous I was. Her reply was: “You will be fine. It’s going to be a walk in the park for you.”

Fifteen minutes before the clock struck 10.00, I gathered my stuff and made a move towards the examination room. I took the well-annotated copy of my thesis, a small notepad, a pen and a list of corrections that I wanted to make in order to rectify some minor errors I noticed while re-reading the thesis.

At 10.03, the two examiners arrived with my supervisor and took their seats after a quick handshake. The external examiner sat right across me, my supervisor next to him on the left side while the internal examiner was slightly towards my right side. I saw that the copies of my thesis that the examiners brought had a lot of post it notes. This meant only one thing: lots of questions!

The internal examiner briefly explained the rules of the game and then external examiner kicked off the formal proceedings with the standard question asking me to summarise my research. I had prepared for this one so started off confidently. However, around the midpoint of my tirade I was cut off abruptly and the external examiner asked a couple of questions for further clarification. Both examiners then opened the first page of my thesis and began a monumental session of page-by-page discussion of my work.

My thesis was over 250 pages with lots of text crammed, which meant there was a lot of stuff to be covered. There were quite a few questions in the first two chapters which included the introduction and literature review. I think we spent more than 90 minutes discussing these two chapters. The questions were coming rapidly and I found myself on the defensive. I started getting increasingly nervous as the examiners criticised certain sections of the thesis which I was initially quite confident about. In fact, I was so defensive and nervous by that point that I couldn’t even understand a comment jokingly made by the examiner and starting defending it. As an example, the first citation in my thesis was referring to a book authored by the external examiner however its formatting was incorrect. He asked me to turn to that page in the thesis and pointed it out in a very candid manner and smiled thereafter. I, on the other hand, started explaining how this was a LaTeX issue and not my fault. At that point I realised I wasn’t handling the viva correctly. I was defending everything and was getting too sensitive about small issues. I used a little pause in questions to open the sealed water bottle next to me and slowly filled a glass. During this small water break I composed myself and decided that I will only defend the key sections of the thesis and agree to make amendments in sections which were not. I felt much more comfortable talking about my work in the next 100 minutes mainly because this was a purely technical discussion.

After about 200 minutes in total, all of us breathed a sigh of relief as we reached the end of my thesis. All this time I avoided eye contact with my supervisor for the fear of getting any negative feedback. I was asked to leave the room while the examiners deliberated my fate. I left quickly and sat outside the room. I felt mentally exhausted but I knew I had done well. I was quite certain that I’d pass with minor corrections since the examiners did not raise any major concern regarding my methodology or the results.

Fifteen minutes later, I was invited back to the room where everyone was now smiling. I was promptly congratulated and was told that I had passed with minor corrections. There was a discussion for about 10 minutes where I was given some very useful feedback and then later a list of amendments that I was required to do within three months which would be audited by the internal examiner. It took me about a ten days to do these following which I had a meeting with my internal examiner in which they were approved.

In the end, I found the whole experience of viva to be rather stressful. The main reason for this is that I was nervous and unable to relax. It certainly wasn’t a walk in the park as my supervisor had earlier suggested. I think it was more like a walk in a muddy field with lots of falls before reaching the end.

PhD Defenses around the world: a defense in Sweden

Today, in the series of "Defenses around the world", I am hosting the story of a scientist who prefers to remain anonymous. Veronika Cheplygina, whom you might remember from the "How I Work" interview, interviewed her friend for this occasion. He/She received his/her PhD at a science faculty at Lund University in Sweden.

What needs to happen prior to the defense?
Before you submit your thesis to the university, you need to have a committee for your defense. The committee consists of an opponent and other members. The supervisor invites these, but the committee has to be approved by a university board.
The official regulations can be found here.

What is the defense day like?
The defense takes place in a regular lecture room at the university. There are no formal requirements for what the defendant and committee need to wear, although most opt for a suit.

The traditional way is that the opponent presents your thesis and asks critical questions about it, although some universities are now moving to the more common setup of the defendant presenting the thesis.

There are also questions from the committee members and from the public – it is a law that anybody should be able to ask questions. The questions are not only limited to the thesis, general questions about the field you are defending in are also allowed.

Perhaps the most striking feature is that there is no time limit for the defense, and the time varies a lot. My defense lasted about 4 hours, a friend’s about 2.5 hours.

What happens next?
The committee deliberates after the defense. The time is also not fixed, but is usually around half an hour. Afterwards, you hear a decision: pass or fail, there are no grades involved. It is rare to fail at a defense – if this happens, it is before the defense, because the thesis is not approved.
After the decision, the dissertation is considered final as it is. This is different from Denmark or Norway, where you get notes which you still need to revise.
In the evening, you might go to dinner with your committee, but there are no set rules for this.

When do you get your diploma?
You get an official diploma after three months or so. The ceremonial promotion happens on a different day, which is held once a year at the end of May. This day is not only for those getting their PhD, but also when professors are inaugurated. For the big universities, this ceremony is held in a cathedral and lasts roughly 4 hours.

At the ceremony, graduates wear evening wear (tailcoat or black dress with sleeves). Here they get their official diploma in Latin, accompanied by a golden ring inscribed with the date of the defense and the faculty you belong to, and either a tall hat with the emblem of the faculty (in science) or sometimes a laurel wreath (in humanities). The ring indicates that you are married to science. Then you are declared doctor, also in Latin.
Outside the cathedral, there are cannons which fire after the graduates of each faculty have been promoted, as well as for special cases such as jubilee doctors (those who have been a doctor for 50 years).

Some impressions of the ceremony:





And some photographs can be found here.

There is also an official dinner afterwards.

PhD Defenses around the world: a defense in California

Today, Richard Newton talks about his experiences during his PhD defense. Richard is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Elizabethtown College in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania (USA). He took his PhD in Religion from Claremont Graduate University in 2009. His research focuses on the anthropology of scriptures: sacred and profane, ancient and modern, written and not written. He curates the web magazine "Sowing the Seed: Fruitful Conversations on Religion, Culture, and Teaching" and hosts the companion podcast, Broadcast Seeding. You can find him on Twitter @seedpods and at sowingtheseed.org.

My doctoral advisor was of the old school. He came from a tradition in which the PhD was not a degree earned but taken. To reach the defense stage was to reveal yourself as expert and colleague. Somewhere along the line, I was told that I would not be able to move into the defense stage until the committee was confident that I would pass. For my part, getting there wasn't just about mastering content. It was about learning as much as I could about what the defense entailed. That way I could focus on having the best showing possible.

The Structure
My defense was an intimate affair. I had a committee of three, including a chair who was responsible for facilitating the examination. With a few exceptions, my university insisted on open defenses, meaning anyone from the community was welcome to observe. I invited family, friends, and colleagues to be there for moral support. After a brief introduction by my chair, the gallery and I were asked to leave the room while the committee conferred on the matters they wanted to discuss. It also gave me one more moment to get encouragement from my guests.

Upon our return, the committee asked me to provide a prepared ten-minute overview of my project. This was intended to bring everyone up to speed on my research. I detailed the topic, research question, thesis, and its contribution to scholarship. The exercise would be my last chance to frame the conversation that was to ensue. This proved helpful as my committee referred to my overview as much as they did the tome before them.

The chair proceeded to describe the defense format. The second and third readers had ten to fifteen minutes each to engage me on my work. These questions focused on the nuances of my sub-arguments and cited research. My chair reserved the privilege of a fifteen to twenty minute discussion of my project's implications and place in the field.

The gallery and I were again asked to leave the room to allow the committee to discuss the defense. Afterward I was called back in and congratulated on my success. I was informed that no revisions were necessary (save for another go at proofreading) but was encouraged to incorporate any final insights that resulted from my now-colleagues. My advisor and I celebrated the occasion at a local pub.

The Experience
I went into the defense thinking that the event would be painstakingly slow. To my surprise, it turned out to be the fastest hour of my life. Somewhere in the midst of the questions, I found myself in a flow state where I was hyperaware of the event as it transpired.

The questions came at me as if at half-speed. By this point, I had asked myself variations of nearly every question. There were a couple that caught me off guard, yet none merited the description of surprise. These had more to do with perspectives that only a reader could have on one's own work.

The idea of "taking" the PhD no longer sounded like a strange euphemism. Rather, it was license to own my work. I was, after all, the author. I was finally free to shake that impostor syndrome and be confident.

The Lessons I Learned
I am convinced that self-knowledge is as important in the doctoral process as expertise. For me to be my best self at the defense, I knew I had to account for every possibility. I spent a lot of time at other people's defenses, visualizing how I would handle any challenges that arose. Here are some things that I learned along the way.

Take Notes, Take Your Time, Take Water.
The defense is daunting enough as it is, but a lot of doctoral candidates burden themselves with unfruitful asceticism. Have a legal pad to jot down questions and possible responses. Pause to take a moment to collect your thoughts. Have a glass of water to help you stay hydrated. These little things went a long way in keeping me relaxed.

Questions of clarification are your friend.
Truth be told, this lesson didn't sink in until well after my own defense. I feigned an answer to a question that I did not fully comprehend. I could have saved a lot of energy by asking for clarification or attempting to restate the question in my own words. Instead I had to stumble my way back to the original inquiry. I have no doubt that I would have appeared more confident had I allowed myself to admit that I didn't understand what I was being asked.

The best defendants pivoted all questions and answers back to the dissertation.
Many PhD candidates treat their defenses as an opportunity to show how much they have read. More often than not, this actually perturbs committees because it moves the conversation away from the candidate's work.
Before the defense, I wrote a note to myself saying that my dissertation is the primary source - stick to it. It was a little reminder that, more than anything, the committee members were trying to determine the extent to which my conclusions would hold true. I didn't need to show them anything other than that.

In my experience, the defense was the victory lap to a race already won. The hard part was starting and finishing the dissertation. Once I realized that, there was little else to do but to show how far I had come.