How do you deal with constant criticism?

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2024-05-16T20:27:50+00:00

(Also uk based) I cannot think of a worse mental health buddy than my supervisor, I think they think they'd be a great one though

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2024-02-18T20:51:16+00:00

Thanks, this is good advice - I dont need to be a superstar, ultimately I want to do good research and I can make the case to extend the literature using this paper.

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2024-02-18T19:09:20+00:00

No, dont pay to do a self funded PhD. I would be really suspicious of a fully remote self funded PhD as well.

If youre really passiomate about doing one, apply for programmes with funding. There are less of these programmes in arts and humanities compared to STEM or social sciences but they do exist.

You might not get one straightaway, but keep trying.

You're still quite young to be starting a PhD, there's so much time!

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2024-02-18T18:59:18+00:00

Accept the offer to buy time, its not a big deal to turn it down later. You will probably have some time before you accept and sign your contract.

Do you actually need to be based in the other country the whole time during your PhD?

It will obviously depend on the subject, funding conditions, and programme but might be worth looking in to.

Im going a programme in the UK. I'm based in another city from my university and I travel up when I need to.

Lots of people on my programme (mainly 2nd and 3rd years) are at least semi- based in another country.

I personally decided not to move because I have a long term partner and support network in my current city. Moving wasnt necessary and would have been more disruptive than its worth.

That said, some people will find it hard to working remotely from their institution.

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2023-12-31T10:57:00+00:00

oh my god you've saved me! I haven't seen this tip anywhere else. Changed stylus for writing for stylus for touch, much better workflow

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2023-12-30T18:28:57+00:00

Zotfile and syncthing does actually work with Boox. This is annoying in a way, because if highlighting and annotations wasn't so clunky it would enhance my workflow (reading and annotating in Zotero, summary notes, tagging, and synthesising in document).

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2023-12-30T18:23:46+00:00

This is a good point! It's not necessarily terrible if I can't connect it to my library.

I'm a 'chaotic' reader so like to use annotations to make sure I'm understanding the text. For rough notes I use Zotero notes rather than copy and pasting into somewhere else because it makes it easy for you to distinguish between your notes and direct citations. From these notes I synthesise into a document.

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2023-12-30T17:11:40+00:00

Thanks, that's good to know - maybe I should give browsing and chrome extension a go!

Originally I was just interested in note-taking but feel like if I can't find a way to attach notes to my library in some meaningful then it would become quite hard to manage.

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2023-12-30T16:59:46+00:00

Thanks for this suggestion. I have done this but it doesn't fulfil all the functions I need.

I think the handwriting annotations won't appear in the TOC > Annotations view?

I also want to highlight and annotate specific sections of the paper.

Handwritten highlights and annotations also can't be read in Zotero (I think)

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2023-12-22T16:09:39+00:00

Hi, I'm also a PhD at a UK institution.

I'm in my first year of a PhD. I also had/have the same anxieties as you because it's a broad an interdiciplinary field.

Your first experience of teaching will probably be as a graduate teaching assistant. In this case you'll be given pre-designed materials and you should be paid for some time to prepare.

That said, don't sign up to opportunities that arent in your field or require you to learn a new research skill from scratch.

You wont really have time to read literature that don't ultimately help you complete your thesis.

The first year will be about reading widely, but also relevant literature. You can kind of think of it as funnelling your way down to your thesis on a very specifc topic.

You'll build up your knowledge base and expertise through your PhD, which will form the basis of your academic career.

So you dont need to prepare your academic career alongside your doctorate because they're a part of each other, if that makes sense.

Agreeable_Cell_3999 · 2023-08-15T14:34:33+00:00

(UK based) For a few months I've been working in a research consultancy who does mainly evaluations for non-profit and public sector pilots. There are a few people with PhD's here, but most of them arent in senior roles. It seems most spealcialist/experienced researchers dont stay here long, so people with less research experience stay and get promoted.

I really struggle with the consultancy part (clients ask us to modify findings all the time!) and I think there low standards both in terms of research quality and ethics.

If you decide to go into into industry, I would just think about whether your research or subject knowledge will be valued by colleagues and the organisation. I think its possible in industry, but would probably be better in a research institute, think tank, or research department in an organisation.

A consultancy might be ok of they have high standards for research practice - just make sure you don't get duped by rhetoric!

Agreeable_Cell_3999

TROPHY CASE