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Some PhD students wait until the very end of their studies to spend three (miserable?) months writing their thesis. Others work in a more gradual way. I spent about 1,5 years on writing (while still finishing up research tasks as well). To have an idea of which method is most common, I ran a poll on Twitter on this topic. You can find the wake of this poll here:

I've mentioned it before, but after defending my PhD, I felt sad and experienced some "withdrawal" symptoms after being very focused on my PhD. The first paper I wrote after defending came together very slowly. I defended in June, still had until September on my PhD contract (but no project defined yet at that point), didn't know if I'd be able to remain working for TU Delft (and fretted about it, a lot), and would only start my new job in November in Ecuador (and could pretty much do any research I wanted there, which was scary as well). I wanted to know if my experience is in line with others, so I ran a poll. You can see the wake of this poll and the results here:

Do you always wonder about the clothes you should pack for a conference? The fact is, in academia, the dress code for conferences is less defines than in some other fields of work. I already wrote a post in the past about my essential conference clothes , but my view is quite limited by my field. To get a better understanding of conference dress codes, I ran a poll on Twitter. You can find the wake of this poll below:

Today, I have invited Dr. Victoria Abboud to share her experience of her PhD Defense. Dr. Abboud has enjoyed a seventeen-year career in post-secondary education, the first eleven of which were spent teaching in the college and university systems in Michigan, Ontario, Alberta, and briefly in Brazil. For five years, Victoria served as an administrator in colleges in Ontario and British Columbia, and she recently became a certified coach who supports graduate students through her organization, The Spirited Academic. In the classroom, in administrative roles, and now as the Manager of Programs in Talent Development at a social innovation hub (Toronto), Victoria has been devoted to thinking through the ways in which group dynamics can be used to innovate and support the overall operational, process, and pedagogical goals of diverse communities of learning. Her current role focuses on building and delivering programming that encourages innovation leadership, social engagement, and collectiv...

I recently received the following question from a reader: Hey! Interesting schedule... But, when do you make time for family & friends, maybe for a romantic relationship? Do you feel that close relationships will be an obstacle to your academic work? I am currently doing my PhD and I heavily rely on a the patience and support of my partner, my family and my friends. But I struggle with making time for working during the weekends or going to the gym more often. Do you think one can have a academic careers or doing their PhD very well and maintain a satisfying social life? My quick reply at that time was: During my PhD I was in a long-distance relationship with my then-partner now-husband. I took all my holidays to travel and go to see him, but during the stretches of separation I usually just focused on work. Most of my social interactions took place in the lab and during work hours. My family was in Belgium, so I would travel once every 2 or 3 weeks to go see them (initially every...

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! Failure is part of life in academia - yet we are terrified to talk about our failures. In today's post, we'll explore the topic of failure in academia, we'll see how some academics are breaking the taboo, and we have a look at what you can do when failure has you bogged down. The reality of failure in academia When we see the curriculum vitae of a fellow academic, we only see all their achievements. We don't see the sweat, heartbreak, and rejection behind all these success...

Today I welcome Dr. Amber Davis as a guest author. Amber is a political scientist and PhD coach, who studied at the London School of Economics and Leiden University, and holds a PhD from the European University Institute in Florence. She teaches stress-management and productivity seminars for PhD students and created the The Stress-Free PhD to help you increase your productivity, re-ignite your inspiration and lower your stress levels. She is currently hosting a giveaway for this program . Check out her blog for more of her writing. What if you could sit down at your computer every morning, click open your documents, and have your work simply flow? Ah, how wonderful would that be? Maybe academic work can’t be quite that effortless, but there are simple things you can do to increase the odds of focus and flow happening. First point to note is that focus doesn’t happen spontaneously. It requires the right conditions. Ironically, academic culture with its insistence on working long (and...

I recently ran three combined polls trying to understand if we are applying for enough funding for our PhD students to actually do their PhD research. I've heard a number of stories about professors relying on unemployment benefits for their PhD students for their last year in almost every case, and I don't agree with such practices. I think we should hire PhD students with enough funding to pay them to do their research work within a reasonable amount of time. What I learned from this poll is that not all students are actually hired on projects. This different funding scheme for the PhD seems to be more common in the humanities. The three elements that I evaluated for this poll were: - How much time it took to finish the PhD - If you finished within the allotted time - If you finished before funding ran out, and if not, how you survived financially after funding ran dry. I learned that the majority of voters needed more than 5 years for their PhD project, a number that is in s...

Today, I have the pleasure of welcoming Iván Carrera as a guest author. Ivan is a professor at the Department of Informatics and Computer Science of Escuela Politécnica Nacional in Quito, Ecuador. His research interests are Performance Evaluation, Distributed Systems and Bioinformatics. Check out his webpage: http://fis.epn.edu.ec/sistemasdistribuidos/ . You can follow him on Twitter. I majored in engineering in Ecuador, my homeland. When I finished, I wanted to do grad-school in Brazil. I had studied Portuguese, and for me it was a dream to have the opportunity to do research. I applied to several universities, got a few yes's and a lot of no's. In engineering they say that you shouldn't worry about communication skills, but it was very difficult for me to write. I had to learn how to write formally. I got accepted in University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, and went to do a Master's in Computer Science. During my Master's I felt that my research wouldn...

Today, Dr. Philip Shields shares his experience of the PhD defense. Dr. Shields is a scholar-practitioner in the field of Executive Leadership. He currently works as a manager for a General Electric Company and as an Adjunct Professor at two universities. His undergraduate degree was in Chemistry and he holds a Master's degree in Management with a focus in Integrated Logistics. His passions include faith, family, flying, friends, and bridging the gap between public and private organizations so that both may benefit through strategic alliances. May 16th is a day that I remember fondly and with pride, but like most highly anticipated events it was not quite what I expected. Three and 1/2 years of preparation and hundreds of hours of research/writing on my topic prepared me for the technical aspect of this day, but the psychological component of the day was a different story. Preparation quieted most of my fear of failure, but the prominent question in my mind that day was "...

Cindy Lee studied linguistics and microbial biology at UC Berkeley, where she researched genetic engineering in sorghum. She then did her PhD at The Ohio State University, where she researched DNA repair in the context of breast cancer, but she would have graduated much sooner if her dissertation focused on cake. Now, she works as a science writer and editor. You can find her Tweeting @geneandtonic and blogging at Genes and Tonic . The ball was in the red zone, and the crowd was chanting, "DE-FENSE! DE-FENSE!" Well, not quite. These are some ways my PhD defense differed from an American football game: There was no whistle for time outs: When I wasn't in the lab, I was supposed to be thinking about my research. If I procrastinated by baking cheesecake or watching sports, then I probably wasn't trying hard enough to be a Real Scientist (hello, imposter syndrome ). If I took a 20-minute nap, then I probably delayed my graduation by 20 years (there's always that fear...

I recently ran a poll on Twitter to see the stress levels of fellow academics. The results are not pretty, with the majority of the respondents reporting stress beyond what is acceptable. Tell me about your stress levels in academia #highered #acwri #phdchat #profchat #ecrchat — Dr Eva Lantsoght (@evalantsoght) March 5, 2018 You can find the wake of this poll here:

Some time ago, I was happy to receive a review copy of Karin Bodewits 's first novel "You Must Be Very Intelligent" with as subtitle "the PhD Delusion". This book is a hybrid between memoir and work of fiction about Bodewits's years as a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. The short summary of the book is as follows: You Must be Very Intelligent is the author’s account of studying for a PhD in a modern, successful university. Part-memoir and part-exposé, this book is highly entertaining and unusually revealing about the dubious morality and desperate behaviour which underpins competition in twenty-first century academia. This witty, warts-and-all account of Bodewits´ years as a PhD student in the august University of Edinburgh is full of success and failure, passion and pathos, insight, farce and warm-hearted disillusionment. She describes a world of collaboration and backstabbing; nefarious financing and wasted genius; cosmopolitan dreamers and ...

I recently ran a poll on Twitter to ask if respondents received their PhD by writing a big book style thesis or by publication, or what they currently are working towards. The result is that the majority is receiving their PhD by writing a dissertation, but a good 25% (or more, if we leave out the votes for "just show me the results") received their PhD by publication (or are working towards getting their degree in this format). You can find the wake of the pol below:

I recently ran a poll on Twitter about the average length of the PhD defense or viva. Even though we all have heard the horror stories of defenses lasting 6 hours or more, the average defense seems to last between 1 and 2 hours. Here are the results: How long did your oral PhD defense / viva last? — Dr Eva Lantsoght (@evalantsoght) January 31, 2018 You can find the wake of this poll here:

I recently received this reader email, which can be interesting for other readers of PhD Talk as well (edited for anonymity): Dear Eva Lantsoght, I earned my Bachelors of Field and M.Sc. in Field Economics from the University of Somewhere and desiring to have my PhD in the same or related field from a university in Netherlands. Can you advise me on how to go about with my application especially on how to find supervisors? Many thank in anticipation for your kind and prompt response. Sincerely, XX Here's my reply: Dear XX, Thank you for reaching out to me through my blog. If you want to apply for a PhD position in the Netherlands, there is no standard procedure through an application website. The hiring process depends on the university and on the full professor you would want to work for. The best way to find a position is to be directly in contact with a possible promotor. I don't recommend that you cold email a possible promotor. I did this, and I was lucky to be invited for ...

Today, I'm hosting Daniel Sherwin with a guest post. Daniel is a single dad raising two children. At DadSolo.com , he aims to provide other single dads with information and resources to help them better equip themselves on the journey that is parenthood. Tell people you’re considering a PhD as a single parent and they’ll look at you like you’re crazy. A PhD is a grueling journey under the best of circumstances; add in a child or two and it looks near impossible. But when there’s something you’re passionate about, not doing it simply isn’t an option. So in true single parent fashion, you buckle down, set your eyes on the prize, and find a way to make it happen. If you’re a single parent considering a PhD, this advice will get you started. Choosing It Your experience in a PhD program depends heavily on where you work. As you search for the right graduate program for you, look for schools with family-friendly benefits . Depending on the institution, you might find: Paid health insuran...

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 me start today with some sobering news. PhD completion rates are low . Too low. There are numerous reasons why candidates leave their PhD programs. Personal problems, financial issues,... the (bad ) stuff of life. Lack of supervision and guidance can be a problem. If we leave out all the external causes for leaving a PhD program, we are left with internal causes. In some cases, a candidate has the analytical skills to do the research, but lacks the soft skills to deliver a dissertati...

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! In graduate school, you typically need to get buy on a small budget. If you are hired as an employee for your PhD, you will be earning a small salary and have social security and other benefits. If you are on a scholarship, your finances may be very tight. In the past, I have shared some quick fixes that I used to save money while I was in graduate school and I discussed the importance of logging and analyzing your budget Today, we are looking at changes you can make to cut your expenses...

Today, I have the pleasure of hosting Dr. Noelle Sterne with a guest post on dissertation writing. Dissertation coach and nurturer, editor, academic and mainstream writing consultant and soother, author, workshop leader, and spiritual counselor, Noelle Sterne, Ph.D. (Columbia University), has published over 400 pieces in print and online venues. Her monthly posts appear in theTextbook and Academic Authors blog Abstract and the literary blog Two Drops of Ink. In her academic consulting practice, Noelle helps doctoral candidates wrestle their dissertations to completion. Based on her practice, her handbook addresses students’ largely overlooked but equally important nonacademic difficulties: Challenges in Writing Your Dissertation: Coping with the Emotional, Interpersonal, and Spiritual Struggles (Rowman & Littlefield Education, 2015). In Trust Your Life: Forgive Yourself and Go After Your Dreams (Unity Books, 2011), with examples from her academic practice, writing, and life, Noelle...