PhD: thoughts and questions

[morsla]

Today I recieved a flyer and application form for the Smart Services CRC PhD scholarships.

The two documents do part of their job well: saying "so, how sure are you that this is a good idea?" In terms of project or PhD information, they aren't so great. The CRC is quite new, broad in focus, and all the project information is much like you can see on the website above: nebulous statements about eleven research areas. All of them sound fascinating, but there's precious little information on exactly what is being done, and which locations (VIC, NSW, QLD) are doing each part.

Given the nature of the research, it seems only fair to look for some other ideas and perspectives via this journal... I'm particularly interested in hearing from those of you who are doing, have done, or have lived with people doing PhDs, but any and all feedback is welcomed.

Edit: to clarify, I have had a chat with two potential supervisors already. I'm mainly trying to work out exactly what it is that I want to do, and whether a PhD is the best way of doing it.

What do I want to do?
Narrowing things down from "everything at once," I'm looking a buying and selling online - from a small business perspective. I want to look at how businesses are using the internet to interact with customers and suppliers, and how their customers are using it to find and purchase things. I'm particularly interested in how niche-market operators can access national or international markets, to create businesses that could not sustainably exist on a local level.

Application criteria

Qualifications:
Lets look at my doubts first. I don't have an H1 honours degree - I missed out by one mark. That's the first criteria in the application form. Also, my honours degree isn't directly related to the PhD.

On the plus side, I have a broad background that should help in a multidisciplinary area of study. I have a BSc (Chemistry and Geology, Geochemistry honours), and a Grad Dip in Professional Communications. I also have an unfinished BA, including a full major in History and Philosophy of Science, and a scattering of Media and Communication subjects. I'm good at observing what people do, and fiinding out how and why they do it. I'm comfortable working in highly technical environments and translating jargon and concepts into plain english.

I run a small online business, and know many others in the first few years of establishing their own. The promotion of niche-market small businesses, the use of online banking and other payment methods, and the use of forums and other community tools are all vital to what I do.

Demonstrating knowledge of the current academic literature:
Another stumbling block at present. Beyond reading FirstMonday I haven't really followed the literature so far - the last few years have been entirely focused on actively working on the business from a practical perspective. If anyone can recommend some reading material I'd love to hear it - leave a comment here, or send bookmarks to my delicious.com account.

As aeliel will testify, I have a brain like a sponge, and a tendency to obsessively consume new areas of interest. I can do a lot of reading between now and next year, but I'm unlikely to read as widely as I would like before the application is due.


I'll add more to this post later (must get back to work!) but I'd love to have people question my sanity and point out obvious stumbling blocks I should be aware of... the more questions I have to ask myself, the more likely I am to work out whether this is a good idea or not.

Comments

[virtual-munkee.livejournal.com]

OH wow!!! As someone who is about to SUBMIT THEIR THESIS after 4.5 years, all I can say is...BE SURE U HAVE THE STRENGTH OF MIND TO DO IT. When I finished honours I swore I would never go back for more, but when the opportunity presented itself, I jumped at it. I am lucky, when I applied they desperately wanted PhD students, so I got a scholarship no probs, even with my 79 out of 100 (same as you!! cool :D). The first year was lame, i did NOTHING and I so should have worked harder. My project did change focus, but no excuses. The hardest thing is staying focused, but I dont think that would be a problem for you. I revelled in the study hours, the ideas, the thrill of conferences and doing research. I think you would love it. The last two years have been a hard slog, it always takes you TWICE AS LONG to get everything done as you plan.

My advice is, make sure its a well defined topic, make sure you split it up into components and complete each one within a deadline, and make sure your supervisors back you up on it. Without deadlines and planning u wont ever get it done, and I imagine it would be harder with a non sciencey thing, where u have lab results and experiments and the like to plan.

I will look over the CRC plan, its also worth meeting the people u would be working with/for...Some CRCs are great, others arent so functional! But they are super good to be involved in.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

I've really liked working with CRCs through uni and CSIRO - they do a good job of mixing up industry and academic people. I like the look of Smart Services so far, as it covers a huge range of areas too. I guess I'm looking for an interdisciplinary area of study, where I can tap into all the different things that I'm interested in.

I also swore I wouldn't go back after Honours, though that was more a case of being burned out on a project that had stopped being interesting months before the thesis was written... I really didn't enjoy being stuck inside looking at numbers all the time, when everyone else got to do fieldwork :) My fault for choosing that particular project, though.

Good luck on the final stretch, too... how much have you got left to do now?

[virtual-munkee.livejournal.com]

submitting next week! woo!!

interdisciplinary is good, tho its hard work. my project is all about using diff ideas from key themes, and it can be really frustrating sometimes when u are stuck out there slogging out new techniques and ideas, and other people cant help ya. i hope it works for you, it did for me eventually but just gotta keep it in ur mind, u are working hard for yourself as well as for any DR title in front of ur name.

As our post grad coordinator has always said, its 10% brains and 90% hardwork ;)

go for it!! :D u can always quit in the first year and not have to pay anything back :D

[lena-supercat.livejournal.com]

I've also just put in an application for a PhD scholarship a couple of weeks ago.

Have you been in contact with a potential supervisor who is interested in this topic? That would be a good way to increase your knowledge of academic literature, as well as a way to check whether this is a good idea or not. Having a potential supervisor lined up already would also help a lot with getting a PhD scholarship.

It sounds like a good idea to me, as long as this is something that would definitely keep your interest for 3 years or more. There's also always scope to expand your topic or change your main focus if some interesting side-issue comes up. Also, if you miss out on a scholarship offer this time around, you can always reapply next semester, or apply for a Masters and try to convert it to a PhD after a year. If you're uncertain about it, applying for a Masters first might be a better option.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Yes - I've spoken with two potential supervisors about the RMIT part of the CRC, and about the beginnings of a project. I haven't asked them about a reading list yet, though it's certainly on my list of things to do once I finish the current layout project deadline.

I think the project definitely has the potential to keep me interested for the whole duration, as it's an evolving area that incorporates many different hobbies and interests. Room to explore side-issues is also important, in case the project environment changes (or I change...) over the next few years.

[virtual-munkee.livejournal.com]

you never ever end up working on teh same project which u started with!!! well, a good phd should be that way anyways :D i would recommend NOT doing the phd unless you have full scholarship support. it really does help you out!

[lena-supercat.livejournal.com]

Definitely sounds like a good idea in that case. Good luck!

[sols-light.livejournal.com]

Advice Mum has been giving me at the moment as a result of getting all the work done to start her second PhD and having it thrown out by one of the ruling academics in a multidisciplinary field combining Medicine, Law and 2D and 3D computer modelling is probably the sort of thing you're looking for. Do your work now, compose at least part of a lit review and they'll be blown off the table if you use it as part of your submission as it will show them what you can do and how much you're prepared to put in. Be aware of your limitations, though. I know how hard you can push yourself and this could very well end up as Honours-cubed.

Given that it's an interdisciplinary field and you're clearly an interdisciplinary person, I think they'll be trying to snap you up. Also, those scholarship deals are guidelines, if they really want you, they'll be able to find $20k of funding from the department by juggling things around and frankly, I can't think of any industry you're interested in that wouldn't want you to do research for them.

Having lived with PhD supervisors for many years, the key criteria has to be you convincing them you can come up with something interesting enough and well-written enough for them to gain something from. It's a business relationship, really, you produce some original work for them, they give you the piece of paper that says you can produce original work. Other things to consider would be where the PhD goes after you finish. If you're going to end up in the department or able to consult in a wide range of fields, because you're looking at processes rather than specific areas, you should be fine. If you end up doing something too specific, you can potentially write yourself out of another career path because you end up overqualified for anything else you try and do. Being able to say to your supervisor "What are my chances of being able to do blah after I finish?" or "Where can I take this?" or better yet, if you can get them to give your advice on between 2-4 options will force them to engage more with you and also give you far more useful answers. They will know what they're trying to shape you into and how they project the field will develop. Obvious concerns are corporate/academic/government divides and which forms of analysis or parts of your project are likely to be of the most ongoing use.

Other than that, I wish you the best of luck going for it, especially since I'm also going through the "So what do I do with myself now?" phase and hoping that an Admin Job assisting with editing of scientific and other correspondence and development of departmental efficiency at the Molecular Genetics of Cancer dept at WEHI is going to want me enough.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

Thanks - all good things to think about.

Working out where to go after the PhD is an important one. It also has its own section on the application form... It's a tricky one to answer though. I think I'd be happiest continuing on in research, though I'm not picky about whether that involved corporate or academic work.

I think I learned a lot from Honours - mainly about which work patterns don't work out, and how to get pigeonholed into a niche area. If nothing else, my honours year can at least serve as an object lesson in how not to do things in future :)

I'm specifically looking to learn broad research skills, and to make contacts and connections with a range of different groups. Connections to other research groups helps while working on the PhD, and building up contacts should help in finding work on the other side.

[jod999.livejournal.com]

[Carefully taking off my "I work there" hat]

PhDs scare me.
Sophie has been doing her PhD for five years. For one of those years, she has been completely stuck.
You know enough about miss_rynn's PhD to understand why they scare me.
Think about how you would handle situations like that. You have aeliel for support.

In terms of scope, try this. Chunk it down into tiny bits. Work out how long you think it will take your first bit. If it takes longer than you expect, reduce the scope of the rest. Rinse and repeat.

As for the application, if you don't put it in, you have no chance. If you do put it in, you have a pretty good chance.

[morsla.livejournal.com]

I have a healthy respect for PhDs, as I've seen many people run into problems with them.

I like the modular-thesis approach, as it seems to be helping a few friends get their work finished: break it up into tiny bits, write them up as you go, and look for opportunities to publish sections along the way. Anything is better than sitting down to write a thesis start to finish in the final year...

I found out on Wednesday that the applications are due next Monday, so I'll be working on mine over the weekend. Unfortunately everyone I've tried contacting at Deakin and RMIT is away on conferences this week, so I'll be chasing up references on Monday morning.