How to PhD - your academic survival guide

It’s so important, not only for your PhD, but for life in general to be able to distinguish good research from bad research. Doing so will allow you to ensure you reference and talk about papers of a good quality. We’re going to give you 3 essential tips to help you in being a regular Sherlock Holmes of the good research world!

Pro tip! Don't just read papers like a book! Reading papers is more of an art form than you think. If you know what to look for, you can save yourself a lot of time and focus on just the bits most relevant to you. In this episode, we're going to give you the full rundown of exactly how to do this, as well as some useful tools to make the whole job easier!

COVID has changed conferences for now, but the tips in this episode are still valid! We remember our first conferences were pretty daunting experiences. There's a lot of new terminology you might not of heard before and you might feel overwhelmed at the number of different sessions in a short space of time. Don't worry! This episode has got you covered. We're going to take you through the conference basics: the types of sessions that are worth your time, how to network, how to use social media, how to master your time and the best way you can prepare for the conference experience!

This is the worst case scenario right? The thing no PhD candidate ever wants to think about, but might end up worrying about it every day! This episode is here to put an end to that kind of thinking. We're going to give you the SIX KEY THINGS you need to demonstrate to not fail your PhD... and you'll see that actually, you're almost definitely hitting all the requirements to NOT fail! This episode will give you the reassurance and confidence that you are most certainly on track!

This can be so hard during your PhD. But in this episode, we’ll take you through things you can do to try and organise your life and make time for all the important aspects of your life. We’ll discuss how to prioritise your jobs and roles, how to take your leave and how to work from home- it’s a big one!!

Does this sound like a long long way off? In this week's episode, we're going to be showing you why it's never too early to start thinking about life after the PhD. There are things you can do right now, that are going to really help you and take the stress off when it comes to the final months. We'll also give you a rundown of the practical things you need to know when it comes to searching for and applying for jobs

This can be incredibly daunting- especially if your work is novel and there isn't a whole lot of literature out there. We talk about how you can find your research question using different, 'novel' sources and exactly how you can write your own great research question!

Corrections and rejections from journals can be extremely demotivating and can be a major stressor for many PhD candidates. Don't worry, this week we're going to show you why this shouldn't be the case and exactly how you should go about responding to all of the many types of responses you could get. 

It’s a process that’s we’re still learning something new about every time. But with these tips, we’ll give you five essential and practical tips to submit your paper in its best possible form, to its ideal journal! 

Ethics... you might see a lot of people worry about this, or at least complain about it! But actually the process is really important to the research process. Understanding why we do it and what actually is in an ethics application can be really powerful- and this week we'll give you the complete practical rundown on how you can apply for ethics. By the end of this episode, you'll have no worries understanding and applying for your next ethical approval!