67 example questions to prepare for your PhD viva
A PhD viva is the culmination of all your years of study and training. It is how you are assessed to see if you are ‘worthy’ of the Dr title. But it is also a source for a lot of stress for PhD students. No matter how prepared you can be, you will never predict […]
15 more tips for writing your PhD thesis
So, you’re a PhD student and you have spent at least the last three to four years of your life conducting exciting and novel research into a field that you are passionate about and interested in. But now it is time for the dreaded thesis write up and you have no idea how to start? […]
7 questions you should prepare in advance for your PhD viva
The dreaded PhD viva. But how prepared can you really be? The nature of the exam at the end of your PhD journey that determines whether you are awarded your doctorate or not can be a daunting and overwhelming thought. So, naturally the need for any PhD student is to be as prepared as possible. […]
5 of the best and worst things about thesis writing
The writing up stage of a PhD is both incredibly exciting but also a completely terrifying point of the PhD journey. Some people dread it and some can’t wait to reach that stage. Having recently come out the other end myself and submitted my PhD thesis, I thought I would share some of the best […]
6 things I’ve done instead of writing my PhD thesis
As I crept closer and closer to the day where I would have to wrap up all my experiments in the lab and then embark on the monstrous task of writing up my PhD thesis, I heard more and more stories about the negatives of writing but I quickly learnt that balancing work and play […]
A day in the life of a PhD student. The Final Year Edition.
I have kissed goodbye to those long days in the lab as a PhD student, which at the moment I am SO grateful about! Why? Well, I’m not gunna lie but those last few weeks, months perhaps, were tough! I worked my ass off to finish everything up in time for me to leave the […]
15 tips for nailing your PhD application
With each passing week, I am edging nearer to the end of my PhD journey. I have learnt so much along the way about stem cells, about myself but also about being a PhD student over the past four years almost. So, I thought it would be great to go way back to the beginning […]
A day in the life of a PhD student. The SciComm Edition.
I talk about science ALOT – if you haven’t noticed! And I like sharing insights into what I do in day to day life as a scientist – so I started this ‘A day in the life of a PhD student’ series on my blog. Now – I rant and rave about how different every […]
A day in the life of a PhD student. Chapter 5.
As a PhD student, I often get asked the question ‘So what do you do?’ A simple enough question. A simple enough answer of ‘I research embryonic stem cells and how they use oxygen concentration and glycolysis, a type of metabolism, to stay as stem cells’. But sometimes I then get asked ‘No! I mean […]
A day in the life of a PhD student. Chapter 4.
Hello and welcome to yet another insight into my daily life as a PhD student in a stem cell lab! After a slow January with cells and experiments, February is here and the incubator is overflowing with cells – mainly for my experiments actually so I thought it was time to update you with another […]