There are many reasons to do a PhD. Trust me, I’ve made a list. But few reasons to discontinue, intermit or leave a PhD (or academia). Beyond why you might leave, you should also consider what you should do on the way out. Hopefully these ideas will help you.
Naturally, when you consider changing jobs you get a little nervous. You begin to ask yourself a range of reasonable, and unreasonable questions. Second guessing your knowledge and expertise. Wondering if are making the right decision to look for alternative work and wondering if the place […]
How many people leave academia after doing a PhD?a. The data says about 50% of PhD graduates will leave immediately after graduation. And, that only 8% (or less) will stay in academia for ten years or more. What do people with PhDs do?a. Academiab. Anything else
The one thing we all have the same amount of is time, and we all value it differently. Some people are happy to spend more time if they save money. For example, they might choose to build their own website, rather than have someone else do it. Even if their web-building knowledge is limited. […]
All of this is pretty straight forward, unless you have an unreasonable person in your life. Someone who expect you to be available when they are. Someone who wants a response within minutes to any email. Someone who expects you to answer the phone. In which case you’ll need to prepare yourself […]
We need better PhD supervisors.1 Yes – students need to take control of their own destiny. Yes – students need to be more aware of their role in the research, and supervisory process. Yes – students should be self-informing about options beyond their PhD. But…
How well do you know your graduating cohort? The other week I was asked to deliver a talk about using social media to help translate research into practice. The invite came from a Monash University alumna, who also happens to be a family member. In the audience were other Monash University […]
Download 1. Problem solving: This should be the number one reason you do a PhD (not to get a job in research, but). You PhD should be all about developing your ability to identify a problem and then subsequently, develop and refine your ability to solve it. Be careful that your PhD does not […]
There are often cries in research “you should have a mentor” but what does that mean, and how do you even get one? IMHO a mentor is someone who has been through some of the things you are going through and can provide advice, guidance, and suggestions on the types of actions and approaches you […]