Finding a PhD

Most universities have PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) in various fields. You will need to contact a right department, lecturer (group leader) who has PhD topics. Most research groups have PhDs. So where should you start?

Email friends and relatives, talk to people who are already doing research. Ask them for recommending a topic or university.

Funding a PhD

Quite a number of PhDs are funded by Associations, Research groups, Universities or even your company. These are called Scholarships/Bursaries. An average PhD overseas student tuition fee is £10,000 – £16,000 per year. It will typically take 3 years to complete the research and 1 year to finish the thesis (writeup), making it about 4 years in total.

So What is a PhD?

Some folks at Imperial College London told me it was “Permanent Head Damage”. I prefer the one at Wikipedia “Doctor of Philosophy”. So what about the Doctors in NHS? Well, specifically they are MDs(Medical Doctors).

There are very many ways to look at a PhD. Some feel they are B****es of departments who are not bothered to do the research themselves but have loads of money with nowhere to spend. Great. Lets get a PhD to do the work.

Okay. My version is its a training of learning to think independently and critically. “YES” man gets shot. In PhD, we say more of a “Lets see what happens”, … “OOooo. isn’t there a better way to do this?”,….”This is interesting… What else can I do with this.”… and finally.. “Noooo.. I think its rubbish”

PhD is a pathway to help build up initiative and confidence in problem identification, analysis, critical views, and solving the problem with validation (experiments). Defining problems is a skill we attain as one follows the PhD pathway of light. “The looking beyond the obvious”. (I think thats why lots of PhDs like visiting abstract art galleries.).. Either look good, look sophisticated or Look Beyond ..

What Next?

During Phd, you will be embarked on a journey to finding the GAP in society of knowledge. The gap which you can safely wriggle in and expand. “This is the problem identification stage.” and this is when you READ, READ, READ, LEARN, READ, then criticise and prove they are wrong(or right).

After a while you will be the pinnacle of your field. The grand plan of this is then you would have published alot in your field and here comes the “money shot”. Grand Idea, written into a proposal and funding from Research Societies. You get the first paycheck to fund a team to carry on your own dream. Dream that will change the field, society or even the world. “Is it all FAME and Glory?”

Lets be noble about this. Your research will be carried on and it will improve our environment and knowledge about the world even in greater depth.

HURRAH

So do you want a PhD. Well there is the other perk. You get upgraded from Mr /Ms / Mdm to a DR. (how cool is that).

So good luck to your hunting and perhaps a READER title or PROF title will be next.