PhD

Why PhD?

Professor David C S White, Director Science & Technology,
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

One option facing you when you finish your first degree is to undertake a further degree. Why do this rather than start earning a proper salary and setting your career on course directly?

What is a PhD?

There are two levels of further degree in the UK which you take after obtaining your first, or bachelor's degree (BA, BSc etc.):

1. Masters of Arts or Science or Research, which normally lasts one year. Masters courses generally provide training in something specific, to put gloss on your first degree in a particular area, and make you suitably trained for a particular career.
2. Doctorates of Philosophy (PhD or DPhil depending on which University you attend) which generally last three to four years. Doctoral degrees are mainly about undertaking a significant piece of scholarship, advancing the subject area in your chosen field. Particularly if you undertake research in science or engineering, you will also receive training in a range of skills for which your undergraduate degree did not train you well. At the end of your time as a research student you will write a thesis, and be examined on this.

The good things about a PhD are:

• Obtaining a PhD will feel, and be, a major challenge and achievement. You will get recognition of your ability to work independently and produce a major piece of work for the rest of your life by being able to add PhD after your name, and being addressed as "Dr". You will be expected to publish the results of your work (i.e. your thesis) either in papers in journals, or as a book, and part of the sense of achievement will be these tangible outputs. You will have an extra spring in your step, and have raised your confidence.
• You will have increased your chances in the jobs market. For some jobs a doctorate is a requirement, for others a distinct benefit, and this benefit is lifelong.

Jobs where a doctorate is a requirement include academic jobs in Universities (becoming a lecturer and progressing upwards from there), and research jobs in some companies. In particular, if you wish to make a career as a research leader, then obtaining a PhD is essential, and you obviously make life easier for yourself if you have done your doctoral research.

The less good things about a PhD are:

• Student stipends appear less good financially than what you might expect to earn in a job. The amount you get will vary from about £8000 per year to about £15000, although there are relatively few studentships at the top end. However, this money is tax free, and thus corresponds to a salary of perhaps £13000. Further, you may be able to earn £2000 or so more by undertaking some teaching which will broaden your horizons as well as getting in some extra cash.
• You spend three years more before starting your major career.
• Research has frequent spells where progress is slow. You need to be prepared to work pretty hard obtaining results between the "eureka" moments, which are usually few and far between.

How to go about getting a PhD.

You obtain a PhD from a University. You need two things: a supervisor and a means of support. However, first, you need to decide the subject area in which you wish to undertake research, and you should have a pretty good idea about this already, at least in a general sense.

How to find a supervisor. This is a person under whom you will carry out your research, who will guide you through the pitfalls, and advise you on the best way to make progress. There are many ways of finding this person - by asking from advice from your own University, your tutor or mentor, by looking at the web pages of departments where you think research relevant to your interests is being carried out, by reading papers in your area of interest and seeing who has published the papers that most excite you in your area. It pays to use many different methods, and to be prepared to be imaginative in your search.

Your supervisor is a crucial person in your life as a research student, and you need to ensure that you have the best person you can find. Be ambitious, and find the person who is leading the field. Keep asking. Arrange to go and see potential supervisors - they will be keen to meet you because it is important to them that they find good research students, and they will invest time in finding you also. When you go and see a potential supervisor, do your homework first. Find out what their interests are (from the web, from their publications, from their friends if you know them). When they have to choose between you and another person, they will be more inclined to choose the person who has shown interest in them and their field and taken the initiative.

How to get financial support. Most people are supported during their PhD on a Research Studentship. Most studentships are the gift of University Departments or individual supervisors, though some companies have studentships. There are many sources, and most are advertised in the journals Nature or New Scientist and on the web pages of relevant universities or companies. However, your potential supervisor will be the best person to advise _