When the time is ripe? - To all PhD students out there... (Jun/01/2007 )
hi all out there,
at present I´m a PhD student in the end of my first year. Sometimes I have time to think about different things (of scientific and non-scientific nature). And from time to time I asked me the question when the time is ripe to start an additional, independent project. But Its also hard to find a new hot-topic which should be investigated.
Does many PhD students have any additional projects? or does anyone of you want to finish PhD thesis with only one publication?
When the time is ripe???
at present I´m a PhD student in the end of my first year. Sometimes I have time to think about different things (of scientific and non-scientific nature). And from time to time I asked me the question when the time is ripe to start an additional, independent project. But Its also hard to find a new hot-topic which should be investigated.
Does many PhD students have any additional projects? or does anyone of you want to finish PhD thesis with only one publication?
When the time is ripe???
I strongly advice to launch a thesis-independent project for several reasons; side-projects often are more successful than the main project as side-projects are often not so ambitious; sometimes the side-project became the topic of the thesis at the end of your spell if the main goal failed;
time of PhD is not the time to publish many papers; if you have 1 or 2 first-author papers after 3 years in good journals it will be okay;
at present I´m a PhD student in the end of my first year. Sometimes I have time to think about different things (of scientific and non-scientific nature). And from time to time I asked me the question when the time is ripe to start an additional, independent project. But Its also hard to find a new hot-topic which should be investigated.
Does many PhD students have any additional projects? or does anyone of you want to finish PhD thesis with only one publication?
When the time is ripe???
I strongly advice to launch a thesis-independent project for several reasons; side-projects often are more successful than the main project as side-projects are often not so ambitious; sometimes the side-project became the topic of the thesis at the end of your spell if the main goal failed;
time of PhD is not the time to publish many papers; if you have 1 or 2 first-author papers after 3 years in good journals it will be okay;
But I don´t know how to initiate a new project. Shoud a PhD student be so autonomous to find new research topic? Or should this be the supervisors job. How many students create their own projects from planning to realization (sometimes writing of grant applications included)???
This is all part of what it takes to be a successful scientist. Granted, you're a first year, so it's not like you're expected to generate your own giant multi-year project (although some grad students do just that). Start with the literature in your area of study, get a grasp of what some of the unanswered questions are. Also, read your PI's current grant. Find something smallish you think you can start, form a hypothesis or two, start some preliminary experiments, and see where they lead. The Bearer hit it right on the head, side projects can really make your thesis.
I also really encourage you to work on a grant application of your own next year. Trainee grants are generally less demanding and more limited in scope and even if you don't win the grant, going through the application process will be a great learning experience.
Well put, Cassio. During the Ph.D. it can also be interesting to try to improve the experimental methods. Something like this can be done easily (and often has to be done, anyway) but can also lead to a paper in biotechniques...
May be even try something related to but completely different from one's subject. It just takes brain out of monotonous track. Once I am doing well in what I am doing, I want to put my hands also in something different.
this is case with me now, i want to start a project , but don't know what is it!!!
Most PhD-students have several projects. It is up to the supervisor to help you figure them out to varying degrees but the best thing is if you check the PubMed for whats been done and not within your field. The key is read read read...
Your main project should be a foolproof project almost guaranteed to give you results (these projects are not always aiming so high). Your side projects on the other hand could be high-risk projects that arehard to manage but the yield of these projects (if you succeed) is usually high, a little hotter research.
Discuss your new ideas with your supervisor, he or she should know if it has been done, is possible to do in your lab, fits into your thesis etc.
Also, your future employer will look at how many techniques you master, ability to collaborate with other groups and so on...
D