What a PhD is Like

I've long maintained a webpage [1] that details what a #PhD is really like on a day to day basis in #robotics or related fields and in the Australian PhD system, but a lot of potential students we interact with like to hear us talk it through verbally.

So today, taking advantage of both the #WFH mandate and the much-delayed landfall of #CycloneAlfred, I shot a #HackingAcademia video in my garden. Or at least starting in my garden, then transitioning undercover when it started raining!

This informal video (the first 15 minutes is in this post, for full video go to YouTube) lays out:

💠 the milestones and timeline
💠 forming your research question and subquestions
💠 submitting and publishing academic research conference or journal papers
💠 working with supervisors, meeting regularly, and having more than one for redundancy and extra support and perspectives
💠 getting involved in the culture and activities of the research group and larger institution you're within
💠 opportunities for conference and internship travel
💠 leveraging existing skillsets and experience where possible, given the relatively short nature of an Australian PhD
💠 the paradox that for many a PhD is simultaneously the largest project they've yet taken on, but also much narrower, and more focused, then they initially envisaged  
💠 dealing with setbacks and support for Plan Bs especially from your supervisory team
💠 the "bursty" nature of a PhD, especially around publication deadlines

...and many other key aspects of the PhD process - focusing mainly on the process after you've commenced (other videos cover the application stage: see https://michaelmilford.com/hacking-academia-tutorial-series/).

Again, this is specific to the Australian context - most notably the relatively short duration compared to the United States for example - and to topic areas like robotics and related fields. It will also of course still vary from lab to lab.

💻 YouTube: https://youtu.be/S3T7oqUCqiQ

[1] https://michaelmilford.com/what-a-phd-in-robotics-is-like/

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