Postgraduate Toolbox

Items tagged with "PhD"

Articles

Undertaking a PhD

What is a PhD? A PhD is a postgraduate course in which you focus on a specific research question within your chosen field. On completion of the course you will normally become a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD). Subjects are not, as it may seem, restricted to Philosophy and cover the whole spectrum of disciplines. How long does a PhD last for? A PhD course (in the UK) normally has a minimum time of 2 years, but most will carry on for 3 or more depending on the individual and the research project. What does a PhD entail? A PhD course is a significant undertaking as it involves a great deal of self discipline, motivation, determination and organisation. Your main aim throughout your time is to tackle a specific research area of your choice, planning, carrying out, interpreting, analysing and writing up your findings. You will most likely be working in a new area of your field in ord... read more

Blog Posts

The PhD - Well worth the effort!

According to research presented at the Vitae researcher development conference last week the effort invested in getting a PhD is well worth it when it comes to career prospects. Research carried out by RCUK found that PhD graduates were highly employable, as indicated by the fact that less than 2 percent of those with a PhD were unemployed 3 years after graduation. More than half of these PhD graduates have left academia by this time, backing up the findings published last year which I have blogged about here before. However, 94 per cent of those question say they do use their research skills in their work and about 40 per cent say they carry out research “most of the time”. 92 per cent stated that their research skills helped them to be “innovative” in the workplace. These finding indicates that although PhD graduates enter the commercial or public sectors, they still enter i... read more