Essential tips for a rock-solid geoscience PhD: Part I

Embarking on a PhD is a big decision. It will consume 3 to 4 years of your life, so why do it? Well, maybe because you want to learn more about the world and wish to challenge yourself? Maybe you want to develop as a person and improve your abilities to understand and solve problems? Or maybe you want to become a better communicator, to be able to engage with a wide audience of both experts and non-experts alike. Doing a PhD should increase your confidence and time management. Plus, if you have a lifelong fascination with something in geoscience then you should be able to tailor a doctorate to suit your particular interests. Your PhD could set your future employment opportunities and influence the rest of your life. There's a lot to consider when choosing a PhD, from the discipline and project to pursue, to the university you study at. Together, we’ve supervised over 100 geoscience PhD students through to graduation. Our advice is not exhaustive, but it comes from decades of personal experiences as PhD supervisors, as well as from published and on-line observations. There is no doubt that doing a PhD can be a stressful process, and thankfully universities are beginning to acknowledge the scale of the problem. So, take your time choosing a PhD—it’s a big decision! Think in advance about your own expectations and those of the supervisor. There are many things to consider, but hopefully some of the advice below will make the experience a more enjoyable one