PhD Pandemonium! 🐘😷

Wow it's been far too long since I've written - good thing I don't have a massive following eh? Been a bit crazy busy... because I've finally started my PhD! Thought anyone who was thinking of starting a PhD might like to hear my story of how I made it to this point (and see some random pretty pictures at the same time). It's been a great journey to this point, and hopefully the only way is up!

"WHY?" is always the first thing people will ask you when it comes to further education. Why do you want to study that? Why do you want to continue at university? Why aren't you getting a real job? In some ways it can get you down, especially if you aren't entirely sure of the answer. When looking at project adverts, I knew I wanted to continue in research and that I wanted my project to be applicable to conservation. I really enjoyed my Masters (or most of it!), but I did used to struggle when people asked me why we needed to know what these birds were saying to each other - does it really matter? No it doesn't. It was very interesting, it taught me a lot about research methods, and yes there are some important links to understand how human language has involved, but no there isn't necessarily a whole lot of life changing application of that research. I wanted to do a PhD so I could increase my skills and enter into a research career, and I wanted my PhD to be something I could stand up and say "THIS is why we need to answer this question".

Top tip #1: Know why you want to do a PhD, and don't let it just be because you don't know what else to do after uni.

I'd been keeping an eye on sites like FindAPhD.com (great place to start if you're considering a PhD - there's also an equivalent one for Masters projects), looking for any projects that were being advertised by supervisors, but I just couldn't find anything that inspired me. My true passion, as you may have noticed from previous posts, is African wildlife. Specifically, lions and elephants. So what did I do? I set myself a whole other challenge, and started thinking through my own project ideas. (My apologies for not sharing them here - I still think they're good and hope to do them some day!) I'd had a couple of ideas already while last on fieldwork, so I started from there, thinking where the knowledge gaps were, what I truly want to find out more about and would be willing to dedicate 4 years of my life to, and identifying conservation issues that I could potentially produce new data to help with. I looked up potential supervisors, and spent many many hours drafting letters to them, outlining my ideas and why I would like to work with them. 

Top tip #2: If you have ideas, don't be afraid to try and get them heard. Do your research, work out what your ideal project would be, and why not try for it? Ask for help with writing your letters because they're VERY important to get right. Just make sure that the supervisor is definitely someone you can work closely with for a long time.

So what happened? Very simple. "Sounds like a great idea, you sound like a great candidate, but I'm sorry I can't take on another student just now." Over and over again. And that was if I even got a response. And that leads me to my third tip:

Top tip #3: Don't get downhearted by the word "no". Worst I had was 3 separate no's in one day, and that really did hurt, but I went to volleyball training and slammed a ball very hard into the wall a few times then moved on. PhDs are tough, competitive, and require a lot of effort, time and resources on the behalf of the supervisor, so even if you have the best project idea ever, they may still not be able to take you on. Don't lose hope, keep trying if you can.

In doing all that, while simultaneously trying to work on my Masters, I actually found myself setting my heart on my own ideas and I got bad about keeping an eye out for advertised projects. Maybe that's how I missed an ideal project being advertised that was already listed for competition funding from NERC, complete with supervisors and doctoral training programme. Thankfully, a friend on my Masters course knew about my elephant obsession and spotted it for me in time! Around the same time, once I did start checking the site again when that one came up, some others started appearing that I found inspiring, and it was time to start writing application letters again. These in some ways, these were easier than proposing my own project because I didn't need to explain my ideas and could focus more on my own skills and my ideas for the advertised project. They were also harder because even a very cool advertised project is not quite as perfect for me as one I invent myself.

Top tip #4: Keep checking FindAPhD and other websites, because new projects appear all the time. When you find one, work out exactly what you can bring to it and make sure it is something that you find absolutely fascinating - you can't feel "meh" about it, because it's going to become your entire life for the next 4 years if you get it!

Top tip #5: Get as many people to read your application letters as possible. You have one page to convince the supervisor that you are the best candidate for the job, because remember, no matter what people say, a PhD most definitely IS a real job!

In the end I was very lucky and only had to send 3 applications for competition funded projects (in no small part due to the help I received from the many people who did agree to read my application letters). But that doesn't mean it was easy. Of those 3, I had to retract one before the supervisor ever received my application because I was applying to 2 from the same funding body, and they would only allow application at a time.

Top tip #6: READ THE SMALL PRINT! I spent 2 days doing a rush application for a project on pangolins that sounded really great but I'd seen very last minute, only to have to immediately retract it again. Whole lot of stress and time wasted that I really didn't need to waste at that moment!

So that left me with 2 projects. Only I can make a Christmas holiday so stressful - I received an email asking me to go to Kenya as a helper on a University field course, which of course I REALLY wanted to do, but knew that the timing would clash with the PhD interviews for the elephant project. I spent the whole holiday dithering back and forth over whether or not I should agree to go, including trying to phone the PhD supervisor to ask whether I was likely to get an interview. Quite glad I didn't get through to him because I was so nervous I think I'd have actually made a total fool of myself. The interviews were all by Skype anyway, so being in Kenya shouldn't have been a problem, but I knew I wouldn't have the preparation time I needed if I was out driving in the park or looking after students who hadn't been cautious enough about the drinking water... In the end I decided to turn down Kenya and keep everything crossed that it wouldn't be for nothing. Even now I sometimes still wish I'd gone, but I got the PhD (spoiler alert!) so am glad I didn't.

Top tip #7: Don't spread yourself too thin or risk missing something important. If you think there's a chance, don't risk it! A PhD comes with very tough competition, so give yourself all the chances you can get.

So that brings us to the PhD interviews, which are a whole other blog post in themselves, if they weren't also fairly tedious to write/read about. Nothing I can tell you that a basic Google search won't anyway! Long story short, I got the position on the elephant project, and from there I got a second interview for the funding. For those of you who are confused - competition funding means that the supervisor proposes a project, obtains approval from the funding body, then gets a student, and the funding body picks which of the projects they've approved they will now actually fund. That should be the end of the story: I applied, I got selected, I went through a second interview for the funding, and got that too... and then there was a global pandemic.

Top tip #8: Don't eat a bat and introduce a new disease to the whole planet...

My interviews were in February 2020, I heard the results in early March, and 2 weeks later we went into lockdown. I moved back in with my parents for a few weeks, and here I am in September 2021 still living with them! I was supposed to start the project in September 2020, but I had a lot of discussions with my supervisor and we decided to postpone the project until July 2021 when I would be more likely to get to go on fieldwork in the first year. I joined the rest of the new starters at conferences, inductions and programme trainings, but didn't actually start my project until July. Still haven't made it to the university, but I have finally started.