Starting a Phd - help

Mickolution

Hi,

I finished a Masters around a year ago but have been unable to find work since. I had always intended doing a Phd at some stage and the fact I have been unable to get a job has made the idea of doing it sooner rather than later more attractive.

However, everywhere I look I am getting different information so I was hoping to get some advice. I have a few areas I am interested in and would like to research. At the moment I don't have a specific topic or question. Should I work on getting a topic together myself and then speak to someone, more than likely a lecturer I had for degree/masters or should I go to them with a topic I'd like to explore and work out a question together?

Also, on the topic of funding, should I try to arrange this before contacting the college or should I see if the idea is a goer before looking into funding?

The whole thing is a little daunting at the moment, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Mesoscopic

My experience is in science so hopefully this applies.

Decide what you are interested in.
Find a group that does this.
Do some background on the work they are doing.
Do some background on possible scholarships.

Now: Talk to the professor in that group.
Suck up, impress him with your interest!
See if they have some ideas for projects for you.
If he likes you then you can design a strategy with the professor on how to get some scholarship money.

mr.interested

I'm afraid that you misunderstand a purpose of a PhD. It is about having a passion, almost an obsession, about one, very narrow subject. Once you discover it, you study it, think about what has been done and what not. At the very least you then look for prospective supervisor.

djpbarry

mr.interested wrote: »

I'm afraid that you misunderstand a purpose of a PhD. It is about having a passion, almost an obsession, about one, very narrow subject.

I don't think that's true at all. Very few researchers restrict themselves to just "one very narrow subject" and, as such, I don't think it's necessary for a prospective PhD candidate to be "obsessed" with the subject of the PhD, although an interest in the subject is obviously essential. I'm almost finished my PhD and I certainly wouldn't consider myself to have an obsessive passion for the subject matter! I enjoy what I do, but there are a few other areas I would like to explore. Being narrow-minded or overly-focussed on one very specific research area is unlikely to be very fruitful and will inevitably result in missed opportunities.

mr.interested

djpbarry wrote: »

I don't think that's true at all. Very few researchers restrict themselves to just "one very narrow subject" and, as such, I don't think it's necessary for a prospective PhD candidate to be "obsessed" with the subject of the PhD, although an interest in the subject is obviously essential. I'm almost finished my PhD and I certainly wouldn't consider myself to have an obsessive passion for the subject matter! I enjoy what I do, but there are a few other areas I would like to explore. Being narrow-minded or overly-focussed on one very specific research area is unlikely to be very fruitful and will inevitably result in missed opportunities.

Having an obsession in one subject doesn't stop you from exploring another one. I just cannot imagine going to a PhD programme without having one particular topic. What's the point of doing otherwise? If a supervisor proposes to you a topic which you think you like, you can end up hating it after a year or two of a PhD programme. And if you're not in the topic for years, how do you know you will be enjoying doing a PhD for a three or four long years? If you don't enjoy it, the research 'is unlikely to be very fruitful'. However, this is my personal opinion. (I'm myself going to a PhD programme next year and I'm right now developing a research proposal.)

Mickolution

mr.interested wrote: »

I'm afraid that you misunderstand a purpose of a PhD. It is about having a passion, almost an obsession, about one, very narrow subject. Once you discover it, you study it, think about what has been done and what not. At the very least you then look for prospective supervisor.

Perhaps I came across as a little too pragmatic in the OP. I am confident that within the areas of study I have in mind I would have enough interest to sustain myself for three years.

That being said, I am of course only at the initial planning stage.

Thanks for the replies

petethebrick

Go and talk to one of the lecturers from your Masters course.
If you have a rough of the topic you hope to study then hopefully they will help you put together a research proposal which you will then redraft and redraft a lot until it's strong.
For funding you have two options really - government of ireland grants
www.irchss.ie www.ircset.ie
The deadline for applying for these is past this year. You usually have to submit a proposal by mid january to receive funding for september of that year.
The other option is to apply for internal funding from the university itself. The dates for this vary but have past for this year in most cases. It can help if you have a previous connection to the university you apply to =>> you may be more likely to get funding from the uni you did your masters at.
There are other various individual scholarships, fellowships etc but the two options above are the main ones.
In any case it will probably be sept 2010 when you start a phd so you have lots of time to get a good proposal and give yourself the best chance of funding. Good luck!

djpbarry

mr.interested wrote: »

If a supervisor proposes to you a topic which you think you like, you can end up hating it after a year or two of a PhD programme. And if you're not in the topic for years, how do you know you will be enjoying doing a PhD for a three or four long years?

That is, unfortunately, the risk you take. I've encountered people who have been incredibly enthusiastic when commencing their PhD's, but unfortunately, for various reasons ('friction' with the supervisor(s) is a common one in my experience), the enthusiasm soon wears off and, in some cases, the individual doesn't stay the course. Many people who initially intend to complete a PhD end up settling for a MPhil. No matter how familiar you are with your chosen area of research (or how familiar you think you are!), it's impossible to fully understand what a PhD is like until you actually get down to doing one and, for some people, the reality is quite different from what they had imagined, even if they still retain a passion for the subject of the study.

I'm not trying to scare anyone off here, just pointing out that there's a lot more to completing a PhD than merely having a strong interest in the subject of the study. There are of course ways of minimising the risk, such as talking to other people who have worked in the institution you are interested in working in, talking to others who have worked in the same field or, perhaps most imprtantly, talking to your prospective supervisor's students, past and/or present.