A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market - Dr Tom Calvard
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A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market Thomas Calvard September 2011
Transcript of A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market - Dr Tom Calvard
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A PhD and Beyond: Thesis,VIVA, and job market
Thomas Calvard
September 2011
8/4/2019 A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market - Dr Tom Calvard
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Thesis (Wilson, A. (1980). Group sessions for postgraduate
students. British Journal of Guidance and Counselling, 8, 237-241).
• 1) remember your supervisor is abusy person; if they’re not, changeyour supervisor
• 2) Always have a couple of areas youcan work on at any time
• 3) Keep writing structures
• 4) Criticise, evaluate, analyse; don’t just describe
• 5) Don’t be afraid to be imaginative
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The main events Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 All/througho
utLit review Project
managementWriting up Teach/researc
h/consult/media
Community Conferences,projectedpublicationplans
Job search Open mind –be a ‘yes’person
Supervisor(s) Training –
strengths andweaknesses
Breathing
space,adjustments
Training
events,professionalmemberships
Scoping Identifying
niche, stories
VIVA, planning
finish
Citizenship
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General Thesis Advice• Large data sets and small data sets• Getting in a good team• Stretching yourself the right amount• Read widely, write, give/receive feedback,
enthusiasm• Be interdisciplinary?• Choose mentors and relationships that
work for you• Top down versus bottom up; find what
works best for this project and for you• Make some assertive decisions; e.g.
Qualitative/stats/personality and stick bythem; helps focus time and identity
•
Take some positives and negatives awayfrom ever ex erience – ri e.
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Beware!
•
Two-faced freedom! No dividing lines• Financial/intellectual/rules insecurities
• Negative experiences, isolation
• Time drag
• Self-sabotaging : – procrastination
– perfectionism
– over committing
• Don’t cut yourself off
8/4/2019 A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market - Dr Tom Calvard
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VIVA – Questions generallyasked
• Your story? General motivations,positions
• Contribution, publications, dissemination
• Theories, frameworks• Literature review
• Generalizability, key ‘messages’
•Regrets? Improvements?
• Be able to walk through chapters,studies
• ‘Nobody knows it better than you’ –examiners won’t have time to read
8/4/2019 A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market - Dr Tom Calvard
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VIVA - Advice
• Choose/negotiate external examinercarefully!
• Practice oral work skills until comfortable• See it positively as opportunity to share work• Make sure your whole thesis has been read
through at least twice, by at least twopeople, if possible
• Look back at other presentations of your
work• Don’t panic – it’s like a driving test –
majors/minors. If you’ve acted on feedbackalready, chances are you haven’t crashedthe car!
• I had 3 minors – they took me about 10 days
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VIVA –Do’s and Don’tsDO DON’T
Be thoughtful and reflective,honest, direct, concise/specific Be dogmatic, defensive, rude, long-winded
Do some ‘homework’ on examinersand their research
Try to please examiners byreferencing them or flattering themin a contrived way
Discussing/choosing examiners Make demandsBe prepared, but not over-prepared Be too laid back or blasé
Be confident, but not over-confidentBe apologetic
Talk about ‘the work’ objectively forthe most part, giving some morepersonal input where appropriate
Give one-word answers
Get too personal or subjective
J b M k ! O i
8/4/2019 A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market - Dr Tom Calvard
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Job Market! – Options, post-PhD
•
Research assistant (varies dependingon project)
• Research/teaching fellow
•
Post-doctoral funding• Own funding (very difficult?)
• Consulting
• Lectureship/tenure?
8/4/2019 A PhD and Beyond: Thesis, VIVA, and job market - Dr Tom Calvard
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Job Market – things to thinkabout
• Departmental fit
• Topic/research fit
• Location? Sector?
• CV strengths and weaknesses (teaching,publications, affiliations)
• Funding, long-term impacts of work
•
Jobs.ac.uk• Contacts – old and new
• 3 referees, polished CV, covering letters
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Thanks!
www.ed.ac.uk/iad/doctoral
ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR
Team/group effectiveness
Diversity managementEmpathy/perspective-taking
Boundary spanning
Work-life balance
Training evaluation
Armed Forces
