The PhDiaries is a survival guide that documents the highs and lows and successes and failures from the start to end of an Oxford PhD. Come and watch relatable misadventures and hear dubious advice as I navigate my way from hapless first-year to hapless post-PhD scientist out in the real world with a title and a novel.
I am Dr Lucy Kissick, I have a DPhil (PhD) in Martian geology from the University of Oxford, and I now live near the English Lake District as a nuclear research scientist. I am the author of the sci-fi Plutoshine (Gollancz, 2022), and in my spare time I am an avid wild swimmer, sea glass collector, and enthusiast of the Oxford comma.
Thank you for making me feel better. I feel the same way you do. It's nice to 'grow with your paper' along with the difficulties and emotions of doing a PhD. Thank you for making me feel that these are normal emotions.
Just defended last week and I cannot tell you how many times that I came to this video when I really didn't have any motivation to keep going. Thank you for sharing this!
Oh, my god. I LOVE YOU!!!!! I've been using auto caption numbering for tables and figures and extras for a long time, but I didn't know about cross referencing them to make the references automatically renumber if the articles were renumbered. Thank you thank you thank you!
That helped thanks! I mean you're right, I have an option yet I'm still pulled to continue for some reason and not to quit so I must still care , I must have some desire, I must continue the tough journey even with what seems like little to no motivation and hope that motivation will find me!
Oof! That was a ride. So... I came here from AO3... I know. Weird, right? I read a fanfiction like, 20 years ago that greatly impacted me and I thought of going back to check on it, and realiced there was an update! the author had published an original novel! Woah! Definetly gonna check that out. I looked her name up and ended up here. Man it's cool not only to put a face to her all these years later but also to find out what she's been up to... If you guys like reading do go buy her book. Judging for the fanfic she wrote she is not only an ass kicking scientist, but a hell of a writer.
So truthful. For 10 years I lived like a pauper changing countries and moving around until the permanent job came, and I was very lucky to get one. If I were 20 again there is no way that I would choose a career in academia.
This is easily one of the best PhD videos I've seen. Well done and congratulations on finishing the journey! I'm looking forward to going back and watching your previous videos now. Thank you for putting all of this out into the world.
I'm doing PhD since 2012 January. My supervisors kept leaving the university and I had no one to submit the thesis at the end. I had four supervisors in 4 years full time, and 3 years part time while seeking and working jobs etc. Lived almost a year without a single cent income. Here I am, started a totally new PhD in Jan 2022. Then my main supervisor was medically not fit, so restarted a new topic in August 2022. What I can say is, there are techniques to keep going. It's not a magic or something. When I write down, (when I have no one to hear my story, and sometimes when it is hard for the other person to digest, I write them down on an iPad), I feel so relaxed and new pathway comes out of nowhere. I started playing cricket and small achievements keep me going forward. When I write, I just flush everything in my mind. And in it, most of the times, I write why my research is this much valuable. Overall, if I am given opportunity to relive in 2012, and presented a PhD opportunity, I will consider (1) who has graduated (1st supervisor - zero graduates after nine years, (2) am I doing something I am interested (supervisors change topics later on forcefully or without your consent -- but their main area of research if any won't change -- this is the trick), (3) keep personal life separate from PhD as much as possible, (4) if not given holidays, get even leave of absence or any sort of a leave because no human can work 365 days per year (I was not given a single holiday for 2 years or so). I can say I lived in Hitler's jail in 2012-2018. Unfortunately, when the country is rich and controlled by a family, and controllability is the key, and no democracy, no rights for humans but nothing comes out (not Sri Lanka, some other country), there's nothing much you can do against bureaucracy. So, choose the country and supervisor and topic so wisely. Look at other people. They are as smart as you are, so whatever happens to them, can happen to you. So, do a proper background research on the supervisor, university, topic, country etc. Don't jump into a PhD. Tenured vs non-tenured is a difficult scenario.
Hi, Dr Lucy. A quick beg for (very) occasional updates post-PhDiaries - specifically, how are your experiences doing a PhD still impacting your professional methods as both a scientist and an author as you get further away from the conclusion of your PhD?
I must have watched this video 100 times during my MS in Bioinformatics. It not only helped me understand imposter syndrome but also helped me acquire my degree! Thank you so much for posting such an amazingly motivating video!
Just finished my neurobiology PhD after 2 previous master degrees… I’m quitting academia… nervous (still unemployed) but I’m feeling good. Academia is poison, I just lament that it took me so long time to realize the truth it’s a toxic pyramid scheme. My prediction is that academia has its days counted.
