I have gotten many queries about the PhD programs. Therefore, I decided to write this blog to help many undergrad and postgrad students, who are considering a PhD among their career choices.
PhD is an advance postgraduate research degree. One can enrol in a PhD after having a first degree in the allied subject. It takes 3-6 years to earn a typical PhD degree in full-time mode. The duration of a PhD degree heavily relies on the location of the university, admission criterion, mode of study and field of research.
There are a few questions related to a PhD program, which I had considered before applying to a PhD program. If you have more queries, then please add it in the comment, I shall be happy to answer those as well.
1. What is an Industrial PhD, and how is it different from a conventional PhD?
An industrial PhD is a part-time or full-time postgraduate research program in which an employee/ student works on a given industrial project for 3-5 years. Typically, the research projects are very challenging and rigorous, and it has immediate application in industry as well. In industrial PhD, a student has at least two affiliations, i.e. student status from a university and an employee status from an industry. However, in the conventional PhD, a student requires affiliation with a University only.
2. Should I choose an industrial PhD over conventional PhD?
It is a personal choice. You must understand the pros and cons of both kinds of PhD before making a choice.
3. What expertise will be required to undertake a PhD program?
It heavily depends on the area of research in which you want to pursue a PhD. Across the areas, a strong commitment, discipline, enthusiasm and love towards the chosen field of research is desirable.
4. Are all industrial PhD part-time?
It heavily depends on your affiliation. If you have full-time employee status in an industry, then you may pursue a part-time PhD, in which your industry and an academic institution will participate. If you have full-time status from an educational institution, you will have to take part-time affiliation from an industry as well. Typically, in most of the industrial PhD program, there are at least three partners get involved, a university, an industry, and an individual. All three partners have mutual-contracts with each other.
5. Is it Possible to do part-time PhD?
Yes, you can do a part-time PhD. However, many good academicians discourage it.
6. What are the differences between a part-time, full-time, online, and distance PhD?
Although the difference is the mode of the study and the final outcome is expected to be the same, many academicians prefer a full-time PhD.
7. I love mathematics; will I be a mathematical giant after having a PhD?
No degree can make you a giant in any subject. However, you will improve significantly and acquire many other skills apart from mathematical skills, for example, presentation skills, negotiation skills, computation skills, poster making, and critical thinking.
8. Will I require to invent a discipline to get a PhD?
It is always appreciable, but you do not require to invent a discipline. You will get a PhD after having a significant contribution to your field of research.
9. Are all PhD funded by research councils or any other sources?
No, there are many self-funded PhD programs.
10. Do PhD holders overqualified for industrial jobs?
No, many high-level industrial positions require PhD as a prerequisite. Even if they do not require a PhD, then also having a PhD is a plus point. In a few cases, industries discourage PhD holders for low-level positions due to financial constraints.
11. What are the financial benefits of having a PhD degree?
The unemployment rate after six-month of completion of UK PhD is 3%. However, it does not have further financial befits apart from some kind of job security and satisfaction.
12. What career options will be available after having a PhD?
It depends on your interest and the topic of research. In academia, you may join as a Post-Doctoral Researcher, Assistant Professor, or Lecturer. Moreover, industry, government organisations, and NGOs have positions like Data Scientist, Policy Maker, Consultant, Specialist and Scientist.
13. Is it easy to get an academic position after having a PhD degree?
It is difficult to get a tenure position but getting post doc is much easier than that.
14. What is the minimum eligibility to get a tenure position at a decent university?
In most countries, a university position requires a PhD degree with at least 2-3 years of post-doctoral research/teaching experience. Moreover, good academic transcripts and several publications in reputed peer-reviewed journals are desirable.
15. What are the differences between the i-10 index and the h-index?
These indices belong to an academician and are depending on the number of citations and the publications. The i10-index is created by google-scholar and represents the number of publications having at least 10 citations. In the other hand, the h-index of an academician is h if they have h publications having at least h citations (further reading).
16. What questions should I ask myself before choosing a PhD supervisor?
There could be many questions, such as why are you interested in working with a particular professor? What component of the advertised project has encouraged you? Can you give 4-5 years of commitment to the chosen project? What skills do you want to acquire during the PhD? How much supervision will you require? Do you have all the prerequisite skillsets for the particular project, if not then can you learn quickly?
17. How many supervisors a PhD student have?
In a typical PhD program, a student has only 1-2 supervisors. However, stor-i students have 2-5 supervisors.
18. What kind of introspection required to choose a PhD career path?
Why do you want to do a PhD? Are you interested in Theory, Methodology, Application or Computation? Can you motivate yourself even in difficult times? How will you handle the financial burden? Which locations are suitable for you? Do you really love the subject or want to do it just for the economic benefits?
19. Is PhD as older as of the Master’s and Bachelor’s degree?
In the UK, PhD is a newer degree.
20. What is the highest degree, which a university can award?
PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) or similar ones, for example, DSc, DPhil, D.M.A, Ed.D., EngD and PharmD.
21. What is a CDT (centre for doctoral training)?
For a rough understanding of CDT, you may visit https://www.findaphd.com/funding/guides/centres-for-doctoral-training.aspx
You may also wish to visit https://epsrc.ukri.org/skills/students/centres/
22. What is STOR-i?
STOR-i is the only EPSRC CDT in Lancaster University. For further information, please visit https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/stor-i/.
23. How are the CDT programs different from conventional PhD program?
In the UK, most of the PhD programs are of three-year duration. However, CDTs offer 4-years integrated PhD programs, which includes an MRes (Master of Research) year as well. For more information, visit https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/stor-i/.
24. Whom should I contact for the information regarding STOR-i programs?
You may drop an email to stor-i@lancaster.ac.uk
25. Where can I find a PhD position?
You may use career help services of your institution, ask professors, and visit the website of all the departments, where you want to pursue a PhD. Furthermore, there are a few websites, which may be quite useful.
https://www.findaphd.com/
https://www.jobs.ac.uk/phd
https://www.phdportal.com/
http://www.academicpositions.eu/
https://academicpositions.com/
https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/
https://www.discoverphds.com/