Archive for PhD students

The Passage of Time

Posted in Biographical, Education with tags , , , , , on October 20, 2025 by telescoper

The start of this term has been so busy that I forgot that October 1st was the 40th anniversary of the day I officially started as a research student at the University of Sussex (1st October 1985). Reflecting on that event I realized with something approaching horror that 1985 is halfway between 1945 and 2025, so I started my PhD DPhil closer in time to the end of World War 2 than to today. Yikes!

Before travelling to the Sussex to embark on my research degree, I spent a couple of weeks at a summer school for all the new Astronomy PhD students. These are still held annually, although they are now just a week long instead of a fortnight. They are now sponsored by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) but the one I attended was before that came into being, and even before its predecessor, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research PPARC. The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC)  summer school I went to was held at Durham University; we all stayed in St Mary’s College, just over the road from the Physics Department. I remember it well and indeed still have the notes I took during the lectures there.

Another difference in those days was that we got our stipends paid by cheque – every three months, if I remember correctly – directly from the Research Council. Nowadays STFC gives block grants to universities and other research institutions, who then pay the students.

Anyway, here is the summer school conference picture:

Unfortunately (for such a rare and valuable document) it is slightly damaged on the left -hand side. I leave it up to my readers to identify the people in this group who are still in the business 40 years later. I can see quite a few – Moira Jardine, Alan Fitzsimmons, Melvyn Hoare, Jon Loveday and Alastair Edge, among others! A more complete list can be found here.

I don’t think I’m the only member of this group who is thinking of retiring fairly soon. This post was occasioned by the 40th anniversary of the start of my DPhil; my plan is to retire 40 years after the date of the completion of my thesis. That’s less than three years from now…

"What we call the beginning is often the end
And to make an end is to make a beginning.
The end is where we start from. "

from Little Gidding V, Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot

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Term goes on…

Posted in Biographical, Education, Maynooth with tags , , , , , on March 2, 2025 by telescoper

Here we are, about to start the fifth week of the Spring semester at Maynooth University. Teaching isn’t going too badly, but I have come to realize that I have a lot of continuous assessment marking to do – classs tests and mini-projects for Computational Physics and assignments for Particle Physics. The numbers of students involved are 32 in the first case and 23 in the second, but I have to do all the corrections myself. Ho hum. Still, I’m enjoying teaching particle physics again after a gap of 15 years or so so I can’t complain about that.

Last week saw some important achievements by research students. Two students in the Department of Physics – one of them supervised by me – submitted their PhD theses last week. Nominations of examiners have to be approved by Faculty and Academic Council but that should be a formality and we then have the viva voce examinations, so the process is not over yet, but the submission of a thesis is a landmark in itself and is to be celebrated.

Something less worthy of celebration is the ongoing chaos at Maynooth over funding for future research students. You may recall that I posted about the terrible decision by the Management of Maynooth University to scrap the John and Pat Hume Doctoral Scholarships and followed this up with another post suggesting the decision might be reversed and another pointing out that it hadn’t been. The Hume scheme has been paused for a “review”. That review was actually completed in January. It is now March and academic staff have still had no word about the status of the Hume Scholarships. Someone is stalling.

I have received a number of enquiries in recent weeks from prospective students about when applications would open as I’m sure is also the case for several of my colleagues. It has been very depressing to have to reply saying that I have no idea. As far as I know the scheme is suspended indefinitely. It’s now effectively too late for this year anyway, as most prospective students will already have lined up offers elsewhere. Only students not able to secure a place elsewhere will be available to apply if and when the scheme does open.

The timing of this is especially sad for the new Department of Physics. Our final-year Theoretical Physics class sizes are larger than ever but the Maynooth is sending them a very clear signal that it doesn’t want any of them to stay here for their PhDs.

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How to be a better PhD supervisor

Posted in Education with tags , , , on July 24, 2022 by telescoper

The text for this Sunday’s sermon is provided by a piece by a Danish PhD student called Rikke Plougmann in the latest Physics World entitled How to become a better supervisor. The article is quite interesting, though I was a bit alarmed by the first of the two paragraphs here:

While it certainly is “scary” I don’t think the “misconception” described in the first paragraph is “widespread”, or at least I sincerely hope it isn’t. I think any supervisor who behaves in such a way towards their research students shouldn’t be allowed to have any! Does your supervisor use “negative, condescending language”? If so I think you should get a new one!

Whether or not the first paragraph is accurate, the second definitely is. It is important for a supervisor (and the rest of a research group and the rest of a department and indeed the whole institution) to try their best to create a welcoming environment for all.

I have written several times on here about my own experiences as a PhD student, most recently here. I have written much less about my experiences as a supervisor. That’s partly because I don’t feel comfortable writing about what I think should really be confidential matters relating to PhD students and partly because each student-supervisor relationship is different.

I certainly don’t think I’m any sort of role model as a PhD supervisor. Among many other failings, I have let my students down at various times when I’ve been mentally unwell and/or when struggling with workload. But I’ve always tried to be friendly and supportive, and encouraged students to look after their work-life balance.

Other than that, it has always seemed to me that it is important for a supervisor to create a healthy working relationship. It’s not simply about training an early-career researcher. The fact of the matter is that when you take on a research student it’s because there is a project you think should be done but you’re not able to do it on your own. The student should realize that their work is not some sort of prolonged test but is highly valued as an essential contribution to a project. In other words, you need the student. I have known some supervisors to act as if they are doing students a favour by taking them on, when the reality is the other way round.

Another thing that I think a supervisor should do is make it clear that they do not have a monopoly on wisdom. Students should be encouraged to question what the supervisor suggests. I always feel I’m succeeding as a supervisor when a PhD student has the confidence to say something like “I thought about what you suggested and decided it wouldn’t work so I did this instead….”

Certainly, by the end of a PhD, the student should know more about the topic than their supervisor. At the beginning, though, the supervisor will know more and it is more of a teacher/pupil relationship then. Managing the transition from that to the equal partnership it should become is tricky as it depends on individual personalities, and it doesn’t always work out. That’s not always the fault of the supervisor. On the other hand, recognizing that’s where you should be headed is at least a start.

Above all, a supervisor should try the best they can to enable the student to enjoy their PhD. I certainly enjoyed mine and I am immensely grateful to my supervisor, who is alas no longer with us, for being so kind and supportive to me during the difficult times as well as giving me such interesting projects to do.

I’m aware this is all rather vague so I’d welcome any comments either from students about how they feel their supervisor might be better or from supervisors with advice to others. The box below is at your disposal.

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A Blast from the Past

Posted in Biographical with tags , , , on September 5, 2011 by telescoper

I’ve just remembered that the annual STFC summer school for all new PhD Students in Astronomy finished last week. This year it was held in the fine city of Glasgow and I trust a fine time was had by all,  thanks both to the excellent astronomy staff there who organised the whole thing,  and to the eminent invited speakers who supplied specialist lectures.

When I was just about to start my PhD (or, more accurately, DPhil) in 1985 there was a summer school like this too only that was before STFC and even before its predecessor,  PPARC. The Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC)  summer school I went to was actually held at Durham University; we all stayed in St Mary’s College, just over the road from the Physics Department. I remember it well and indeed still have the notes I took during the lectures there.

Coincidentally, I recently unearthed this picture which has, unfortunately, been slightly damaged on the left  hand side. It might be interesting for all those who attended this year’s School to see how many of this group are still doing research 26 years later; the newbies may even be able to identify their PhD supervisors!

I’m in the middle with the Peter Beardsley haircut, and you can easily pick out a number of people who are still active in astronomy research, e.g. Melvin Hoare (Leeds), Moira Jardine (St Andrews), Alan Fitzsimmons (QUB), Steve Warren (Imperial), Alastair Edge (Durham), and Jon Loveday (Sussex), to name but a few. Anyone else see anyone they recognize? Or anyone else who was there happen to be reading this blog? Please do let me know through the comments box!

UPDATE: I’m grateful to Melvin for pointing out to me that Andy Norton has already posted a version of this picture elsewhere, with a much more complete list of identifications!

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Progress

Posted in Education, Football with tags , , on June 23, 2010 by telescoper

My agenda for today was dominated by three events, each involving a different form of progression. The timing was a coincidence, I think.

First, this morning, a bunch of interviews with our first-year postgraduate research students. Like most universities, the first year of a PhD at Cardiff University is a probationary period so we get the students to write a report on what they’ve been doing and also get input from their supervisor. This is then followed up by a panel interview, with 3-4 members of staff, at which a judgement is made as to whether to allow them continue. This used to be a relatively informal thing involving supervisor and one other member of staff, but I’ve recently taken over as Director of Postgraduate Studies in the School of Physics & Astronomy and made the process a bit more rigorous, having the same panel talk to all the students. It all passed off pretty well apart from the fact that a couple of students are away and I’ll have to put them through the process later on in the summer when they get back from their observing trips and whatnot.

After a spot of form-filling and a quick lunch we went straight into another examiners’ meeting, this time for undergraduate students. We already went through the marks for graduating students a couple of weeks ago, but today we had to look at the results for our Prelim candidates, and Years 1 and 2. Here the focus for most staff is on their personal tutees, usually 4 in each year, checking they all progress as intended to the following year and presenting any special circumstances.  This meeting can be quite fraught, but this year went smoothly.

Which brought us to the last issue of progression, and the one I was less optimistic about  prior to the event. However, England did manage to win their game against Slovenia in the FIFA World Cup by the not entirely convincing scoreline of 1-0. That means they too progress to the next round, although how much further than that they can go is not very clear. Well done to the USA too, who beat Algeria to win the group and take their place in the last 16.

All in all, a busy but productive and satisfying day. Now I’m going to watch one more game of football and have a glass or two of wine before having an early night.

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