anyone doing a PhD in Trinity at the mo?

maupat

Hi,

Would like to hear from anyone who may be doing a PhD in Trinity at the mo.....

Here are a few questions I have:

• Are you enjoying your studies in the university so far?
• Is it a structured PhD programme (and if so does this include a work placement in your relevant industry)?
• What are the facilities like - do you have your own work station etc?
• Is it a solo PhD or are you on a studentship with other students?

A lot of questions I know but would appreciate any feedback

Thanks

zil

• It beats doing a real job I guess, lots of people go into a PhD thinking they're going to change the world and it takes a while for you to realise that it's all about the little increments.
• The college recently brought in a structured PhD programme, when I went through it it was pretty pointless, you had to do a course in statistics and a course in general research aswell as 30 credits of courses of your choosing which could be taken from any masters programmes related to your field. It ended up taking 6 months of my time with virtually no benefit. I don't believe there's any official work placement.
• All depends on your funding and what lab your in but I've had no issues, everyone I know who's doing a PhD have their own desk and the necessary equipment they need.
• I'm currently on project funding but I know people who are on individual funding. It all depends where you get the money from, ircset provide individual funding and you generally apply for it yourself. SFI and other project funding are generally applied for by lecturer who then interviews for the position.
  

Gae

maupat wrote: »

Hi,

Would like to hear from anyone who may be doing a PhD in Trinity at the mo.....

Here are a few questions I have:

• Are you enjoying your studies in the university so far?
• Is it a structured PhD programme (and if so does this include a work placement in your relevant industry)?
• What are the facilities like - do you have your own work station etc?
• Is it a solo PhD or are you on a studentship with other students?

A lot of questions I know but would appreciate any feedback

Thanks

This all varies widely depending on the School you're in. E.g. I doubt anyone in Science would be without a desk, but in Arts quite a few wouldn't have dedicated workspace (in their first year anyway).

prettygurrly

i'm doing a phd in geography. like previous posters have said it depends on your funding but you do pay fees every year which entitles you to a work space of some sort and printing. i have a desk in a shared room in the museum building. i got bought a laptop out of school funds and i pay to have access to a lab to do my analysis of samples i take on a lake in my project.
i'm not in a structured phd programme but i am a walsh fellow so i have access to courses through teagasc as well as being able to take courses in tcd. the pg dip in stats is only €50 when you're doing a phd.

with regards to am i enjoying my studies? well yes i am! thank god! come back to me when i'm at the end of year two and halfway through my phd...there's loads of opportunities to do fun things in the college and conferences and things. just when you're deciding on what project you want to do, meet the supervisor, see where you'll be working, and know how much it's going to cost you (if anything). you're allowed to know these things before even applying for a phd. its a BIG commitment and you need to be sure that its what you want to do. tbh there's so much choice of students to do phd programmes that the supervisors are going to choose the most positive and motivated person to ensure the project is done.

IvyTheTerrible

zil wrote: »

• It beats doing a real job I guess, lots of people go into a PhD thinking they're going to change the world and it takes a while for you to realise that it's all about the little increments.
• The college recently brought in a structured PhD programme, when I went through it it was pretty pointless, you had to do a course in statistics and a course in general research aswell as 30 credits of courses of your choosing which could be taken from any masters programmes related to your field. It ended up taking 6 months of my time with virtually no benefit. I don't believe there's any official work placement.
• All depends on your funding and what lab your in but I've had no issues, everyone I know who's doing a PhD have their own desk and the necessary equipment they need.
• I'm currently on project funding but I know people who are on individual funding. It all depends where you get the money from, ircset provide individual funding and you generally apply for it yourself. SFI and other project funding are generally applied for by lecturer who then interviews for the position.

I agree with some of what you say but you say it beats doing a "real job"...I did a phd and I know that I did much longer hours than I'm expected to do now in a so-called "real job"

Also, I think making phd students do a course in stats and general research is very important, when you see some of the crap experimental design and poor choice of statistical methods used by some grad students...