Student Blog

By Circé La Mache, with the help of Daniel Bending, Valentin Dospinescu, Katy Stokes & Will Scott.

Why are we writing this article?

Some of us started on this course with a clear idea of the research field we wanted to go into, while others were open minded and ready to be inspired. Whoever we were, we all had to at some point chose a PhD supervisor and a project. A process which is not always the most straightforward and more often than not, quite stressful (we’ve all heard some horror stories!). But it should be exciting, and you should be able to make these decisions confidently, without wondering “did I make a mistake here?”.

They say hindsight is 20/20. So I had a chat with several students about their experiences of this process, and together we pieced out what we considered to be the best advice we wanted to give you this year.

What are good resources to find potential supervisors?

1. Brown-bag talks

You will already have experienced brown bag talks. These are a series of presentations from principal investigators organised by the MRC DTP in IBR. Not only did they allow us to learn about fantastic research happening at Warwick, they made us realise just how many different ways we could go about doing medical research.

However, the biggest benefit of brown bag talks is that everyone involved is keen to have a chat with the students. Researchers who get involved tend to have project ideas in mind already and most students found that they were very approachable; whether that be to discuss PhD projects or just to talk about science. Our advice is: Don’t be shy, and go speak to people!

2. The Warwick webpages

The most common advice students have for the initial brainstorming phase is to cast a wide net. Don’t just rely on the MRC organised sessions, but reach out further to other parts of the university, such as engineering, if you want to do something different. Maybe they’ll have an idea for an interdisciplinary project and were just waiting for the right person!

Whether you want to focus on someone in the medical school or another department, you ought to check out people’s online academic profiles. Some students had a tab open for every professor at Warwick to not miss a potential lead! While you don’t have to go to that depth, we do recommend having a decent browse and even having a shortlist of criteria. Do their research interest you? Have they published recently? Are they active online and regularly promote the work of their lab and peers?

While we often found that it was much easier to strike up a conversation with someone from the brown bag talks, stalking webpages is how most students found their future supervisor.

3. Jonathan and Claire

As you may already know, Jonathan and Claire will organise meetings with you to discuss the PhD search. They already know a lot of the researchers at Warwick and can give you clear cut, honest advice about their suitability as supervisors. Make sure you come ready with ideas about the type of research you want to do, and maybe even a few names. The more you bring, the more they can help! In our meetings, they provided us with a list of people to contact based on our interest, which we found extremely helpful. They know so much and can really help guide you, whatever stage you are at, so make sure you come prepared for these meetings!

4. Other researchers

Sometimes a supervisor will not be able to take you into their lab. However, they will know who else is working in the same field, or using similar techniques. More often than not, they can guide you to people you might not have thought of! This is why you shouldn’t be afraid to talk to potential supervisors and have as many conversations as you can. You might be surprised by who you meet or what spikes your interest.

Meeting supervisors; how to prepare and ask the right questions.

Once you have your list of names, it’s time to get chatting! Remember that it is not because you have a chat with a potential supervisor that you have to do a project with them. Talk to as many people as you want, because all the options are open right now. We typically did it like this:

Getting in touch

Once you’ve identified someone you might like, send an email! Or go up to see them at the end of their brown bag talk if you met them in a session. It is crucial to assess people well. The best way to do this is organise an informal chat online or in person, as we found that it was much harder to get to know how someone really is over email.

We also found that researchers will either be very keen to talk to you, or they will be almost impossible to get in touch with. Sometimes they might even respond initially, and then become hard to reach. Poor communication is a bad sign because it usually signifies that a supervisor is strapped for time or is not that passionate about your project. If they cannot have a meeting with you now, how will they supervise you? Of course, do go ahead and pester people if they don’t answer at first; but if it keeps happening, scratch them off your list.

How to prepare

there is no right and wrong supervisor style. What is important is to make the right match between a supervisor and a student. Think of the kind of relationship that you want and need when going into these meetings. We found it really helpful to have a list of questions with us, so here are a few suggestions to get started.

What do you want to find out?

In a first meeting, you will probably want to discuss their field of research as well as your personal interests. But if you are seriously considering working with them, we strongly advise you to try and get a realistic understanding of what it would mean to be in their lab for the next 3 years.

Find out about their supervision style.

What role will your supervisor take in your project? Are they hands on, or prefer to leave you to your own devices? How much time will they have to give you? How much help will they provide? What are their expectations of you?

If a project is on offer, find out as much as you can about it.

Do not just ask about the science and the techniques involved in the project. Is the timescale realistic? Is the past work the project is based on airtight? We found that it was best to be overly careful when a researcher suggests a project; they might be making it sound better than it is.

Find out about the support available to you.

Is someone training you in the techniques you have to use? Are there dedicated lab technicians who can help you with specialised equipment? Or will you be optimising techniques alone? Making sure you have the right level of support is very important for the success of your experiments and your development as a researcher. Too many students ignore this and end up having an unnecessarily hard time in the lab.

Get a good sense of the reality of joining their lab.

What will it actually be like to do your PhD? Ask questions to really get a feel for the hours you’ll work, the people you will be working with, and the type of supervision you’ll get. Everyone is different, so you can afford to be picky. Do you want a social lab? A place where people leave you alone? Are you comfortable being in a small lab or do you want a lot of people around you such as other students, post doc and lab assistants? Do you want to be in a group that has regular meetings where you will be presenting your work? Etc.

Try to meet lab members.

Who is the best suited to tell you what a supervisor or lab will be like? A PhD student who is already there! If you get to visit the lab (and we can’t stress how important this is), ask people about their day to day life, as well as the aspects touched on previously. Supervisors will want you to join and will present themselves in the best light. A PhD student doesn’t have the incentive to hide anything from you. If you can’t visit the lab, ask the supervisor if they can organise a meeting for you with one of their students.

Supervisor green and red flags!

We compiled a small list of red and green flags to watch out for in your meetings; we hope they help.

Final little bit of advice

The best way to make sure the next few years are the best that they can be, is for your PhD project to be about your research interests, and for your supervisor to be a good fit for you. It is important to spend all the time that you need looking for the right people. However, we remember the MSc being a busy year and how it felt overwhelming at times when we had so much on our plate. So here are our top 3 advice to avoid wasting time in this process:

1. Don’t keep giving chances to supervisors who don’t get back to you.

2. Make sure you understand the interdisciplinary criteria requirements of the MRC before developing a project or approaching the wrong supervisor.

3. Know your expectations of a supervisor before you meet/ design a project together.

In the end we all managed to find people we liked and projects we cared about; And we are certain that you will do the same!

Good luck with everything, and keep science-ing!