“I told one of the mothers what I was studying for my PhD and she laughed in my face. Not kindly interested laughter either – out right derision. She paused after this and said “Why the hell would you bother doing that!” To add insult to injury, she went on to tell me she had a really difficult job – as a make up artist “

“Do you think I should do a PhD?” It seems like I can’t go to a party without at least one person asking me this question – does this happen to you too? I probably shouldn’t be surprised; according to a recent government report the number of people undertaking a research degree in Australia has …continue reading.

The other day I was strolling back from a leisurely gossip session coffee with @ researchwhisper at Pearson and Murphy’s cafe when I ran into one of my favourite academics, let’s call him Ned. Why is Ned one of my favourites? Well, I know this sounds like a stupid reason, but Ned knows how to …continue reading.

We Melbournians are privileged enough to get a public holiday for the Melbourne Cup. Your tireless editor took a couple of days off so this week’s Monday post is a little late, but I hope it’s worth the wait. This is a guest post from Rod Pitcher, a PhD student in Education at The Centre  …continue reading.

This post is from Dr Ali Daws and originally appeared on his most excellent blog, Writing on Writing. Ali is quite extraordinary, not the least for the fact that he is the only person I know to go and do a Masters degree AFTER he got his PhD ( just for interest – like you …continue reading.

This post is by our regular library correspondent, Dr Karen McAulay. In this post Karen asks: where and when do you do your best thinking? Are libraries the answer? Recently I read a blog post by Richard Watson, in which he reported that he had once asked a thousand people when and where they did …continue reading.

Do you ever have conversations with your partner like this?
(While relaxing over a nice meal and glass of wine)
Mr Krystle “Shouldn’t you be studying right now? How are you ever going to finish your PhD if you keep boozing up”
Krystle: “Arrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh!”
If the answer is yes, print this post out and put it on your fridge 🙂

Should you write papers while you are doing your PhD? Yes. Here’s some ways to include them in your thesis.

Ted Vickey writes: While at the Greek conference in June (yes the same conference at the time of the riots), people were sharing how they have structured their research and what technologies they use to keep organized – from iPads to websites. I pulled out my laptop and soon had a dozen people watching over my shoulder too see how I have set things up. This system might not be perfect and might not work for everyone, but it has worked great for me.

This guest post is by Lucy McAndrew, a second-year PhD research student in the field of Environmental Ethics at the National University of Ireland, Galway. Lucy is a three-time VSO (Voluntary Service Overseas) volunteer, environmental representative at local and council level (in a voluntary capacity) and particularly keen on investigating respect for marginalised interests. In …continue reading.