It has been a while since I blogged last but I do have a good excuse.
It is time for my interim assessment!!!
As you probably guessed this marks the half way point in my PhD, or at least it is supposed to - recently the EPSRC (the European Union's science and engineering research arm) decided that a PhD is now 3 and a half years long; however this takes time to filter down to the Universities and so I am having my half way review at just 16 months in.
Anyway...less of the moaning, it's not usually in my nature. The interim assessment is a 4000 word report on what I have done so far, it sounds great - 4000 words is only 16 pages (perhaps more because science is mainly about pretty pictures believe it or not) - but try fitting everything you have done for 16 months into a 4000 word report.
The reason this has taken up a lot of my time is two-fold, the first reason is that I really want to do a great job and pass first time so that I can go on and into the second half of my PhD. The second reason is that I am slightly disorganised (maybe slightly more than slightly), I have bits of paper everywhere, I have files strewn across my computer in a much more disorganised fashion than I could ever have on my desk.
Of course I started the PhD with the best of intentions, my desk would be clean and tidy with folders for each run of experiments and associated articles, I set my computer up so that there were also folders for everything under the sun. Within about three months this had gone to the wall.
I was thinking about this and realised that the interim assessment (while a bit of a pain) is actually designed to bring all of these bits and pieces together and help the student to go into the second half prepared with all of their first year work in an order which makes them more efficient. Also the feedback on the report is valuable to ascertain whether it is going in the right direction.
I now have my random bits of paper filed away and the Word documents are packed away in computer folders all ready for me to mess up again over the next 16 months.
About Me
- Paul Youngson
- I am in my second year of a PhD at Salford University studying Chemical Vapour Deposition in the Institute of Materials Research. I had offers from a number of Universities but decided to study at Salford because of the freedom to chose my own research path and the excellent links with industry. My Undergraduate degree was a MEng in Chemical Engineering at UMIST and a postgraduate MSc in Polymer Materials Science and Engineering at Manchester University. I spent one year working as a safety case consultant within the nuclear industry to gain industrial experience prior to starting my PhD.