My PhD Journey - Sophia

00:00:00 - Is a PhD for me?

If you're interested in learning more about a PhD and what they entail, then you've definitely come to the right place. I'm going to share my PhD journey with you.
So I've never doubted with a PhD was right for me and what gave me the idea to pursue this path was that I really enjoyed research. I loved developing research projects and going into archives, especially during my undergraduate and thesis and masters degrees.

00:00:32 - Embracing Your Passion

What really appealed to me about the PhD was also the opportunity to work on something that I was extremely passionate about. I think this is a really important factor in deciding whether you want to do a PhD or not. You really need to be passionate about the topic that you pick because you'll be researching it day in and day out.

I was also really passionate about pursuing a PhD because I knew that I would have the freedom to create a project that was entirely my own and make a contribution to my field.

00:01:12 - Career Aspirations

Secondly, I also knew I wanted to have a career in academia and within arts and humanities, it's incredibly difficult to get a lectureship (a position as a lecturer within a higher education institution) without a PhD. Therefore, I decided to take the traditional route of doing an undergraduate degree, then a master’s and then a PhD.

00:01:34 Connecting with others

I've met a lot of other PhD students in my department since I started. I often work in the postgraduate office in our department, so it's a really good way to meet people at different stages of the PhD and to get advice along the way. It's a very supportive environment.

00:01:54 Coming up with a research idea

In terms of ideas for what you should research, I really would recommend reading as much secondary literature as possible to help you define your contribution to the field. Also, you really need to research funding as well.

00:02:13 Researching Funding for PhDs

There are a lot of options out there for scholarships and different funding paths from universities, charities and other institutions.

00:02:26 Researching Supervisors for PhDs

You also need to research supervisors as well by looking at staff profiles on your chasing universities website and deciding who would be most appropriate to supervise your project.

 

00:02:39 Applying for existing projects

You don't also have to create a project from scratch. There are existing projects out there that you can apply to to work on. Those are often formed by universities, companies or charities. So if you can't think up of a topic but you have an area that you're really passionate about. Then that might be an option for you.

00:03:05 Considering Training

I would also recommend thinking about what training you might need, whether you need to learn a different language like I did, and how you're going to get that and is it accessible and is it going to cost a lot as well. These are all things to consider when you're applying for a PhD.

 

00:03:27 How PhDs can look very different

So in terms of my understanding of what a PhD can be, I know that the PhD can differ between disciplines. But I think the overall aim is to produce an original piece of work.
In the arts and humanities, it's often a project that lasts between three to four years, where you research a topic of your choice. Or, as I said earlier, you apply to an existing project.

00:00:00 Writing a research proposal

Writing a research proposal, so in this voice note I will tell you a little bit about how to write a research proposal and I'll share some advice and my experiences of writing one. So where did I start? I had an idea of what I wanted to write about for my thesis after I finished my Masters dissertation. My Masters dissertation focused on the Bradford Orthodox Jewish community and its cemetery.

I found out at the end of my masters that there was another cemetery belonging to a Jew, another Jewish community in Bradford that hadn't been studied in depth, and in fact, the Jewish cemeteries were very under researched topic overall in in relation to Britain. Therefore I thought OK, there could potentially be another project to come out of my masters thesis.

And this happens a lot. I know with other people’s masters, dissertations as well, quite often topics that they didn't get time to cover within their masters thesis because they didn't have enough words left. They'd often choose to use these as the basis for a PhD proposal.

00:01:17 So how did my proposal develop?

So I used my master's dissertation as a framework. I initially used the exact same method, methodological framework and applied it to a different cemetery. However, following a discussion with my supervisors about the relevant literature that I should explore, I decided to explore alternative methodologies. I started to think more about the larger themes in history to which my thesis would link, which also helped me to further develop my project ideas.

00:01:56 Initial research

The initial research that helped me was diving into the secondary literature and right and finding out what had been written and what had been overlooked in the historiography.

00:02:08 Developing the idea + Making an original contribution

One of the things that I found really challenging about developing the proposal was understanding and articulating what my original contribution to research, to the historiography and the field of Jewish studies would be so. My advice here is don't panic as it becomes a lot clearer during the first year of your PhD as you read more of the secondary literature, and you do more primary research with primary sources.

You really need to have some idea of your original contribution though. When you're writing your proposal. While it might not be completely clear, and it might need a bit more work, having some idea of your original contribution really will help you, and it will help the person who is reading your proposal, as well, to determine whether this is a viable project.

00:03:06

So one way to make this aspect less challenging is to visit the archives. If you have time, or to really look over the secondary literature that you're going to be using as this will help you to carve out your contribution to the field. It also looks really good if you can show that you've looked at the sources that you're going to be using, and that you're from, and that you know that you're familiar with the material and that it has significant potential.

00:03:38 Speaking to other PhD students

What had really helped me with writing the proposal was speaking to other PhD students in the department and getting advice from them, so I asked them if I could look over copies of their proposals. I also asked my supervisors to read over my drafts and they were happy to provide me with comments and feedback. As well as suggestions for further reading as well.

So this voice note is all about contacting your supervisor.

00:00:05 – Nervous about reaching out

So how does it feel when you're approaching your supervisor for the first time? Well, I've got one word: Nerve-wracking. I understand it's incredibly nerve wracking and very tense while waiting for that response to your initial e-mail, I knew that my that my supervisors would be the perfect fit for my project.

00:00:25

But the one thing that I was really worried about was that they were going to say that they were unable to supervise me because they already had too many students to supervise or that they were on research leave.

00:00:39

There's several other reasons as well why supervisors might not be able to oversee your project but for me, luckily that didn't happen, it's just something to be aware of.

00:00:55 - So who is a good fit for your project?

Well, there's several things that you need to consider when choosing your supervisor.

Firstly, think about how many people they supervised. Are they new to supervising PhD students? For example, one of my supervisors had successfully supervised several PhD projects very recently, whereas my other supervisor had no experience with supervising PhD projects. I'm her only supervisee, but that's fine because the two of them balance each other out, and they're both absolutely fantastic and we both get along. We all get along really well together and we're a great team.

00:01:41 - Researching staff profiles

Also, one of the things I'd advise at first before you even send that initial e-mail is to look at their staff profiles on the university website. Have a look at the types of projects that they've previously supervised to determine whether your project could fit in with those.

00:02:00

If your projects throws a bit of a curveball and it perhaps doesn't fit in with the projects they've supervised in the past, however their specialisms fit really well with what you're hoping to study, it's sometimes it's worth just throwing them an e-mail and just seeing whether they'd be happy to supervise you or not.

00:02:23 – Supervisor specialisms

You also need to look on their staff profile to say whether they're willing to supervise people. Some people put a note on their staff profile saying that that they're not looking to take any more supervisees on board. In terms of their areas of specialism, you also need to think about the themes more broadly that your PhD topic links to. So for example, my topic looks at cemeteries. It fits in more broadly because of my methodological approaches. I look at material culture, so objects and things like that. My second supervisor specialises in material culture as well. While she doesn't look at cemeteries and things like that, it's that link in terms of my methodological approach that really makes her suitable as a supervisor.

00:03:26

Also, you can think more broadly in terms of the time period that they specialise in, if you're doing an Arts and Humanities subject, or you might want to think about the geographical location. So both my supervisors look at places in England, they specialise in British history. My PhD also looks at British history and we all study modern history as well, which is what both my supervisors specialise in (19th and 20th century history). And I also specialise in this period, making them the perfect fit my project.

00:04:04 - Worried you might waste their time?

If you think you're going to waste their time, I really wouldn't worry about it. If you've done the initial work. If you've followed my advice and you've looked on the stuff web on, if you've looked at their profiles on the university website and you've really taken the time to do your research then you should be fine. I would send them that initial e-mail, get it done, go for it and then just wait for their response.

00:04:36 - Contact supervisors as early as possible

So one thing I would say is as well don't delay in sending the e-mail. You need to try and contact them as early as possible in case because you don't know really what everyone else is planning to do. You can't predict whether other people going to go for that supervisor and ask them to supervise their project, especially if they're very popular as well, and plus the turnaround for PhD funding is incredibly quick.

00:05:05 - Check your email before you send it

One thing I'd also say is as well before you hit that send button and you've done your research and everything, you've got your e-mail ready to go. If there is anything you are unsure about then ask for a second opinion from somebody. See if you can get somebody to proofread your e-mail and also have a look at the person’s staff profile online and just get them to cross check it with what you've written (to make sure that there are any factual errors and that you're on the right lines) and that they also think that this person could be a potential supervisor for your project.

00:05:50 – What to do if you are rejected

Also, if you are rejected by that person when you receive the reply, it's easy enough for me to say, but honestly, don't worry about it because you can ask the supervisor if they can recommend somebody. They might be able to recommend somebody who would perhaps be more suitable for your project. This is if you feel brave enough to ask them. If not, then sometimes things work out for the best, and maybe it wasn't right for you. You could also try contacting them the next the next year. If they say that they might have availability in the near future. Or you could just try contacting another supervisor so.

00:06:38

So, in summary, although it can seem really daunting, and contacting the supervisor for the first time, my advice is to do your research, get that initial e-mail drafted, then speak to other people and get somebody to look over that e-mail and then just go for it. Send it out to them.