Toufic's Manchester PhD Research Tips

Toufic is a first-year international PhD student in organic chemistry. Read his top tips for preparing for your own study; including the value of the social aspects of a PhD beyond the research, picking the research area that’s right for you, and how to adjust to the PhD lifestyle.

This is an edited transcript of Toufic’s advice, and you can listen to his thoughts in full, as well to as all of our other?research advice, here.

On... adjusting to the PhD lifestyle

“When I first came into the department it was quite tricky for me, because I didn't know if I had a specific schedule. The working time for example, should I come at 8am in the morning and leave at 4pm that afternoon? After two months I realised that it was my own initiative, my own time frame that I need to abide by. As long as I meet the deadlines and I meet the needs of the project that I'm working on, it’s fine. In our department it's not restrictive, in the sense that you are really obliged to work these amounts of hours, or do these experiments every day. It's really about doing what you feel is comfortable for you to achieve your goals, otherwise everything is going to fail, it just won’t work.”

On... applications & enhancing your CV

“I would change my whole application now - I don't know how I got in! Because I learned a lot about how to put up a proper application, so if you were to compare both of my cover letters, the one I would write now and the one I submitted before, you would even see the difference without reading either. The format alone would be so different. But then again, it's my CV that got enhanced when I came to Manchester. When I came here, I really engaged in a lot of things, I'm PGR ambassador for example. So the more one engages, the more you can really enhance your CV, and the more you can use that knowledge and these skills to apply elsewhere, for other institutions.”

On... getting support from fellow researchers

“The bigger the group, the more support you'll get, that’s the golden rule! But this doesn't mean you can’t get support from members of other groups, especially if you work in a lab where different groups are. My group has its own lab which spans across the floor, so we don't get to socialise much with the rest of the researchers, because it's just us. But we’re already 30 people, so we have enough support in my opinion. I know from the rest of the department that they do socialise very much. Researchers shouldn't be afraid of raising what they're concerned about, and it doesn't have to do with their project. The more people talk about their projects or about their lives, the better they can keep going, the better they can achieve and work and bring good results.”

On... how to pick the research area that's right for you

“In order to pinpoint what you really like, try to choose from your department the things you are most interested in. They don't have to be the final track of your career, you just choose a place to start from and then bit by bit you’ll start discovering how things work. You can't really choose objectively before you gain some experience. If you don't have any research experience, you won't be able to judge correctly what you do like, and what you don't. And there's always the possibility to change. It's not like you’ll get into something and be stuck in there forever. So don't be afraid to start somewhere, and eventually you’ll reach where you want to get to – you might even discover things you didn't know before. That's what happened with me.”

On... the social aspects of the research life

“Take advantage of the social life behind research. It's all about connections and who you meet and the wonderful time that you spend together, especially when you go out on conferences to showcase your research. Be curious about other people's research too, because that really might enhance yours and also help you to make great friends with the same interests. The research and the literature and reading and experiments – these are all very nice, but once you really embrace the environment around you, you’ll enjoy it more and you’ll get out of your routine.”