{"id":2501,"date":"2019-05-03T08:18:14","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T08:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/my-first-month-as-a-phd-student\/"},"modified":"2025-10-06T15:38:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T10:08:04","slug":"my-first-month-as-a-phd-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/my-first-month-as-a-phd-student","title":{"rendered":"My first month as a PhD student"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hellooooo world!<\/p>\n

This is my first EVER blog post so it might take me a few weeks to find my blogging voice but we\u2019ve all got to start somewhere! The aim of this blog is to document my PhD journey and share any tips that I\u2019ve picked up along the way so I thought the best way to kick things off would be a post summarising my first month as a PhD student.<\/p>\n

Firstly, everybody I\u2019ve encountered is SO NICE. I\u2019m literally stunned. Maybe I\u2019m just lucky to be in a good school (shout out to Edinburgh\u2019s School of Health in Social Science) but so far, the postgraduate support and networking has been amazing. You truly feel like everyone is rooting for you. This past month has reeeeally opened my eyes to all the opportunities in higher education. Last week, my supervisor asked a few of her students to meet her colleagues at the Higher Education Leadership Foundation and so I found myself having coffee and cake with several of the \u2018top dogs\u2019 in UK higher education and THEY were actually asking ME about MY research :O<\/p>\n

(On a side note, doing a PhD = so many opportunities for ALL THE COFFEE AND CAKE :O I\u2019m seriously going to have to reign it in soon\u2026. but not yet.)<\/p>\n

Top 3 tips I got out of that meeting:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Curate your digital footprint<\/strong>\u2013 Engage on Twitter, use hashtags, start a blog, build a digital profile\u2026 it all helps in your future career!<\/li>\n
  2. Have a good filing system<\/strong>\u2013 Use EndNote, OneDrive etc., backup all your work, label it correctly.<\/li>\n
  3. Write little and often<\/strong>\u2013 If you write 100 words a day then 100,000 words at the end doesn\u2019t seem so daunting\u2026 always keep in the habit of writing!<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My top tips:<\/p>\n

    Try to get a flat organised and yourself settled into the city BEFORE you start your PhD. It was a nightmare trying to get that all sorted in week 2 of mine.<\/p>\n

    Throw yourself into EVERYTHING! Attend every conference, workshop, meeting. On Friday I got involved in Explorathon, a European-wide public engagement event and it was fantastic!<\/p>\n

    Yes, my eyes are closed (charming) and yes, I couldn\u2019t help myself\u2026 I bought a University of Edinburgh jumper. Moving swiftly along\u2026<\/p>\n

    \"My\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"My<\/p>\n

    My biggest struggle in the first few weeks was grappling with the contradictory problem of \u201cI have so much to do but I don\u2019t know what to do with myself?!\u201d. Don\u2019t worry\u2026 that eases once you start to find your feet.<\/p>\n

    When people say you\u2019ll spend your first few months simply reading\u2026they mean it! You\u2019re not expected to be an expert in the field when you first start your PhD so take the first few months to submerge yourself in the literature! Since I don\u2019t have a social science background, I\u2019m taking a qualitative research methods course to gain an understanding of social science philosophy and research design.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve wanted to study at University of Edinburgh since I was about 16 years old so I\u2019m still having regular \u2018pinch me\u2019 moments. I don\u2019t know if this will ever wear off\u2026 I\u2019ll keep ye posted. I\u2019ve also learned that Impostor Syndrome is a very real thing experience by almost everyone in academia at some point. Credit to Heidi Garner (check out her blog\u00a0here<\/a>) for sharing this meme with me. I feel like this is going to be the story of my life for the next 3 years!<\/p>\n

    \"My<\/p>\n

    This last point is very obvious but is SO IMPORTANT that it doesn\u2019t do any harm to hear it again. You WILL find a work\/life balance. Don\u2019t neglect the importance of time away from your PhD. If you\u2019ve moved to a new city like I have, EXPLORE IT, make friends, exercise, stay healthy! I\u2019m trying my best to work hard during the week so I can enjoy my weekends. I know this isn\u2019t always possible but I\u2019m a huge fan of taking a \u2018brain break\u2019 one day a week to reset and recharge. Top tip- there\u2019s no better hangover cure than a hike up Arthur\u2019s Seat!<\/p>\n

    \"My<\/p>\n

    I could honestly write for hours about how fantastic my first month has been but I think I\u2019ll leave it there for now. Don\u2019t be afraid to comment below! Feedback and questions are always welcome.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Katie Gambier-Ross (<\/em><\/p>\n