{"id":3314,"date":"2020-01-23T12:37:09","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T12:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/the-life-of-a-phd-responses-from-a-live-qa-with-researchers\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:31:05","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:31:05","slug":"what-is-the-most-important-quality-you-need-for-being-a-phd-this-is-what-researchers-have-to-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/what-is-the-most-important-quality-you-need-for-being-a-phd-this-is-what-researchers-have-to-say","title":{"rendered":"The life of a PhD: Responses from a live Q&A with researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Often, during your research journey, you are likely to go through phases when you feel unsure about how you\u2019re doing or find it difficult to deal with specific situations, e.g., when you feel underconfident or doubts your abilities, when you\u2019re worried about finishing up in time, when you know you are procrastinating but don\u2019t know how to break that cycle, or when you wonder if you really have it in you to become a researcher.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You are not alone! There are several others who have gone through similar phases. Wouldn\u2019t it be great to hear from such researchers? To help researchers find answers to these questions as well as receive assurance and support for dealing with the tougher aspects of a PhD, we invited an expert panel to for a special AMA (Ask-Me-Anything) session on the popular Chinese platform ScienceNet<\/a><\/span><\/span>. The expert panel for this session comprised three researchers who are passionate about their field and believe in helping researchers. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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The panelists<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth Mullheron:<\/span><\/span><\/b> Elizabeth is a second-year doctoral student pursing her Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology. She completed her M.A. in Counseling Psychology in 2018 and B.A. in Psychology in 2016. She is interested in researching the university to workforce transition, and anxiety in adolescence. Her long term goal is to become a clinician specializing in working with youth. She currently runs The Young Grad Student<\/a><\/span><\/span>, a blog to document her time in graduate school and encourage other students on their journey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anastasia Doronina:<\/span><\/span><\/b> Anastasia is currently a PhD student in water engineering at the University of Sheffield\u2019s Department of Civil and Structural Engineering. She is passionate about her work and describes herself as a \u201cBiologist by background (BSc – Biology, MSc – Ecology) and at heart, but managed to find a home in engineering.\u201d She is originally from Russia and speaks two languages. When Anastasia is not occupied with her research work, she is busy maintaining her own very interesting blog titled The diary of a PhD student<\/a><\/span><\/span> where she talks about her research and experiences during her PhD journey.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Shivanee Shah:<\/span><\/span><\/b> Following Bachelor\u2019s and Master\u2019s degrees in India, Shivanee acquired her doctoral degree in Immunology from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Loyola University, Illinois, USA. She has completed two postdoctoral fellowships, one at the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Loyola University Medical Center, Illinois, USA and one at the Department of Pathology, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Massachusetts, USA. After returning to India, she joined Cactus Communications as a Managing Editor in the Publications Support Services team. She is currently playing the role of Senior Managing Editor in the Impact Science Division of Cactus Communications, where she focuses on helping researchers boost the impact of their work through alternative ways of communicating science. She is also a BELS (Board of Editors in the Life Sciences) certified editor and trainer for Editage webinars and workshops.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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What do you think is the most important quality you need for being a PhD? <\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth Mullheron<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I think that dedication, time management, and organization are key to being able to get all the requirements completed on time for a doctorate student. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anastasia Doronina<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

There are many. However, if I had to choose one, you have to be excellent at self-motivation and time-management.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Shivanee Shah<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Perseverance – research of any kind can be full of failures. You can come out the winner only if you are perseverant!<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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As a PhD student, how did you manage to balance your study and personal life?<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Elizabeth Mullheron<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This is a great question, and one that I think everyone finds unique solutions to! For me, I am currently committed to having one week night and one full day on the weekend \u201coff\u201d where I do not do any school work. This helps me to make time for my friends and family, as well as other important life activities like grocery shopping, meal planning, chores, and reading for fun. Some people like to put this time into their calendars and treat it like an appointment so that it doesn\u2019t get pushed off. As a graduate student, there is always more work to be done. I\u2019ve found that if I don\u2019t set firm boundaries and hold to them, work can begin to take over my entire life at the expense of other things important to me. It\u2019s important to know yourself and how to meet your needs, then you can schedule that time into your life. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Anastasia Doronina<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

This can be very hard to do, and even if you do find a balance, it is difficult and unrealistic to maintain it at all times. However, one of the biggest lessons I quickly learned is how important self-care is. A PhD requires a lot of brainwork and can be really damaging on you mental and physical health if you push yourself too hard, which in turn will negatively affect the quality of your work. If you practice self-care, a balance between your personal and work life will naturally follow. Therefore, here are some of the ways in which I personally do this: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n