Happy Birthday PhD!

So on 1st October I will have officially been doing my PhD for a year and to mark this momentous occasion last week I had my First Year Review. This is a meeting with both your supervisors and your thesis chairperson. You give a short presentation of your work so far and what you are planning to do next. The thesis chairperson then has a chance to ask you about the project and then, along with your supervisors, will decide whether you are competent of continuing or whether you should drop out of the course. Although this sounds very daunting hopefully you're supervisor will be honest enough to intervene before a whole year has passed if they think you are struggling. Luckily I get on well with my supervisors and see them almost daily, however, if this wasn't the case the First Year Review also gives you a chance to speak in confidence with your thesis chair about any problems you are having with your supervisors. For me the biggest thing gained from the meeting was to have another professor examine your work closely, critically evaluate it and give advice. My lab is quite small and isolated so I don't get the chance to discuss work with other academics often. So following on from my earlier post to new students and Vickys here I would strongly encourage you to talk openly about your research with other students, post docs and professors. Having input from other people can really help you form and finalise ideas about your work!