The PhD Survival Guide Podcast

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! After our short little hiatus, I am proud to announce that we're back and we're starting strong with a brand new Casual Conversations episode with Alison Miller of The Academic Writers Space! In this episode, we spoke to Alison, who has well over 20 years of experience mentoring students and mentors alike in the academic setting, about various topics such...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! As we always say here on the podcast, every PhD journey is unique. I worked full-time in the laboratory and had the privilege of dedicating the majority of my time to my experiments. While I have talked in depth about the pros and cons of this, not all of you have the same experience. In this episode, I spoke to Dakota, a recent PhD graduate who juggled a...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In the recent past, some of you have reached out asking these key questions: Does it really make a big difference to have a Master's degree? Or does the research experience you completed in your Bachelor's degree really prepare you for the research burdens in a PhD? What if you don't have either of these things, will you be at a severe disadva...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! Pursuing a PhD can be a very isolating experience. You may soon come to realize that the demands of being a PhD student can consume your time. This drastic shift in your work-life balance can also significantly affect your relationships, including family, friends, and significant others. In this episode we talk with Dr. Victoria Godieva about how starting...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In my PhD, behind every single successful experiment, there were multiple (and I mean a ton) of failed experiments. That's totally normal! It's through failure that we learn how to find success, and you're going to fail a lot in your PhD. As such, it's important to learn how to properly troubleshoot an experiment or procedure. This also ap...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, I talk to author Jorge Arango about his book - Duly Noted: Extend your mind through connected notes. This episode is packed with information on how to think differently about notes as well as how to use notes as tools to progress your research. As always, we hope you enjoy this episode! Get Duly Noted: Extend your mind through connected n...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, I had the opportunity to talk about so many different topics and issues that various students face, but I never had to deal with personally. I spoke to Vinita Puri, an international online PhD student from Canada doing her research in the United States. Vinita covers her experiences with recruiting for her research, what it's like to...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! At some point of your career as a PhD student, you will have to take the dreaded comprehensive exams (comps for short). Doesn't sound familiar? Maybe you call them preliminary exams or qualifying exams. Regardless, this exam is a necessary requirement for all PhD students to become PhD candidates. In this episode, I talk about why comps are so scary,...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we talk about how to give a presentation when you still have little to no data to present on. Whether you're a first year PhD or just starting a new project, you might be expected to present on your work and that can be pretty scary! Don't worry at all as I will go over how to format your presentation and recount my first ever sem...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! This episode is sort of like an update to tell everyone what I have been up to, why I haven't been uploading in a while, and where the show is going to go from here. It's been a long time since I've been recording but I am happy to be doing it again and look forward to future episodes! Special thank you to all that have supported me throughout...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we talk with Abigail, a political sciences PhD student from Canada about what it is like to do a PhD as a mother. Please help me in introducing Abigail! We talk about what some of the challenges of being a mother in a PhD entails such as figuring out maternity leave, organization/time management, and imposter syndrome. We also dive into h...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! It has been a while and I have missed you guys! We dive right back into the groove in this episode. So let's talk about one of the most daunting tasks in the PhD, writing! It doesn't have to be daunting or scary though, which is something that I learned a little later then I wish I had. For that reason we're going to discuss some tips for writ...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we break down the scary dissertation committee! This is essentially one of the first big decisions you will make on your PhD journey. Who should you choose to be on your committee? How many members should I have on my committee? How do I prepare for a committee meeting? We answer all of these questions and more! Tools mentioned in this ep...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! What are transferable skills and what are some key general takeaways from your time in grad school that you can use after you graduate? I had the pleasure of listening to a great presentation by Dr. Agnes Karmaus at the SOT meeting this year and wanted to share what she talked about with all of you! We talk about the importance of communication, networkin...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! Have you ever heard of the infamous side projects? The ones that PhD students always reference as taking up most of their time? In this episode we really break down what they are and how to avoid ones that can be detrimental to your progress in your dissertation. Some side projects are not all that bad though, and it's important to also highlight how...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! This episode is the second of a 2 part series dedicated to academic conferences! Academic conferences host fabulous research and opportunities for all PhD students to learn from. In this episode, we talk about how to put together your poster, what programs you can use to do that, and how to present your poster! Sorry for the long wait, we're back to o...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! This episode is the first of a 2 part series dedicated to academic conferences! Academic conferences host fabulous research and opportunities for all PhD students to learn from. We tackle my top 3 reasons to go to a conference, the different ways to obtain funding, and the overall impact that conferences can have on your academic career! We hope you enjoy...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! Join Nicole and I in this "Casual Conversations" episode where we talk about what it means to be resilient in a PhD. What to do when an experiment isn't working? What to do with criticism? Tune in as we speak about our personal experiences and how unique resilience is interpreted by each of us. We are also on Apple Podcasts! If you enjoy this podcast and...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we talk about the "Sorry" habit. Do you find that you start every response with "sorry?" What does that mean to the people that you are speaking to? How can we break this habit, and become much more confident in the way we conversate with our peers? We talk about all of that and more in this episode! Article Referenced: When "I'm Sorry" I...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we talk about how organizational skills are essential to making a PhD easier. This is something that I struggled with greatly in my first years as a student, and one that I continue to work on even now. I break down 3 tips to making organization easier through a PhD! We are also on Apple Podcasts! If you enjoy this podcast and want to tun...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we confront a problem that every PhD student faces numerous times along the way: loss of motivation. This is something that I personally struggle with quite a bit and have learned to identify and tackle effectively. Here, I talk about my main tells, triggers, and solutions. I also talk about what others have dealt with and their solutions...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we tackle a highly requested topic: Imposter Syndrome! This is also the first episode of our Casual Conversations series, where I bring on guests to discuss the posted topic. Please help me in introducing Arturo! We identify imposter syndrome, some of the general known causes, and how to mitigate the negative effects of imposter syndrome....

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we tackle an incredibly important skill: reading! As a true survival guide, we will be covering some essential skills to help ease you into your PhD. Do you feel like it takes way too long to read a research article? Do you spend a lot of time googling what all the words mean? What's impact factor? What's peer-review? We answer all of tho...

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! I am honestly pleasantly shocked by the kind reception of the first episode of the podcast! I got so many questions and ideas for future episodes, and for that I am very grateful! Please feel free to give me questions, comments, concerns, etc. in the Q&A below (if you are on Spotify). In this episode I decided to put together a quick but comprehensive...

Welcome in to our first episode of the PhD Survival Guide! This episode is more of a prologue, so let's just call this episode 0.  In this episode I introduce myself, Firas, a 5th year PhD student. There are many things that I wish I knew prior to becoming a PhD student that I think would've helped me immensely during the beginning of my career. As a new student, there are many anxieties and...