Systematic Files

My supervisor has offered me some advice: keep your files in neat order, store them systematically and name them sensibly so you always know where files and documents are and can access them with ease when needed (i.e. when your supervisor is looking over your shoulder and asks to see something you have not actually used for months). Again, PhD comics has hit the nail on the head, for my files actually look pretty much exactly like this:

Alos, we use syntax when analysing data on SPSS, this means writing out commands in a programming format instead of going through the drop down lists like a normal person. Again, his advice to me was to keep all the syntax for a specific study in one file and add to that file. Have I done that? Not yet. I intend to...soon!

The Deep End

It has been a long radio silence.

This is what a PhD students life is like, it's busy and hard and leaves little time for other things. To be honest, I have been trying to "ease into" doing this PhD and got slapped in the face for doing so. I have had meetings with both of my supervisors and have felt unprepared for them, partly due to the fact that in all honesty, I haven't been working as hard as I could have. In addition to this my supervisors are hard core statistics boffins and expect me to keep up. And I have been scrambling to do so. The combination of the two have left me less than impressive to them and trying not to cry at most of our meetings.

As a PhD student, you are an apprentice to your supervisor. The PhD is your journey to learning about being an academic, doing research and being able to cope with the demanding publish or perish world of scientific research. You will be challenged, and you will need to prove your worth. I have so far only made a lackluster effort at this. I cried to my supervisor at our last meeting before Christmas. We both agreed that it cannot go on like this. I understand that I have to work harder and he understood that weekly meetings with both supervisors grilling me can be intimidating. So I shall go back with an effort to grow a pair and be more prepared and together, I hope we can come to an agreement on meetings that will prove both positive and productive.

Po: You're not my master. And I'm not the Dragon Warrior.

Shifu: Then why didn't you quit? You knew I was trying to get rid of you, yet you stayed!

Po: Yeah, I stayed. I stayed because every time you threw a brick at my head or said I smelled; it hurt, but it could never hurt more than every day of my life just being me. I stayed because I thought if anyone can change me, can make me not me, it was you! The greatest kung fu teacher in all of China!

Shifu: I can change you! I can turn you into the Dragon Warrior! And I will!

My Precious

My new computer has finally arrived! It is big, sleek, silver and beautiful. Thank you Steve Jobs (may he rest in peace), you have made this joyous day possible.

I have been waiting for my computer for weeks! I have been like a stubborn child, refusing to get any real work done until I got it. Also, it turned out that we had major teething problems with our first analyses anyway, so I was truly unable (or at least challenged to the absolute limits of my can-be-botheredness) to get on with data tampering... I mean analysing.

After installing statistical programs onto my home computer three times, then having to admit that despite repeated attempts the programs refused to open the relevant data files, I was defeated. I was also convinced that all my prayers would be answered and my problems solved by the arrival of my new imac. I can assure you, they have. Things work now!

This means I can happily go home an procrastinate for the rest of the day. Who in their right mind would start work at 4pm on a Friday? No one!

Why The Geek Gets the Girl

10 reasons you should date a geek:

1. They are smart, you can actually have conversations with them that don't revolve around their pectoral muscles or last nights football score.

2. They are actually good looking. With geek being the new chic, people are noticing the appeal of the smart guy with glasses. Personally I have always thought that a man with good looking glasses is sexy.

3. They are domestically useful. They will fix your computer, your printer and your car. (well, the geeky love of my life will at least). They will be able to iron their own shirt and buy toilet paper.

4. They're not douche bags. You know how women always fall for the bad guy, try to fix them and then get cheated on and scarred for life. Yeah, date a geek. They are considerate, will respect you and listen to you but still have a standard Y chromosome related male instinct to them. With some cases, you can still have some of that fixing project were you so inclined.

5. Geeks are great lovers. Their consideration for you extends to the bedroom...

6. They  have manners, not only does that pay off in social situations and dates but your parents will love them too. They will open doors and say please and thank you. They will get the bill but allow you to go halfsies if you insist on gender equality.

7. They are on their way to well paid jobs. Even if you are an independent woman who never wants to scrounge of their man, you can still appreciate the feel of a successful career man by your side.

8. Geeks will not envy you for having a career. If you want a career, you want to be well paid and successful, your geek will support you and not get penis envy over who earns more  money.

9. They can communicate with you. Not only do they listen, but they don't give up when you're sulking and they sometimes even manage to make you talk about stuff you didn't know you could talk about but in retrospect, really needed to.

10. They have the best toys, newest gadgets and tons of films. In addition, they will always have expert input on whether you should get the new htc smartphone or the iphone.

Scott Johnson has created a poster of 56 geek-types. Which one will you choose?

The Trench

By trench I don't mean a coat. I mean the researcher trench (or boffin trench). 

The researcher trench is what happens to people who pursue an academic career. You start with a PhD, which usually represents the first stage of researching a phenomenon you’re interested in. Then you go on to do further research on your area of interest, become an expert in it, favour certain research methods over others and settle in to your comfortable and academically exciting (to you) niche –voila, you have just dug yourself a trench.   

What then happens when academics get together is that each of them peers over the side of their own trench at the others and is critical and sceptical about the relevance, importance and reliability of the other scientists’ research.

I witnessed the academic trench syndrome first-hand the other day and watched in amazement. We have a reading group in which each week, a selected paper or some interesting research is presented by one of the attendees and then discussed by the group. This week we presented the article that we are publishing (the one related to my dissertation and PhD). Now, I raised a number of questions in the process of doing the research for this article, but after discussing them, I felt I may have misunderstood things as I am still taking my first unsteady steps in academia. To my surprise, most of these questions were also raised by other researchers at this presentation. Then they went on to raise a couple of other points as well. At the end of it all, my supervisor asked me if I thought the research had not been well received. I explained my trench theory:

Researcher 1 conducts research in his trench. It is specific, related to a specific topic, including only specific terminology and concepts and excluding everything else. All in all, very specific. He presents this research to his colleagues.

Researcher 2 looks up from his trench and wonders why the study didn’t use a methodology that he always uses. It is so useful and reliable. Also, he points out all possible limitations of the methodology that was used. His methodologies would also provide some interesting data for examining other aspects of the topic.

Researcher 3 peers over the side of his trench and questions the relevance of the study in general. Surely it should take into account a number of other concepts that are clearly related to the topic in question. For instance, this thing he has just researched is certainly something that would factor in to the study.

Each researcher thinks that the other researchers do not understand, are too narrow minded and cannot think beyond the perimeters of their own research.

And this continues in academic circles. Pun intended.

It is worth nothing that trenches occur in other contexts as well. A good example is politics. Each politician sits in their own trench and enthusiastically defends it by throwing verbal grenades at the other party’s trenches. Trenches may also occur with highly idealistic people, such as environmentalists, hipsters, health enthusiasts, and the religious.

I ambitiously intend to avoid digging myself into a researcher trench any time soon. I hope to retain a perhaps naive (I prefer “child-like”) ability to question and consider other factors, angles and also strive to make my research accessible and relatable to researchers and laymen who do not share my research interests. Here’s to hoping.

New Generations

I read an in-the-works article draft today about demands of leadership for the next decade. I was especially interested in the fact that many of the challenges people though would be facing the management of organisations in the future were to do with younger generations entering working life. I can’t tell you much about this article let alone reference it, as it is still in the process of being written and published, but the interview data was so interesting and thought provoking to me that I want to discuss it. After its publication I will reference it here.

In Summary: The interviewees felt that it would be challenging to get people to commit to work and specific organisations in the future. The so called generation Y was seen to want a work-life balance and not to commit to their jobs in organisations. Young people also do not want to fatten the shareholders wallets with their work efforts. Some interviewees even went as far as to say that younger people have weaker abilities in cooperating, do not have any manners and that employers end up having to do the upbringing that has not been done at home. Youth today was seen to refuse to do routine tasks and to want to secure significant titles (and pay checks) such as managerial and leadership positions immediately. In other words, generation Y has no patience to work up the ladder.

The definition for “generation Y” varies, but generally lands between 1970’s and mid 1990’s (i.e. my generation!).

The fact that my generation was under scrutiny in this article made it all the more interesting to me, I often have to read papers on organisational psychology and to be honest it really is not my cup of tea.

It was a gruelling read! It was ruthless and I felt interested, ashamed and defensive all at the same time. I recognise myself as one of those people who would very much like fame and fortune from the get go and don’t really feel I have the patience to work on the bottom rung for half my life. In addition to this, I happen to have a boyfriend whose biggest dream is to be rich by the time he is 30. Enough said.

So, we are guilty as charged. However, as a member of generation Y, I do have some thoughts on why we shouldn’t be shot down without a trial.

Firstly, I think each generation always frowns upon the ways of the next. Without this kind of development and change, history would not have happened and we would still be hanging from trees.

Secondly, I think we live in a time, where these new ideals held by generation Y are encouraged. The society we have grown up in surrounds us with several influences that make us the way we are. For one, higher education has become the norm. It is no longer a sign of dedication, brains and expertise to have done an undergraduate degree at university.  The same goes for masters degrees. In the UK, it feels, you have pretty much as good a chance in finding a job after an undergraduate degree as you would after your A-levels. You almost have to do a master’s degree. Even then you will struggle to find a job.  Exceptions are degrees that prepare you for the NHS. However, at the same time we are promised by university and other institution representatives that a degree will open all the doors wide open for our future.

Also, we are surrounded by role models of rich, successful and media-sexy young people. Professional poker players (something I find ridiculous), gifted investors, internet- and start-up entrepreneurs (Facebook, Angry Birds, Twitter, etc.). The internet is making entrepreneurship easier than ever, start-up culture thrives on ideas, not hard labour.

It is true that this generation may not be satisfied with getting their hands dirty on the first peg of the career ladder. But with almost two decades of education under our belts when we enter that career ladder, of course we feel undervalued and underpaid. By then we are at a point where we want to have a family too, so of course we want that work-life balance. And with the difficulty of even finding a decent job where we wouldn’t feel overqualified, why wouldn’t we look to entrepreneurship to make the kind of money we feel we deserve after putting all our (or our parents) money into education (or getting into heaps of debt to get an education).

I completely understand that with £9000 a year in tuition fees, students would like a nice pay check at the end of their education. I would. 

At the same time, I do think that just having a degree is not enough. I am one of thousands of psychology graduates in the country. If I had merely relied on having that undergraduate or master’s degree to get into a good job, I would probably be working… Well I wouldn’t because I would be considered overqualified for Burger King. I am not heaps better off, I’m still at uni, but I have a plan. And I am relying on my master plan to get me where I want to go. So the bottom line is that whereas my generation thinks differently to our predecessors, nothing is stopping us from getting what we want, if we just have the determination to go for it. That will require some work though.

Fresher's Flu

Following the examples of countless PhD students and other postgraduates before me, I declare that undergraduates have become the bane of my existence.

This declaration was brought to you by the annual bout of fresher's flu. Well, I think it may only be a cold, but any sniffles occurring mid September to mid October are categorised as the fresher's flu. Such conceptualisation implies several things. #1. Spread of germs increases exponentially when tens of thousands of students come together in one place.  #2. It is the fresher's fault. #3. It is an epic-demic rivalling bird flu and swine flu and the best strategy of avoiding it would be to avoid undergraduates (as you would birds or pigs).

If a smartphone app was to be made of the fresher's flu, I would be happy to catapult both birds and pigs at freshmen.

The arrival of undergraduates is a migratory pattern that you won't be able to miss. First, the streets fill with cars bursting at the seams with their belongings. Mums and dad's move their goslings into their student accommodation. As soon as they leave and the evening descends, the newly arrived undergraduates transform in a werewolf like manner into intoxicated clubbers. During the day time, they will fill the campus, dragging their hung over selves around like zombies in the morning and bursting with adorable excitement for the new uni experience in the afternoon.

They will continue to torment me as I will eventually have to teach them and worst of all, grade their work. I will also have to answer their e-mail queries with kind words and guidance, when all I want to do is get a rubber stamp and go around smacking "I have brain flatulence" onto their foreheads.

In summary: Undergraduates are germy and become annoying when you are no longer one of them.

Article

So, my MSc dissertation happened to be a part of a study that my supervisor was working on, and because of this I am theoretically a co-author on this article.

That all sounds fancy and cool, but what it really means is that I gathered data and scribbled up my dissertation. They used the same data and wrote up an article that I get my name on and kindly pretend I actually contributed to it. Today, I received the final draft of said article and I have been reading through it for the past half an hour.

This is kind of what I feel like:

I keep stopping and filling to the brim with embarrassment. My dissertation, in the light of this article, is rubbish. I cannot believe I have submitted it thinking it was OK. I really should have spent more of my summer bettering it instead of thinking it was good to go. In response to my suspicions of this articles vast superiority to my dissertation, my supervisor kindly said "I'm sure your dissertation has its own interesting points on the matter".

I really feel like the kid who came home with a messy finger painting that her parents then put on the fridge.

"Much to learn, you still have."

Apartment Block Blackout

So I came home from a weekend at my Boyfriend's house. I walked in the door and tired to turn on my bedside table lamp. Nothing. Then the big cruel ceiling lights. Nothing. Then the bathroom light (just on the off chance). Nothing. Hmmm.

After a knock on my neighbour's door (nothing like a power cut to bring random people together) and it transpires that the power cut has been going on for about three hours. Hmmm. Right, onwards to try and figure out how many people have tried to contact the wardens, how many have succeeded and what is being done about it. Long story short. They tried to do something about it, the power came back on for about thirty seconds and went out again. I manged to catch up with a friend on the phone and read a book, first by candle light (which is technically not allowed but what do they expect?) and then in bed by the light of my Samsung galaxy tab.

The power still wasn't on when I woke up his morning. I have to say that I am worried for my food. I do not fancy spending a hundred or so pounds replacing all the food I had stored in the freezer so I would only have to "top up" at regular intervals as I don't have a car. However, luckily for me the friend I caught up on the phone with is coming over and has a car. Maybe they won't mind helping me out if all my food has thawed and is now a salmonella deathtrap.

So, this morning I came to the office. No new computer yet. Bah! In other news, have a new desklamp, lab book and stats books (geek alert - actually, they are my comfort blankie as I am insecure about my true stats abilities). I also have a meeting with my supervisor and most likely second supervisor today. All the more reason to get some stuff done despite lack of my very own computer.

In celebration of meeting my second supervisor today, I spilled some of my morning latte on my white shirt. Well, at least I have a good excuse to go by a lovely scarf at lunch!

Out With the Old and in With the New!

Hallelujah, my dissertation is in the bindery! I had the best of intentions on handing it in today, but then I got entwined in a vicious cycle of printing it, flipping through it and finding little things wrong with it that I just HAD to fix (i.e. reprint pages 7, 12, 37, 42 and 53). Why is it, that no matter how many times you've read through and fixed and adjusted and proofread and had other people proofread, when it comes to printing, things suddenly turn ugly and difficult?!

So, because I got stuck reprinting and checking and fixing, I didn't get to the bindery (which is miles away) until eleven o'clock in the morning. Now this doesn't sound bad, and I didn't think it was bad since at my old uni you just popped in, they did it for you on the spot and you walked away a happy bunny with a bound dissertation in your hands! Well, in Bangor things are a little bit different. Firstly, like I said, the bindery has been situated miles away.

I had to walk in a grey rain drizzle all they way, past sheep pastures and horses and fields to the damned corner of Bangor where the bindery is. I got soaking wet and my glasses became covered in rain. I get to the bindery, unable to see anything and unable to wipe my glasses due to the fact that all my clothes were damp as well. The bindery man was very nice, but apparently I couldn't get my dissertation bound on the spot. Instead I was to leave it with them and come back for it..... all the way past the sheep pastures and horses and fields and... you get the picture. So I reluctantly handed over my dissertation and walked back to civilisation.

I had a meeting with my supervisor and we already started discussing my project as well as potential conferences to go to. Straight into the deep end then. I haven't even registered yet. We did, however, also rearrange the furniture in my new office. I must be more specific, new office for me, but in itself an old office with a new coat of paint. Even though it's looking a bit fresher, I am still trying to get some brown filing cabinets out of it and I have to take bleach with me next time in order to really make it home. I mean second home.

Now, here is a minor misconception that I was under. I believed I would be moving into what would be a bustling hub of Ph.D. students with creative research ideas and unfathomable work morale. Apparently the plan was to accommodate 3 new Ph.D. students into the building that I am currently in. I am one of those three. Now, it appears that these other students share a second supervisor who seems to think they would be better off in another building. Leaving me all alone with a couple of Ph.D. students just finishing off their Ph.D.s. Sad times. Alas, I hope that by some miracle I won't be all alone in there, for I would feel isolated and possibly rebel by procrastinating. A lot. (As if I wouldn't anyway)

Well, only time will tell! In the mean time, I eagerly await my new computer!

Geeky feelings

Heard (and saw) this today. I thought it was amazing and almost made me cry. Don't ask me why, I'm just that geeky.

This is a part of a website that uses a Songify type approach to make collages of science programs and scientist speeches into lovely and informative pieces of music. Check it out, it's called The Symphony of Science!

Also, I think Brian Cox makes science sexy!

Settling in

I finally have internet in my new appartment. It's amazing how many things can go wrong when moving into a flat in the UK. Things-just-do-not-work!

I went to Singapore on holiday a couple of weeks ago and was blown away by how great the place was. Not only was it hot and sunny and full of shopping malls, but the whole place functioned like an overclocked well oiled machine with super efficient watercooling that lights up! Unlike Finlands publick stairwells, escalators, gateways and elevators, nothing smelled of wee. Singapore's vast lattice or underground walkways, the subway and infinite numbers of escalators and lifts were all sparkly clean, fresh and airconditioned. They were also filled with nice people who gave their seats to the more needy in a heartbeat.

The tube stations were dotted along the edges with indicated areas where the train doors would stop. In addition to this, in front of said indicated areas were clearly painted instructions on how to correctly enter and exit a train without hassle, delay or deaths. It's quite simple, Londoners: in from the sides and out from the middle. It went something like this:

None of this silly scuffling along the edge trying to guess where it might stop so you may optimally position yourself to force your way in against the rightful current of people coming off the train. See Michael McIntyre about this tube thing, he tells it better than I do.

So anyway, the reason I'm telling you about Singapore, is because I told my supervisor about my trip as well as all the problems I'd had moving into my apartment. "What do you think this is, Singapore?" he exclaimed and we had a good laugh. Indeed, this is not singapore, it's Wales.

So what did happen with the apartment. Well. I had e-mailed the office to ask if I could move in a week early so I could get some peace and quiet to finish of this damned dissertation. They said yes. So I turned up on Saturday with my baggage (emotional and luggage kind) and the lady in the office was slightly shocked that I was there asking to move in. My apartment has been the show room for the private accommodation company and so firstly some busy wardens were ushered into my room to clear it out.

Then I was given a key and told that it does not work on the front door yet, so I will have to enter through the back door. However, turns out that the back door is impossible to close firmly from the outside so I would have to exit through the front door. Clearly this is a sensible way to do things. Not only that, but the key also opens every other door in the building, so I was kindly asked not to go into other people's currently empty apartments. And before you think I'm a nosy person, I would like to tell you that I resisted the temptation.

Ok, so I got into my apartment, weird key and all and get unpacked. I notice that my shower does not work. I also notice that none of my taps produce hot water. My stove works on a booster switch which I find really odd and I don't have internet. I also discover that one of the cupboards in my studio flat is taken up by a water boiler. Things don't work like this where I'm from, I don't know how to use a boiler. In Finland, water magically appears in both hot and cold forms from one tap depending on which way you turn the handle. No buttons or electrical equipment or additional knobs or lights or switches needed.

That night (one of the first nights) I go to roast an organic chicken thigh (because I'm doing all kinds of trendy and responsible things with food now) in my microwave-oven combo (which slightly freaks me out) and I hear a peculiar rattling coming from inside. I tentatively open the door and a small puff of grey smoke escapes and I meet a smell of melting plastic. Suffice to say I have not dared use the oven again. I did tell the office lady about this and she told me to keep the oven on and see if it stops. That is totally the scientific approach to solving this problem.

Tonight, I finally have internet. I also have a shower that works, hot water coming out of my taps with varying success and I have keys to my new office. I have cooked proper food in my very own slightly dysfunctional kitchen every day and even though I have not dared to turn the microwave-oven on again, life is good right now.

I just need to get this dissertation submitted by next week.

I'll get to it in a minute

So I have about three weeks left until the hazy transition period between handing in my masters dissertation and jumping straight into my PhD office.

Interestingly enough, I am not getting much done with my dissertation. This is quite typical for me and it's the reason I keep waking up in cold sweat wondering what I've signed up for with a doctorate.

You see, instead of working hard on my dissertation, which really is almost finished anyway, bar pretty much rewriting the text, I keep dreaming about my new apartment. It's the first time in five years I will have my own kitchen and suffice to say I am excited. So in between tweaking my results tables I keep wandering onto various websites with delicious recipes. In addition to this I also keep wandering onto websites with DIY tricks and tips, interior design ideas and storage solutions. I am clearly focusing on the wrong things seeing as I won't get to live in this apartment if I don't start my PhD, which won't happen as long as I'm STILL DOING MY DISSERTATION!

The end is nigh

I am shortly at the end of my life, as I will begin my PhD studentship. It is still a month away and before that I still need to finish my masters dissertation. I have clearly not thought this through and am jumping off a racing horse straight onto another one going full pelt in the other direction.

But it's not like I didn't ask for this. I did, I asked two professors at another university. And then by some twist of fate I ended up with an offer to continue with my current supervisor. So anyway, I did ask for this to happen.

However, I have friends who are inches away from finishing their PhD. I've heard the stories about extremely flexible working hours (around the clock), being treated like a slave by your supervisor (as a female student with a male supervisor I have disturbing visions of princess leia and Jabba the Hutt), off-the-charts stress levels and sleep deprivation and a balanced diet of ramen noodles and red bull. Suffice to stay I am in a decent panic about this PhD.

I am excited as well. I will shortly be choosing a new computer for myself. I will also be moving into my lovely new studio apartment. It is the first time in 5 years I will have my own kitchen(ette) and this is luxury!

The point of this blog is to examine the process of doing a PhD. I suspect it will be interesting, as I'm from Finland and already have encountered some strange ways of academics in the UK.