Should you do a PhD - Pretty Huge Decision?

Written by Molly Steadman, edited by Shaan Subramaniam and Charlotte Pugsley.

It’s a daunting prospect to dedicate 3 to 4 years of your life towards accomplishing one niche objective - particularly when your income is only a fraction of that of your peers. So, how do you work out if it’s right for you? This article includes perspectives from current PhD students, so should hopefully provide you with some insight to help you weigh up your decision.

The PhD students:

Charlotte Pugsley from the University of Leeds working on the development of a bio-insecticide.

Caroline Babisz and Swathi Kumar who are both studying Cancer Biology as part of the BBSRC London Interdisciplinary Doctoral Programme (LIDo).

Iman Omar working on Biocatalysis and Green energy at King’s College London.

Tia Abbas a Bioengineering PhD student from Imperial College London

While this article will focus on PhDs within biotechnology and related areas, lots of the information will be relevant to other fields.

Why do it?

A PhD takes over 3 years, so you really need to enjoy research and be excited about the topic you’re working on. The best way to know if you enjoy research is by getting a feel for it when undertaking lab projects during an undergrad or master’s programme, or during a summer placement.

“I am passionate about developing anti-ageing therapies to create preventative therapies. My interest in the field is what encouraged me to pursue a PhD.” - Tia

“At the end of my masters year project I felt that I wasn’t ‘done’ with research quite yet. I wanted to keep learning and investigating science.” - Charlotte

“After my MRes year working in the lab and on my own project I saw that I really loved what I was doing. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I knew it would be something in science and research.” - Caroline

If you enjoy problem solving and being challenged, a PhD might be right for you. As it’s still a studentship, it’s a huge learning opportunity. You’re not expected to know everything, so you can take the time to learn about new fields and develop new skills.

“When I figure out what mistake I have made or when I have finally got something to work, this 100% makes me feel like I'm succeeding and getting better at research.” - Caroline

Doing a PhD may be the first time in your career that you get the opportunity to work independently and spearhead your own work. This is particularly true for laboratory research, as without a PhD you can sometimes be limited to acting as a human pipetting machine, instead of being the decision maker.

“The most rewarding thing is the ability to shape my project and the direction my research is going in.” - Iman

“The most rewarding thing is the freedom and independence that comes with a PhD.” - Tia

A PhD is also a great way to meet people and network.

“LIDo has a fantastic network connecting PhD students and researchers across London. This network has opened multiple doors for my professional career development - it introduced me to the SEC!” - Swathi

Issues that you may face

Unfortunately, most of the benefits of a PhD are a double-edged sword.

Although the flexibility gives you free rein to work in the hours that you’re most productive and book spontaneous holidays, it also requires pure self-motivation. This usually doesn’t cause too much trouble when you first start, as you’re keen and raring to go. However, as time goes on and you experience a number of setbacks, it can be difficult to keep pushing forward.

“Due to the pandemic it was exceptionally hard to maintain the same level of motivation when I didn’t have daily access to my research lab.” - Swathi

A PhD takes a huge amount of resilience and perseverance. You often spend days, weeks or months working on something that hasn’t been useful. Perhaps, a moment’s lapse in concentration leads you to make a simple mistake, such as a pipetting error (oops). Or, a vital piece of equipment malfunctions just when you need it. It’s also very common that the system you are trying to get working may never work or you may have to overcome months of hurdles without any progress before you get it working.

“When experiments do not work and processes in the laboratory become repetitive it can get frustrating.” - Tia  

“I've struggled with accepting failure when it comes to my experiments. There are some weeks (sometimes even months) where I would find myself working on the same assay or protocol without any success and I have found this at times to be very very draining, both mentally and physically.” - Iman

It’s a very solitary pursuit, so the burden of progress is also carried entirely on your shoulders.

“Doing a PhD can be a lonely experience at times, as you are usually the primary person who is (fully) invested in the project.” - Charlotte

Research is also SLOW. Everything always ends up taking a lot longer to complete than you would expect it to!

Advice

Imposter syndrome is a huge problem for PhD students. So, try not to get too emotionally attached! Remove your self-worth from your progress.

“Try not to worry, almost everyone feels the same as you do!” - Charlotte

“Don’t doubt your abilities.” - Swathi

”Be confident in yourself. No one finds a PhD easy, no matter how easy they may make it look.” - Caroline

Negative data (evidence of things NOT working) is still data! If you have been strategic and methodological in your approach, you can write about experiments that didn’t work in your thesis. Not all projects will be equally fruitful, so the amount of positive publishable data that you generate isn’t directly tied to your skill as a researcher.

You need to keep focused and remind yourself of the bigger picture. Whilst exploring different avenues related to your project can worthwhile, try not to spend too long going off on a tangent trying to do something that doesn’t matter towards your thesis or publication.

Slow down. Often it feels like you’re being most productive when you’re squeezing in every experiment that you can. However, you’ll be more likely to make errors and burn yourself out.

“Take your time. Prioritise yourself because you can't work on 0. There will always be more experiments for you to do or research to carry out, don't kill yourself trying to get everything you planned to get done done. There's a reason why a PhD is as long as it is.” - Iman

So, should you do it?

A PhD can be incredibly rewarding and there’s definitely no other pursuit like it. So, if you’re motivated by the draws of undertaking a PhD and feel that you can withstand the difficulties that you will encounter, then it could be right for you.

“I think for prospective PhD students it is essential to pursue a project that you are genuinely interested in and passionate about. A PhD is a huge commitment and comes with many hurdles along the way so having an authentic desire to pursue further study in a specific field contributes to the perseverance to continue when the project becomes challenging.” - Tia

‍