{"id":14282,"date":"2024-05-13T15:04:56","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T14:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/?p=14282"},"modified":"2024-05-13T15:06:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T14:06:42","slug":"starting-a-phd-after-a-break-from-studying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.york.ac.uk\/student-voices\/2024\/05\/13\/starting-a-phd-after-a-break-from-studying\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting a PhD after a break from studying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PhD student Charlie answers some questions about studying a PhD at York. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi, I\u2019m Charlie and I\u2019m a second year PhD student on the Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment<\/a> (ACCE) which is a Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) between York, Liverpool, Sheffield, UKCEH and the Natural History Museum. My project is looking at the impact woodlands have on nest predation of wader birds in the UK uplands. I\u2019m based in the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why did you decide to do a PhD?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I was the first person in my family to go to university. There are no universities in Guernsey (where I\u2019m from) so before my undergraduate I didn\u2019t know much about how a university worked at all. Let alone about PhDs! It was something I developed an understanding of as I went. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first started to think I\u2019d want to do a PhD during my undergraduate third year research project. I thought of and developed the project from scratch looking at the distribution of hedgehogs in Guernsey. I just loved the process of learning about my subject, thinking of questions and ways to test it. Hedgehogs are very under-recorded in Guernsey despite being a common sight so I felt like I was making a genuine contribution. I spent hours working on it because I became a bit obsessed!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did you do for your undergraduate degree?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I did a BSc in Zoology at Swansea University. Then an MRes in Ecology, Evolution and Conservation at Imperial College London, on their Silwood Park campus in Berkshire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you go straight through your degrees or did you take any gaps?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I think it\u2019s really important to give yourself time to explore your options and interests. I had a gap between my A levels and starting my undergraduate degree. Mainly because over my time at Sixth Form I\u2019d started to realise that my goal of being a vet, which I\u2019d been fixed on all my life, wasn\u2019t actually what I wanted to do. I wanted to take the time to really research what other course options were available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then I took another gap between my Masters and starting my PhD. I did an MRes because I knew that would develop the skills I would need to do a PhD. However before diving into another four years of student life, I wanted to take a break to try out a couple of other possibilities that were also in my head. And to earn some money for a bit! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I spent almost a year working as a news reporter which gave me a lot of experience of science communication. I also worked as data and information officer at the Mammal Society for three years. This was more of a research role, and was also a really interesting experience of working for a small NGO.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did you always want to do a PhD?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I think if I’d known that a PhD was a thing for more of my life (first gen + growing up on a small island with no higher education means my knowledge was limited!) I would have aspired to do one for longer! Even in the jobs I tried out between Masters and PhD, I knew I wouldn\u2019t be happy until I was doing a PhD. I just love learning new things, thinking of questions and how I can answer them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you enjoy most about the University?\u00a0<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s a beautiful campus! As an ecology student I love that I can just take a work break to walk round the lake, listen to the ducks, go to Nisa, buy some\u00a0 bird feed and watch the chaos ensue! The University is also really active. There\u2019s always so many different events going on or things to join in with or try out. I\u2019ve been trying to make the most of the opportunities available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you enjoy most about York?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d never been to York before I moved here to start but I wasn\u2019t too worried. Whenever a friend visited York, they\u2019d always tell me I\u2019d love it and I trusted their judgement! I like that it\u2019s a small city, walkable but with lots of interesting history. I\u2019m enjoying exploring and getting to know the place. I\u2019ve been ticking off all the cat statues and I finally feel like I know where I\u2019m going in town now!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is LCAB?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

LCAB stands for the Leverhulme Centre for Anthropocene Biodiversity<\/a>. It\u2019s based on the top floor of the Berrick-Saul Building on Campus West and is host to a mix of disciplines including Biology, Environment and Geography, Archeology, English and History. Every Monday at 1pm we hold \u201cAnthropocene Biodiversity Conversations\u201d open to all and a chance for members of the centre, or guest visitors, to talk about their work and receive feedback – and a chance for attendees to eat cake! We also have research forums, a coding club and monthly breakfast pastries among other things. It\u2019s a great working atmosphere and there\u2019s almost as many plants up here as researchers!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do you do in your free time?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This year I decided to take up a couple of extra hobbies. Through the College Music Scheme<\/a> and the Music Society<\/a> I\u2019ve borrowed a violin and been receiving weekly lessons with a university music student. The scheme has so many different instruments to borrow and the Music Society has a list of student teachers if you want lessons. I think this is such a cool thing to have available to students. I was amazed by how many instruments are available to borrow!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the University\u2019s Languages for All<\/a> programme (which has student rates) I\u2019m taking beginner Japanese this year which has been great fun! They hold classes for lots of different languages. I picked Japanese as I wanted to try a language I\u2019d never had any experience of at all. In recent years I\u2019ve read quite a lot of books translated from Japanese, and have been working my way through Studio Ghibli\u2019s films!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve also joined the Inklings Society<\/a> which meets every Thursday evening during semesters. There’s talks on different literary genre\/techniques with writing challenges weaved in and a chance to read your creation back to the group if you want to. It usually finishes with a drink at the Courtyard in Derwent so that\u2019s been really fun too!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What events take place for PhD students?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In Biology, there\u2019s monthly coffee and cake which is a nice chance to say hello to other students, especially as I\u2019m based in another building. I\u2019m a rep for the ACCE DTP. We’ve just restarted our monthly lunch meetup where ACCE students from across departments can catch up together. They worked really well last year so it\u2019ll be nice to start them up again! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wentworth College, assigned to most postgraduate students, also put on several events each week and send a weekly bulletin round so you can see what you fancy doing each week. The Biology reps are also great at thinking up fun activities throughout the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anything you wish you\u2019d known before starting a PhD?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Everything doesn\u2019t always go as planned and that\u2019s fine! I spent the first six months of my PhD preparing for a field season, but the design didn\u2019t work out quite as planned. I also discovered I have a knee problem so my fieldwork got cut short and I\u2019m working on something a bit different and more desk based. However, you find from talking to others, that not everything you try will just work, and that\u2019s okay. Your project will adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was it like starting a PhD after a gap from undergraduate and Masters?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Even though I knew I wanted to do a PhD, it was a bit scary looking to apply later! Thanks to my September birthday always making me a year older before I\u2019ve even started, I was 28 when I began my PhD. I will have just turned 32 at my final hand in date. It felt weird thinking I\u2019d be 32 by the time I finish. Everyone I knew who was doing a PhD had already started so they\u2019d finish and still be in their twenties. It feels like a big number to still be a student! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, on starting, I\u2019ve seen that there\u2019s quite a mix of ages. A lot of people have taken a gap between their degrees and starting a PhD. I\u2019m realising that it’s not a big deal if it\u2019s what I want to do. And having spent a few years working it means I\u2019ve got extra experience and I\u2019m already in a routine of work which is really helpful for managing yourself. So anyone in the same situation I\u2019d say it\u2019s more common than you think to have taken some time away. You\u2019ll be fine!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read more blogs about postgraduate research at York<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PhD student Charlie answers some questions about studying a PhD at York. Hi, I\u2019m Charlie and I\u2019m a second year PhD student on the Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment (ACCE) which is a Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) between York, Liverpool, Sheffield, UKCEH and the Natural History Museum. My project is looking at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[37,1051,653,8],"tags":[1072,1119,655,807,975,23,1028],"class_list":["post-14282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-biosciences","category-pg","category-pgr","category-study","tag-applying-for-a-phd","tag-biological-sciences","tag-biology","tag-phd","tag-phd-life","tag-postgraduate","tag-postgraduate-research","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nStarting a PhD after a break from studying - 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