There are challenges you face while doing PhD. This presentation is an account of such challenges and the prospects that exist.

1. Challenges & Prospects
for a Research scholar
Dr S G Deshmukh
ABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology &
Management , Gwalior
Research conclave – 5 Apr 2018 ,
ABV-IIITM Gwalior

2. Acknowledgement..
 Thanks to Dr Jitesh Thakkar,IIT Kharagpur
for insightful observations and comments
which are embedded in this presentation.

3. Ph d: Cultural shock?
 Webster dictionary (2015) defines cultural
shock as ―a feeling of confusion, doubt, or
nervousness caused by being in a place that is
very different from what you are used to
 Do you agree that Ph d is a culture shock?

4. Doing Ph d
 A character-building experience,
 An amazing journey in pursuit of
excellence?
 An intellectual enhancement and ;
 A personal development opportunity

5. Typical challenges
 From topic side
 From personal competency side
 From resources side
 From supervisor/guide side
 From family side

6. Remark..
 Average half life of knowledge has dropped
to 5 years !
 Salim Ismail (co-author of Exponential Organisations)
 Knowledge decays !
 https://www.fs.blog/2018/03/half-life/

7. S-s Relationship
Supervisor
 Supervisee
 Characterization of relationship ?
Supervisor dominant relationship
Student dominant relationship
Mutually beneficial relationship

8. Typical timeline..
 Stage 1:Your supervisor knows more about
your project and its context than you do and
should guide you in your first steps;
 Stage 2: You'll be on par, exchanging ideas
discussing, and debating results;
 Stage 3:You'll be the expert, with nobody but
yourself, knowing more about your research.
 Source: https://www.findaphd.com/advice/doing/phd-problems.aspx

9. Consult Quora !
 https://www.quora.com/How-do-I-deal-with-a-
bad-PhD-advisor

10. Remarks..
 Supervision is a tacit process
 Difficult to formalize
 Quality of Relationship between S-s
 Managing this relationship is a challenge!
 Outcome is a function of the quality of
relationship?

11. S-s
to
s-S

12. Listen , Listen, Listen !!
 Listen to your supervisor(s)
 Listen to your peers
 Listen to professionals
 Listen to yourself

13. Do’s and Don’ts
Do’s
 Do consult your supervisor
 Do take his feedback seriously
 Do take every opportunity to
practice and learn
 Do maintain a healthy inter-
disciplinary approach
 Do get a life
Don’ts
 Don’t leave the responsibility for
your work to others.
 Don’t waste your first year
 Don’t spend long hours in the lab
for the sake of it
 Don’t underestimate how long it
will take to write up
Credit: Nick Oswald: https://bitesizebio.com/99/10-dos-and-donts-for-phd-students/

14. Some insights and myths..
 No two Phds are same
 Your friend’s Ph D supervisor is better than
yours
 It is difficult to get publications in our domain.
 You should never be the first PhD student of a
supervisor !

15. View 1 : Social Technology
 Leverage collaborative tools, such as file
sharing, activity streams, wikis, telepresence,
skype to manage real time, zero latency
conversations. When implemented it creates
transparency and connectedness and lowers a
researcher's information latency.
 Use ResearchGate, Academia, Mendeley

16. View 2.. Algorithms..
 As the world turns into data and information,
we must leverage Algorithms, including
Machine Learning and Deep Learning to get
new insights about the way research is going
ahead
 The algorithmic view helps in making the process routinised

17. What can be done?
 Make a systematic plan
 Establish a routine / rhythm
 Start writing now. Write everyday
 Read at least one book on writing
 Read at least Three theses
 Discuss , deliberate and disseminate
 Set long-term / short-term goals

18. Agility is the ability and
willingness to learn
from experience,
and subsequently apply
that learning to perform
successfully under
new or first-time
conditions.
Agility

19. Relevance of agility to
researcher?
 Agility in topic
 Agility in experimentation
 Agility in outcome/publication
 Agility in post-ph d life?

20. Prospects
 Good academic career
 Affiliation with a good institute
 Professional recognition
 Sponsored projects
 Generation of IP (patent, copyright etc.)

21. Prospects
 Opportunity to act as an examiner/referee
 Opportunity for guiding next generation
students
 Opportunity to network –
locally/regionally/globally
 Opportunity to do consulting
 Opportunity to act as trainer
 Opportunity to act as a member in committees
 Opportunity for Self-satisfaction

22. Things about a PhD – nobody told
you about…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAKsQf
77nHU

23. Insights
 Small little progress can incrementally be useful.
 Keeping note of ideas, thoughts, salient points are
important. maintaining a research diary is a handy idea.
 Doing something else apart from research to keep
motivated and achieve the sense of fulfilment.
 Talking to fellow scholars and supervisor to tide over
solitude.
 Attending conferences to understand the direction and
importance of one's work in global arena.

24. Two most important traits of Researchers
 Never fear from Evaluation. They take this as an
opportunity to improve. If performance is Good, it improves
your confidence in research. If bad, it helps oneself to
introspect and evolve.
 Keep cool. A silent mind can process the information fast
and retains the knowledge forever.

25. Researcher MUST Develop Three
attributes
 Perseverance
 Hand and Head coordination
 Determination

26. Useful material ..
 https://phdlife.warwick.ac.uk/
 http://www.mun.ca/educ/faculty/mwatch/vol42/winter2015/Bahar_Haghighat
-PhD_Shock.pdf
 https://www.elsevier.com/connect/10-ways-to-make-your-phd-experience-
easier-and-more-enjoyable
 https://www.timeshighereducation.com/features/10-truths-a-phd-supervisor-
will-never-tell-you/2005513.article
 http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2017/04/phd-students-face-significant-
mental-health-challenges
 http://paeaonline.org/earning-a-phd-10-problems-that-could-blindside-you/
 http://phdcomics.com/
 http://ijds.org/Volume10/IJDSv10p039-055Bogelund0714.pdf
 https://finishyourthesis.com/ebook/
Pl use this !!!

27. Thank you !
deshmukh.sg@gmail.com
https://www.slideshare.net/SanjeevDeshmukh/