Doing a PhD at Informatics@Edinburgh

Don SannellaInformatics Graduate School

Do you want to do a PhD?

Advancing the frontiers of knowledge Personal satisfaction Passion for the subject Improved job prospects

3+ years of hard and possibly lonely work

Success not guaranteed

What is PhD study like? Challenging work ... with the help of an experienced

supervisory team: principal supervisor + assistant supervisor

Research apprenticeship

What is PhD study like? First year: fill in gaps in background,

learn about current research directions, pick a topic, develop a research plan, start the research

Second year: follow plan and achieve goals 1, 2, 3, discover that goal 4 is unachievable, change to plan B, achieve goal 4B

Third year: write thesis outline, achieve more goals from plan, write thesis, look for jobs, submit thesis

Fourth year: oral thesis examination

What else will I do? Practice presenting your research

– Talks, papers, workshops, conferences Learn more

– Seminars, MSc courses, summer schools

Learn to teach– Tutorials, other teaching assistance

Transferrable skills training– Presentation skills, management skills,

entrepreneurship skills, ...

Funding There are around 50 scholarships for

2011/2012 entry Wide range of sources; some require

action from you If you have a degree from UoE:

1st class degree: Difficulty ranges from fairly easy (UK) to very difficult (non-EU).

2.1 degree: harder2.2 degree: unlikely

What do I do now? Visit www.inf.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate Find out about our research Decide what you want to do Write a research proposal Find two referees Submit an application Wait for the result