Submarine hunter by day, PhD student by night – an update: What I wish I’d known at the start…
21/04/2021
Lieutenant Commander Ed Oates wrote about his experiences while completing a PhD part-time at Cranfield Defence and Security in 2017. After recently successfully defending his thesis, Crowdsourcing with serious games for defence procurement, Dr Oates shares some reflective thoughts on the process, including his experience with funding:
Having completed a part-time PhD with Cranfield University, here are a few thoughts to inform those who follow on, or are thinking of following on. What I’ve experienced is, inevitably personal, but read a few of these experiences and pick out the bits that apply to you as well…
Towards the end of my studies which took a year and a half to plan, and six and a half years to implement, a book was published that covered a fair-sized chunk of what I was working on. I read the book and then went back to the Preface where the author stated: ‘… this is the book that I wish I’d had at the start of my career …’. I nearly fell off my chair – that was exactly what I was feeling!
For some, it might be a fear that as you work towards a final draft of your thesis, your work will be overshadowed by another student publishing on the same topic ahead of you. For a full-time thesis over three years this might be less of a worry, but research is moving at such a pace that you will almost certainly be working in parallel with someone else, somewhere in the world.
Don’t worry. If you’re working independently your work will always be unique and will withstand any other publication. You will have added to the store of academic knowledge on the subject and will be at least a comparator with anything else but more likely offer an alternative approach to the topic. For example, during the eight years I was working, a commercial version of my Serious Game started and then ran out of funds and was never completed, and another academic study took a different branch because they had greater funding. The end result was: do it this way if you’re short of funding or do it that way if you’re fully-funded, both options have value.
Having mentioned ‘funding’, I’d better address that aspect. If you can get funding from your employer then that’s great, but in my case, I thought I was going to be funded but then it came to nothing, so I started as a self-funded student. Then, three years into the study and with something to show for my work, I gained part-funding. You just don’t know how things are going to turn out. In my first week of the introductory programme, I was sitting next to an employer-funded student who wanted to know what arrangements were in place to cover their conference fees, and travel and subsistence costs. To me, that sounded so strange. I was fully invested in my thesis and so long as I could eat, I was prepared to invest in the pursuit of knowledge and personal development.
A PhD is a huge investment of time and money, and these are both finite resources but way more important than either of these is the personal will underpinned by a deep interest in the subject. Answer these questions to yourself: Is this subject your hobby, obsession, or deep abiding interest? Then ask yourself: Is there time in your lifestyle to give weekends, evenings, holidays and other odd-moments to this topic? Only after that, think about the funding because with a commitment to the subject and time to devote to it, you will bring others with you, including those who control the cash!
Categories & Tags:
Leave a comment on this post:
You might also like…
How is FinTech accelerating financial inclusion?
The goal of many banks, emerging digital banks and FinTech businesses is to make financial services more accessible to everyone, a goal best expressed by the phrase "financial inclusion." It is difficult to define financial ...
My Journey from Nepal to P&G: Reflecting on my Cranfield University Experience
Hey there, I'm Anamika, and I'm thrilled to share my journey from Nepal to a fulfilling career as a Process Engineer at Procter and Gamble in London. My time at Cranfield University has been ...
Systematic Literature Review – Selecting your Sources
In our previous systematic literature review post we identified some background reading for getting started, explained how to find other systematic literature reviews to help you understand what is required, and how reviews should be structured and written ...
Setting up a group on Mendeley to support your group project
Many of our students are busy working on their group projects. Our top tip is to set up a group on Mendeley. You can use it to store all your references, and to share the ...
From Angels and VCs to VCIC
Martin Spiller, Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship at Cranfield School of Management reflects on attending the Bettany Centre Speaker Series and being part of the North Europe Regional Finals of the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) ...
Sourcing country analysis – a guide to Library sources
For those researching a country, you will find that country information tends to take two forms: Analysis - country reports are descriptive reports covering most areas of interest on a country. They contain an analysis ...