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• Feature Article

Research Culture: Highlighting the positive aspects of being a PhD student

• Elena Angulo
• Elsa Bonnaud
• Loreleï Guéry
• Eléna Manfrini
• Anna Turbelin
• Céline Albert
• Franck Courchamp
• Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, France ;
• Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Spain ;
• UMR Plant Health Institute of Montpellier, CIRAD and INRAE, France ;
• Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Germany ;
• Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, United States ;
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• Camille Bernery
• Léo Lusardi
• Clara Marino
• Martin Philippe-Lesaffre
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Introduction

Three benefits of doing a phd, recommendations, data availability, article and author information.

Articles about doing a PhD tend to focus on the difficulties faced by research students. Here we argue that the scientific community should also highlight the positive elements of the PhD experience.

Doing a PhD can be both demanding and rewarding. In addition to overcoming the scientific and intellectual challenges involved in doing original research, a PhD student may also have to deal with financial difficulties, an unhealthy work-life balance, or resulting concerns about their mental health ( Woolston, 2017 ; Auerbach et al., 2018 ; Oswalt et al., 2020 ; Evans et al., 2018 ). Despite all this, most PhD students seem satisfied with their decision to do a PhD, mostly because they work in stimulating environments with a high degree of independence and good supervision ( Pommier et al., 2022 ; Woolston, 2017 ).

Paradoxically, however, the fact that most PhD students are positive about doing a PhD is not always apparent to the outside world. For example, the present authors recently analysed more than 90,000 tweets about the PhD experience: almost half of the tweets were positive, and less than a sixth were negative, yet the negative tweets received more likes and retweets ( Figure 1 ). What can be done to counter such misleading and negative impressions? In this article we – a group of PhD students, postdocs and permanent academics – highlight the positive elements of doing a PhD in order to present a more balanced view of the whole PhD experience. We also make recommendations to maintain a positive momentum throughout the PhD. Although these ideas and recommendations are based on our experiences as researchers in ecology working in Europe, we feel that most of the points we make also apply in other disciplines and places.

Sentiment analysis of tweets about the PhD experience.

We retrieved all tweets posted in the English language during 12 consecutive weeks, from September to December 2021, that contained any of the following six hashtags: #phdlife, #phdspeaks, #phdvoice, #phdchat, #phdtips, #phdstudent. We then measured the sentiment (positive, negative or neutral) associated with each original tweet (excluding retweets). Of the 91 229 tweets we retrieved, 43,941 were positive, 12,298 were negative, and 34,990 were neutral. Mann-Whitney U tests were performed to compare the average number of likes and retweets of positive versus negative tweets. Negative tweets received significantly more likes than positive tweets (14.5 vs 12.3; P <0.001); negative tweets were also retweeted more than positive tweets but the difference was not significant (1.7 vs 1.5; P =0.383). The Twitter API and the “rtweet” R package ( cran.r-project.org/web/packages/rtweet/vignettes/intro.html ) were used to retrieve the tweets; the “syuzhet” R package ( rdrr.io/cran/syuzhet/ ) and the Bing lexicon ( Liu, 2012 ) were used for the sentiment analysis; all analyses were performed with R software ( R Development Core Team, 2021 ).

There are two primary outputs from a PhD: new skills and expertise for the graduate, and new knowledge for the wider world. In this article we focus on the former and discuss the three main benefits of doing a PhD for the individual: (i) the development of specific skills to become an expert; (ii) the ability to work in a collaborative environment; (iii) improved communication skills while sharing knowledge ( Figure 2 ). For each of these benefits we discuss both general aspects that apply to most doctoral students, and specific aspects that depend on the student’s supervisor, field of research, location and other factors.

The positive aspects of doing a PhD.

The three primary benefits of doing a PhD are acquiring expertise (pink circle), learning to work in a collaborative environment (blue), and developing communication skills for sharing knowledge (yellow). For each benefit, general aspects that apply to almost all doctoral students are shown in bold type in the small circle, and specific aspects that depend on, for example, the student’s supervisor or field of research are shown in plain type in the large circle. The large grey area contains more abstract and subjective ideas that are not discussed in the main text. It should be noted that this figure is conceptual, and that the aspects and ideas in it could be grouped in other, equally valid, ways.

Becoming an expert

Throughout a doctoral project, a PhD student will develop many of the skills needed to grow into an independent researcher, while also developing expertise in a given field. In addition to learning a great deal about their own field – and adding knowledge to it – a PhD student will learn how to perform a variety of tasks, and thus acquire new transferable skills. These will include autonomy, critical thinking, organization and planning, resilience, and the ability to design, lead and carry out projects. Furthermore, unlike postdocs and principal investigators, who have to carry out various management and administrative tasks, PhD students are usually free to dedicate their working hours almost exclusively to academic pursuits that they are (or can become) passionate about. This freedom is one of the aspects that make the PhD experience unique, and it should not be overlooked or taken for granted. Unfortunately, not all PhD students benefit from or are aware of such autonomy, but this ought to be an objective for all PhDs.

A PhD does not consist of a number of uneventful years that culminate in a single success. Rather, there are many steps along the way – such as mastering a technique, completing a series of experiments or activities in the field, or finishing the first draft of a manuscript – and the feeling of accomplishment that comes with each completed milestone should be a source of pride to the student.

Working in a collaborative environment

Learning how to work with other researchers is an important part of getting a PhD. The PhD student’s most important working relationship is with their supervisor (or, in some cases, supervisors), but most PhD students will also have the opportunity to collaborate with other members of their research group or lab, or even with researchers from the wider community. Working on other projects from time to time can help the student’s own project through increased productivity and creativity; moreover, it can strengthen lab cohesion, and might even lead to the student being a co-author on a paper. Additionally, supervising undergraduate students – or even new graduate students – is a good way of acquiring management skills.

Conferences are another way to meet and interact with other researchers. In particular, they are an opportunity to discover, discuss and be inspired by the work of other scientists. Conversations at conferences can generate new research questions or ideas for new and improved ways to tackle existing questions. Moreover, presenting results at a conference gives students a chance to receive feedback, to be recognized as active researchers by their peers, and to build a professional network.

Collaboration also can happen through the many virtual communities that PhD students can join for technical, scientific or moral support. For example, the Global PhD Server enables doctoral students to discuss their experience, exchange anecdotes, and offer or seek help. The @PhDForum supports a variety of activities, such as writing sessions for PhD students working on papers or chapters of their thesis, while Stack Overflow is a good place to offer/seek help with coding and statistics.

Developing communication skills

The ability to communicate results is a crucial skill for any researcher. A PhD student will, for example, be required to present their work to other scientists as talks or posters at meetings and conferences. The student will also start learning how to write a scientific article. Moreover, there are many opportunities for PhD students to share their passion and knowledge about their field, such as teaching and mentoring undergraduates and other graduate students. They can also get involved in public outreach, and contribute to awakening new passions or educating citizens on certain topics.

Along the PhD journey, neither the doctoral student nor the supervisor will have full control over what will happen. Some things will go wrong, which is why it is important to remain positive and try to make the most of what is a unique opportunity. Ways for the student to remain positive include going back to old pages in their laboratory notebook to see how much progress has been made, and keeping a note of all the positive feedback from different people. It is also important to remember that one does not become a PhD student by chance – being accepted to do a PhD is an achievement in itself. Additionally, sharing preliminary results with other members of the group and attending social events of a lab can build a supportive working atmosphere and help students to stay positive.

Focusing only on research can sometimes be exhausting, so spending time on other activities – such as supervising students, teaching, or working on outreach – can break the monotony and generate a sense of progress. Finally, it is important to celebrate achievements, such as a first draft, an accepted paper, a conference presentation or the submission of a grant proposal (and, obviously, a successful grant proposal). These achievements can be celebrated in the real world, on social media – or both! By regularly highlighting positive outcomes, it is easier to recognise that past difficulties have been overcome, that progress has been made, and that expertise, skills and knowledge have been gained.

In parallel, it is important to try to limit the impact of the negative aspects of the PhD experience, for they are real and various, and can be crushing if left unchecked. First, it is essential to contextualize them. For example, bear in mind that failure is an integral part of progress, and is often just a temporary setback as opposed to a defeat. This is especially true when a manuscript is rejected by a journal: viewing the rejection as an opportunity to improve the manuscript, and acknowledging that the reviewer reports are about the science, not the authors, can help reframe rejections in a positive light. After all, even the most distinguished researchers have experienced rejection many times. Moreover, as highlighted above, science is a collective adventure, and one is rarely alone when help is sought out. In this regard, talking about the challenges one encounters during a PhD with other students or researchers can also help put these challenges into perspective and to see the positive aspects.

The relationship between the PhD student and their supervisor will likely have a big influence on the PhD experience. However, it is important to recognize that this relationship works both ways, and both stand to benefit if it works well. Among other things, the PhD students can help their own cause by being clear on the type of feedback they want, or by scheduling regular meetings focused on their PhD – and persisting even if their supervisor is busy ( Kearns and Gardiner, 2011 ).

We would also encourage supervisors to be positive in their interactions with their PhD students, and to build a global productive environment that could benefit the PhD student ( Andreev et al., 2022 ). Supervisors could, for example, praise PhD students when the opportunity arises, and ensure that criticism is always constructive – and also encourage other members of their lab to do the same.

PhD students may also face challenges that cannot be overcome with positive thinking. Abusive behaviours such as bullying, harassment or discrimination should be reported to the relevant authorities immediately.

Some PhD students will also be anxious about their future job prospects, especially if they hope to remain in academic research. One way to help reduce such anxiety is to clarify life/career goals and identify the steps needed to reach them. For example, if the student makes a list of all potential funding opportunities (including deadlines) at the start of their last year, it will help them plan for the future and relieve some of the pressure that will build up towards the end of their PhD. Building a professional network can also help with career planning, and attending conferences and establishing collaborations are crucial in this regard.

Finally, if needed, it is entirely acceptable for a PhD student to take a break during their PhD, to refocus on what they really want in life, or to even leave their PhD without finishing it if they realize that it is not for them. However, before making such a decision, we would encourage the student to ask themselves if the doubts they are experiencing are due to a momentary difficulty that will pass, or if a PhD is not really the right career path for them.

Doing a PhD is a unique experience that typically occupies three or more years of someone’s life. Through this experience the student will be enriched by acquiring a range of professional and personal skills, and by gaining a prestigious qualification. In the end, it is in the interest of everyone – the PhD student, the supervisor, their colleagues, their institutions, and academia in general – to make this experience as positive as possible.

All data generated or analysed during this study came from Twitter API and cannot be shared.

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Author details

Camille Bernery is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Contribution

Contributed equally with, for correspondence, competing interests.

Léo Lusardi is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Clara Marino is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Martin Philippe-Lesaffre is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Elena Angulo is in the Estación Biológica de Doñana, CSIC, Sevilla, Spain and the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Elsa Bonnaud is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Loreleï Guéry is in the UMR Plant Health Institute of Montpellier, CIRAD and INRAE, Montpellier, France

Eléna Manfrini is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Anna Turbelin is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Céline Albert is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Ugo Arbieu is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France, the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, Front Royal, United States

Franck Courchamp is in the Laboratoire Écologie Systématique Évolution, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS and AgroParisTech, Orsay, France

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the internal reviewers (Céline Bellard, Eva Delmas, Christophe Diagne and Xavier Fauvergue) for useful recommendations. Work on this paper began during a lab retreat attended by all co-authors. PhD students were funded by the French Ministry of Higher Education (CB, LL, CM, MPL); postdocs were funded by the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (UA), the Biodiversa ERA-Net AlienScenario project (AT), and the AXA Research Fund Chair for Invasion Biology of University Paris-Saclay (EA, CA, EM); Tenured academics salary were funded by the University Paris-Saclay (EB), the CIRAD (LG) and the CNRS (FC). MPL was also funded as an intern by the ENS Paris-Saclay during part of the project.

Publication history

• Received: June 15, 2022
• Accepted: July 13, 2022
• Version of Record published: July 26, 2022 (version 1)

© 2022, Bernery, Lusardi, Marino et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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Research Culture: A Selection of Articles

Further reading.

Research culture needs to be improved for the benefit of science and scientists.

• Epidemiology and Global Health

Landscape drives zoonotic malaria prevalence in non-human primates

Zoonotic disease dynamics in wildlife hosts are rarely quantified at macroecological scales due to the lack of systematic surveys. Non-human primates (NHPs) host Plasmodium knowlesi, a zoonotic malaria of public health concern and the main barrier to malaria elimination in Southeast Asia. Understanding of regional P. knowlesi infection dynamics in wildlife is limited. Here, we systematically assemble reports of NHP P. knowlesi and investigate geographic determinants of prevalence in reservoir species. Meta-analysis of 6322 NHPs from 148 sites reveals that prevalence is heterogeneous across Southeast Asia, with low overall prevalence and high estimates for Malaysian Borneo. We find that regions exhibiting higher prevalence in NHPs overlap with human infection hotspots. In wildlife and humans, parasite transmission is linked to land conversion and fragmentation. By assembling remote sensing data and fitting statistical models to prevalence at multiple spatial scales, we identify novel relationships between P. knowlesi in NHPs and forest fragmentation. This suggests that higher prevalence may be contingent on habitat complexity, which would begin to explain observed geographic variation in parasite burden. These findings address critical gaps in understanding regional P. knowlesi epidemiology and indicate that prevalence in simian reservoirs may be a key spatial driver of human spillover risk.

• Computational and Systems Biology

Collaborative hunting in artificial agents with deep reinforcement learning

Collaborative hunting, in which predators play different and complementary roles to capture prey, has been traditionally believed to be an advanced hunting strategy requiring large brains that involve high-level cognition. However, recent findings that collaborative hunting has also been documented in smaller-brained vertebrates have placed this previous belief under strain. Here, using computational multi-agent simulations based on deep reinforcement learning, we demonstrate that decisions underlying collaborative hunts do not necessarily rely on sophisticated cognitive processes. We found that apparently elaborate coordination can be achieved through a relatively simple decision process of mapping between states and actions related to distance-dependent internal representations formed by prior experience. Furthermore, we confirmed that this decision rule of predators is robust against unknown prey controlled by humans. Our computational ecological results emphasize that collaborative hunting can emerge in various intra- and inter-specific interactions in nature, and provide insights into the evolution of sociality.

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Essential PhD tips: 10 articles all doctoral students should read

Phd advice: from choosing the right topic to getting through your thesis.

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If you’re still deciding whether to study for a doctorate, or even if you’re nearing the end of your PhD and are thinking about your next steps, we’ve selected 10 articles that you really should take a look at.

They cover everything from selecting your topic to securing a top job when your years of hard graft come to an end.

14 essential PhD questions answered Welcome to the  Times Higher Education  PhD surgery with Tara Brabazon, professor of education at Charles Sturt University , Australia.

The PhD experience: this far, and no further Five students on how doctoral study changed them and their futures.

10 steps to PhD failure Top tips on making postgraduate study even tougher (which students could also use to avoid pitfalls if they prefer).

How not to write a PhD thesis If you want failure, this is your road map to getting there.

Realistic expectations keep you on the path to a PhD Isolation is part of the experience, but peer support groups and co-working can combat loneliness and quell students’ self-doubt.

10 truths a PhD supervisor will never tell you There are some important dos and don’ts to bear in mind when choosing someone to oversee your doctoral thesis.

Me and my PhD supervisor: tales of love and loathing Academics discuss how supervisors shaped their teaching.

How to get students through their PhD thesis Tara Brabazon shares her 10-step regime for steering emotionally drained postgraduate students through the final stages of their thesis.

Choosing a PhD subject A well-chosen doctoral thesis will have a focus that can be explored in the appropriate time and built on in the future.

How to get ahead with a PhD Postgraduates do not to realise how employable they are. Pat Cryer explains how to get a well-paid job.

Read next:  visit the THE PhD advice page

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Why PhDs are good – for individuals, and for a country

Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DST-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor in Genetics, University of Pretoria, University of Pretoria

Disclosure statement

Brenda Wingfield receives funding from the Department of Science and Innovation in South Africa as she holds a DST/NRF research chair. She is a Professor at a South African University and is the vice president of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).

University of Pretoria provides funding as a partner of The Conversation AFRICA.

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What is the value of a PhD? Is there a need in a developing world country to undertake a PhD study? It’s expensive (around R1 million per graduate) and in many regards a luxury for students from poor families. Even for those who have better access to money there’s a very real cost in tuition, costs of the research as well as years lost with regards to climbing the career ladder. As students in the southern hemisphere consider their study options for next year, it’s worth revisiting the pros and cons of doing a PhD.

From an individual perspective, there are good and bad reasons to do a PhD.

The good reasons include achieving a significant goal in terms of a research output, publications and in many cases solving an important problem. Doing research towards a PhD allows one to be curious, literally every day.

It’s also the first step in becoming part of the global network of researchers. Becoming part of a global community can be very gratifying.

The bad reasons would include the assumption that having a PhD will earn you a larger salary. This is not always the case. Another is peer pressure which can lead students to register for a PhD. Sometimes the pressure comes from family. Another not so good reason is when people decide to do a PhD because they don’t like the job that they are doing.

Undertaking a PhD study should only be considered if you are really passionate about research and understand that it really takes a huge amount of time and energy. It is after all the ultimate degree – there are none higher.

The value of a PhD

The bottom line is that there is no magic about the qualification. It doesn’t make you a better or smarter person.

However, people who have PhDs have shown a certain capacity and tenacity and have the degree to prove it. Many other people might have the equivalent capacity and tenacity but without the degree it is less easy for employers to identify them.

The South African government has identified that producing people with a PhD degree is an important goal. The Department of Science and Innovation has suggested that universities need to increase their output of PhD graduates to 100 graduates per million people. At the moment South Africa has 46 doctoral graduates per million people, this is one tenth of the figure for Switzerland (465) and United Kingdom (409).

The new target would take the expected output to more than 5800 PhD graduates every year. In 2016 the number of PhD graduates in South Africa was just under 3000 .

The government’s argument is that the PhD degree can be seen as a driver of the academic pipeline. If we focus on getting more PhDs, universities will also increase other graduates in the pipeline. While I support the idea of PhDs being a driver, I think that the current targets cannot be achieved for many years.

One cannot easily change the PhD pipeline quite so rapidly. In 2001 there were 802 PhD graduates, in 2009 this had increased to 1380 and in 2017 this had increased to 3057 , which has been a remarkable achievement. This is especially the case given the current global and local economic climate.

All countries need strong comprehensive universities – institutions that do more than just train students to the bachelor degree level. To have a substantive research output a university must have academics with PhDs. Only people with PhDs can train PhD graduates.

That does indeed mean building a vibrant PhD graduate training programme to support strong research output. South Africa is short of people with the appropriate qualifications (PhDs) to do the training. And it cannot expect to import such graduates to support its economy, because without strong comprehensive universities a country cannot train the range of graduates with skills necessary for sustained economic growth and development.

Quite a bit has been written about an over supply of PhD graduates. But this isn’t a problem in a country like South Africa where I have trained 52 PhD graduates, all of whom have found jobs. Not all are in academic positions, not all are still doing research. None of them have ever suggested that doing a PhD was a waste of time.

We need to train more, not less.

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20 Amazing Websites and/or Resources For PhD Students

“The Web is full of essential as well as scrap websites and tools. The difficult task for students is to find the important one, without compromising their personal, professional and research information. I’m giving you a list of essential websites and resources for researchers and PhDs.” 

PhDs have comprehensive knowledge on a specific topic or field. Oftentimes, when they search for lucrative websites or resources; most of the time, they land on either scrap websites or nothing important.   

They want to make their PhD life easy using tools, websites or resources, but publishers trick them to see lists that are either for PhD programs , scholarship programs or something else. I personally find it difficult while doing research for this article. 

The second thing is, they lack knowledge about where they can find useful resources. However, there are certain websites that make your life easier if you know about it in your early life of PhD. 

You may have to search literature, find information, gain knowledge, write articles, publish papers, and prepare images, charts or interactives. For all such tasks, you have to use different websites or tools. 

I have divided this article into three parts. In this part, we will discuss only websites and resources while in the upcoming two parts, we will discuss important tools and apps. So here are 20 amazing websites or resources for PhD students.  

Google Scholar 

Google books , science direct, biomed central, microsoft academic, science.gov, pubmed central, digital commons network, diagrams.net.

• Wrapping up: 

20 Amazing Websites and/or Resources For PhD Students 

• Website link: https://scholar.google.com/
• Application: Find scholarly articles and connect with other scientists.

At the very beginning, researchers should know about Google Scholar. It’s a search engine dedicatedly prepared for research students and scientists. What can you do with it?

• You can find peer-reviewed articles
• Make your own profile 
• Upload your publications
• Save and share articles 
• Check your citations matrics 
• Connect with other scientists  

Google Scholar is Google’s product, safe to use and easy to navigate. I have already written an article on this topic, you can read: 7 Ways to Find Peer-Reviewed Articles On Google .

• Website link: https://books.google.com/
• Applications: To find peer-reviewed Books. 

Yet another impressive product from Google is Google Books. It comes up with a simpler and more impressive look, type a topic name on which you want a book in Google books and you get thousands of options. 

When you click the book, you get information like:

• ISBN number 
• Name of the publisher 
• Number of pages 
• Other editions
• Name of authors 
• Keywords 
• The availability of the book on other platforms

Most importantly, we can generate citations there and use them in our thesis or paper directly. I know there are many sources available to purchase books but Google Books is the most trusted, authentic and viable option for PhDs. 

• Website link: https://www.wikipedia.org/
• Application: To find resources and information. 

There’s a misconception among research students that Wikipedia isn’t a trusted source to find literature. Let me tell you that, it’s partially true, how? First, it is the best place where you can get any information regarding any topic. 

Wikipedia gives amazing background information regarding any topic and is too peer-reviewed. On the other hand, it’s difficult to understand basic concepts from research papers, directly. So, students have to start with Wikipedia.  

Search anything on the Wikipedia search engine, read it and understand the concept. From my personal experience, Wiki makes concepts easier to understand. 

• Website link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/
• Application: Find peer-reviewed resources across the web.

(We are almost going in sync). 

When you type any topic into Google you will get two topmost results, one is from Wikipedia and the second is from Science Direct, mostly. 

ScienceDirect is a great place to find peer-reviewed scientific literature. The best thing about this website is, when you open it, it shows results as a “compilation” of abstracts for a topic. You just have to quickly read it, click the paper you want and go there. 

It makes the reading task so easy. The target audience for this website is students from various fields of science as well as scientists. 

• Website link: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
• Application: find resources, tools, data, and information for biotechnology. 

The full name of NCBI is National Centre for Biotechnology Information and is run by the NIH- National Library of Medicine. Any life science student should know about the NCBI from day one of their research. 

It’s a huge database for life science. It contains

• Resources 
• Methods 
• Portals to submit data.

Researchers can submit their data to NCBI and make them accessible to other scientists. Keep in mind that the data and other information present there on NCBI are sensitive. You can get information about any organism and anything associated with that organism. 

NCBI is a huge portal, students have to learn to use various tools and information present there. 

• Website: https://www.biomedcentral.com/
• Application: Search for scholarly literature. 

Biomed central is yet another website to find scholarly literature and peer-reviewed articles. It’s a part of Springer-Nature and provides high-quality journals, resources and literature for peers and scientists. 

Moreover, you can explore journals from various fields and get published there. Biomed Central is yet another resource like Science Direct.  

• Website: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/academic/
• Application: Find resources related to your topic. 

Microsoft Academia is a search engine from Microsoft. It not only provides peer-reviewed articles but also news, blog posts, videos and even podcasts on one page. Meaning, you can remain updated with your subject or topic. 

Notedly, it’s not the platform to find scholarly articles, but you can get ‘around’ the information on your topic. So you can know what’s going on around your topic. 

• Website: https://www.science.gov/
• Application: Provides various forms of information. 

Before writing this article, I didn’t know about science.gov. It’s a kind of semi-search engine from the US government science information. Interestingly, it gives us information categorized into- text, multimedia, data and public access. 

I don’t know how you will use it, but it’s definitely helpful to research students. I will learn it, use it and come back to you; if it would be helpful. Give it a fair try. 

• Website: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/
• Application: Search full-text article. 

PMC- PubMed Central is an important website for PhD students as it provides free full-text articles available on your topic. It has the largest number of article databases that students can explore. Not only that, students can download articles, generate citations and search related queries. 

PMC and NCBI are two websites that every science, biology and life science student has to know. 

• Website link: https://www.jstor.org/
• Application: find knowledge, resources and information.

JSTOR is a non-profitable organization that provides information in various fields. It’s also a type of search engine for scientific literature. Students can find primary resources, literature, images, journals and even books.

You can find information on your topic in one place, but the amazing feature that it has is the ‘images’. A dedicated images feature of JASTOR shows thousands of images for your topic from various resources which are sometimes not present on Google Images. 

• Website: https://network.bepress.com/
• Application: Find literature and resources. 

Yet another search engine to find various research is the Digital Commons Network. I didn’t find anything ‘out-of-the-box’ for this website. You can give it a try. 

Now besides finding literature, there are other things students also have to do during PhD, for example, preparing diagrams, generating citations or editing Pdfs. Here is a list of some more tools that help you with this.  

• Website: https://app.diagrams.net/
• Application: make diagrams, photos, flowcharts and images.

Diagrams.net is an online website that helps you in preparing diagrams, charts, flowcharts, images and other multimedia for your thesis or research. I am planning to prepare one tutorial for this. And if possible I will upload it here. So that you know how to use it. 

• Website: https://www.ilovepdf.com/
• Application: edit– pdf, doc or text. 

Ilovepdf is my personal favorite website. Let me tell you that we can do so many things that usually you can’t do. It’s a specialized website that can help you with your doc. You can convert your docs, for example, 

• Excel to pdf
• Html to pdf 
• And vice versa. 

You can compress doc or pdfs, split it, merge it and edit them. You can even edit your final thesis draft in the form of a pdf. You can even add a page or delete one or edit some part of the text. Isn’t it amazing! I strongly recommend using ilovepdf. 

• Website: https://www.freepik.com/
• Application: Download high-quality images for free.

Now, you need images, illustrations and gifs for your presentations and other work during your PhD. But finding copyright-free images is a hard task. Freepik is one such website, from where you can download images for free. 

The images in the freepik database are high-quality and freely available. You can use it and make your presentation more impressive. 

• Website: https://www.canva.com/
• Application: To prepare interactives. 

Yet another great place to prepare images, figures, tables, datasheets and many other interactives for your thesis is Canva.

Canva is super easy to use and has many templates for doing so many things. You can do 

• Presentation

And a lot more. I strongly recommend visiting Canva once. 

Wrapping up:  

I know these are not 20, but timely I will add more websites to this list and complete it. The reason is, I want to give a useful and beneficial list not a list with repetitive and unuseful things. One more thing I want to add, these websites are free to use. 

I hope this article will help you. Do share this content in your research group and bookmark the page. Still, then you can read this article to learn more: 7 Must-Have Thesis Writing Tools .  

Dr. Tushar Chauhan is a Scientist, Blogger and Scientific-writer. He has completed PhD in Genetics. Dr. Chauhan is a PhD coach and tutor.

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When the PhD path leads to career struggles

A doctoral degree is a major commitment. Think carefully.

I appreciated reading Kara Miller’s The Big Idea column “PhD: Pretty heavily disappointed” (Business, May 22), about people with doctoral degrees struggling to build careers in academia. It made me think back to a conversation I had when I was about to graduate from high school.

I happened to run into a former track coach of mine, and as we were reminiscing he asked me what I planned as a major in college. “History,” I responded. He said, “Why don’t you take some computer classes also? It never hurts to be able to do something useful.”

I did not reflect on his motivation at the time, but my track coach was a young guy, and he was probably giving me advice straight from his own life, as a parent trying to raise his own young children. I did take computer classes in college and ultimately received a PhD in chemical engineering. I always remember that conversation as being a kind of turning point.

Earning a doctoral degree is a life commitment of great proportion. It can take, as Miller notes, between four and seven years. If we think of working life as roughly between the ages of 22 and 65, then a PhD requires more than 10 percent of a person’s working life. People need to think carefully about that investment.

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Two powerful arguments in favor of the path of science, technology, engineering, and math are that there tend to be more STEM jobs for PhDs, and many universities’ STEM departments are generous in covering their PhD students’ tuition and cost of studies, including a stipend toward food, rent, and other expenses.

Stuart Gallant

Not much has changed in 30 years

As I prepared to graduate in 1995 with a doctor of education degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, my mother memorably said to me, “Of my four children, you are the one with the most education and the smallest salary.” Apparently not much has changed in 30 years.

I must congratulate these students, however, on following their passion rather than following the money. I can’t help but think that their lives, though stressful, may contain greater happiness.

Peggy Clark

Lawyers & electricians & philosophers, oh my!

Kara Miller’s column on the career challenges for people with doctoral degrees generated more than 260 comments on Boston.Globe.com. The following is an edited sample of readers’ reactions:

Lots of law school grads are underemployed as well. (PL)

So true, PL. The market in Massachusetts is flooded with talented lawyers seeking work. (Roforma)

Supply and demand, the market at work. (guk)

Investing in education and research in all fields is the hallmark of a society with staying power. Disinvesting from these endeavors signals decline and decay. (Massachusetts citizen)

Electricians, plumbers, mechanics, and other skilled technical professions have no problems getting $100k jobs with great benefits. (ramsen)

Not enough turnover from tenured professors, leaving little space for new faculty. Although the tenured, well-established professors are needed, it’s the junior faculty who are hungry and with new ideas that help build new programs. The whole graduate program model is a bad model. I worked two jobs, had my tuition and some type of minimal student health insurance and could barely cover the rent with my stipend, and the second job paid for everything else. Though I was working on many faculty projects, it was the faculty who said this would be good for me. Never did they say it was also good for them. (TravelerofNJ2)

I just retired from a tenured faculty position in science. I’m in my early 70s. I have colleagues who are still doing what they do well into their 70s, a couple approaching 80. There is no active incentive from the university to move the older faculty on, to make way for a new generation. (Lola-lola)

The next step is for adjuncts to go on strike across the nation and hold colleges and universities accountable. The current system is completely absurd. (Wordsmith2358)

Universities should be required to release disclosure data about the fate of their PhD graduates. (davidman820)

I knew an attorney who managed a Cheesecake Factory. She had worked in food services through school. As an attorney, she really did not make that much money and was not doing the field of law of her choice. How many real estate closings can you do without dying of boredom? She went into management in the food industry and makes the same salary. (Antietem)

It was always a question and puzzling to me why people study philosophy. (Blazer27)

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From oncology nurse to researcher, PhD student researches cancer patient care

• May 28, 2024

Awards & Accolades , Research , Student Success

Cancer patients across the globe endure severe side effects from treatments that can drastically affect their quality of life. Kailei Yan, a third-year PhD student at the USF Health College of Nursing, is trailblazing research on the role of self-efficacy in mediating the relationship between symptoms and quality of life in cancer patients.

Yan was inspired to pursue research after Dr. Theresa Beckie, a researcher and faculty member at the college, presented in one of Yan’s undergraduate courses.

“That was the moment I became motivated to become a scientist,” says Yan. “And now, Dr. Beckie is my advisor!”

After earning her BSN from the college, Yan worked as an oncology nurse at the Moffitt Cancer Center. Watching patients endure the side effects of cancer and its treatment influenced her decision to pursue cancer research.

“I saw a lot of suffering,” says Yan. “I feel there should be some ways to relieve that. That’s my motivation.”

Yan says she is grateful for all the support she has received as a PhD student at the college. She was recently selected for the Southern Nursing Research Society Dissertation Research Award. With the continued support of the college and this grant, Yan will be able to delve deeper into her research and further contribute to the field of study.

The application for the USF Health College of Nursing’s PhD program opens on August 15.

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May 15, 2024

Mike Holinstat, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology, Professor of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, and Professor of Vascular Surgery, recently co-authored an article, "An age-progressive platelet differentiation path from hematopoietic stem cells causes exacerbated thrombosis", that was posted in CELL. Read the full article here .

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Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at JAMA Psychiatry

• 1 Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles
• 2 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Editor, JAMA Psychiatry
• 3 McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Belmont, Massachusetts
• 4 Editor, JAMA Psychiatry
• Editorial Self-Reported Demographics of JAMA Network Editors and Editorial Board Members Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, MAS; Annette Flanagin, RN, MA; Caroline Sietmann, MLIS; Robert O. Bonow, MD, MS; Ann Marie Navar, MD, MHS, PhD; Kanade Shinkai, MD, PhD; Mya L. Roberson, PhD; John Z. Ayanian, MD, MPP; Ninez Ponce, PhD; Sharon K. Inouye, MD, MPH; Raegan W. Durant, MD, MPH; Melissa A. Simon, MD, MPH; Frederick P. Rivara, MD, MPH; Monica Vela, MD; S. Andrew Josephson, MD; Ashley Rawls, MD, MS; Mary L. (Nora) Disis, MD; Narjust Florez, MD; Neil M. Bressler, MD; Adrienne W. Scott, MD; Jay F. Piccirillo, MD; Nosayaba Osazuwa-Peters, BDS, PhD, MPH, CHES; Dimitri A. Christakis, MD, MPH; Andrea F. Duncan, MD, MSClinRes; Dost Öngür, MD, PhD; Kara S. Bagot, MD; Melina R. Kibbe, MD; Leah Monique Backhus, MD, MPH; Preeti N. Malani, MD, MSJ JAMA
• Editorial JAMA Psychiatry Editorial Fellow Dost Öngür, MD, PhD JAMA Psychiatry

Recently, Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, MD, PhD, MAS, Editor of JAMA and the JAMA Network, and the editors and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) editors from JAMA and the JAMA Network specialty journals, including JAMA Psychiatry , coauthored an article affirming the JAMA Network’s commitment to DEI and reviewing markers of progress in the makeup of the editorial boards across the network. 1 For JAMA Psychiatry specifically, more than half of the respondents who disclosed their gender were women, a proportion reflecting the gender breakdown of the US and more balanced than that in academic psychiatry. 2 In terms of ethnic origins or ancestry, nearly three-quarters had Eastern or Western European ancestry, with Central American and Caribbean ancestry a distant second. For race, two-thirds of respondents endorsed White race, with Asian or Pacific Islander and Black tied for distant second. This pattern is reflective of psychiatry in general, with racial and ethnic minoritized communities underrepresented among academic faculty. 3 Among JAMA Psychiatry editorial board members, many ethnic and racial categories had small sample sizes such that reporting specific rates could lead to identification of those individuals, which is why they are not specifically discussed here. Despite this, we aim for transparency in the collection and analysis of these data as we continue with ongoing DEI efforts, and we hold ourselves accountable.

• Editorial Self-Reported Demographics of JAMA Network Editors and Editorial Board Members JAMA
• Editorial JAMA Psychiatry Editorial Fellow JAMA Psychiatry

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Bagot KS , Öngür D. Advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at JAMA Psychiatry . JAMA Psychiatry. Published online May 22, 2024. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2024.1152

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Article Contents

Risk of heart failure in inflammatory bowel disease: a swedish population-based study.

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Jiangwei Sun, Jialu Yao, Ola Olén, Jonas Halfvarson, David Bergman, Fahim Ebrahimi, Annika Rosengren, Johan Sundström, Jonas F Ludvigsson, Risk of heart failure in inflammatory bowel disease: a Swedish population-based study, European Heart Journal , 2024;, ehae338, https://doi.org/10.1093/eurheartj/ehae338

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Dysregulation of inflammatory and immune responses has been implicated in the pathogenesis of heart failure (HF). But even if inflammation is a prerequisite for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), little is known about HF risk in IBD.

In this Swedish nationwide cohort, patients with biopsy-confirmed IBD were identified between 1969 and 2017 [n = 81,749, Crohn’s disease (CD, n = 24,303), ulcerative colitis (UC, n = 45,709), and IBD-unclassified (IBD-U, n = 11,737)]. Each patient was matched with up to five general population reference individuals (n = 382,190) and IBD-free full siblings (n = 95,239) and followed until 31 December 2019. Flexible parametric survival models estimated the adjusted hazard ratio (aHR) and standardized cumulative incidence for HF, with 95% confidence intervals (CI).

There were 5,582 incident HF identified in IBD patients (incidence rate [IR]: 50.3/10,000 person-years) and 20,343 in reference individuals (IR: 37.9) during a median follow-up of 12.4 years. IBD patients had a higher risk of HF than reference individuals (aHR 1.19, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.23). This increased risk remained significant ≥20 years after IBD diagnosis, leading to one extra HF case per 130 IBD patients until then. The increased risk was also observed across IBD subtypes: CD (IR: 46.9 vs. 34.4; aHR 1.28 [1.20 to 1.36]), UC (IR: 50.1 vs. 39.7; aHR 1.14 [1.09 to 1.19]), and IBD-U (IR: 60.9 vs. 39.0; aHR 1.28 [1.16 to 1.42]). Sibling-controlled analyses showed slightly attenuated association (IBD: aHR 1.10 [1.03 to 1.19]).

Patients with IBD had a moderately higher risk of developing HF for ≥20 years after IBD diagnosis than the general population.

• heart failure
• inflammatory bowel disease

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• Human Immunology of Heart Failure: Deconstructing Inflammatory Risk

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Programming problem patched: Leiden PhD candidate discovers breakthrough in software security

By chance, computer scientist Hans-Dieter Hiep (Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica) discovered a ‘gaping hole’ in a widely used method for evaluating software security. Hiep patched the hole, causing quite a stir in his field. 'It’s not pleasant when a PhD candidate from Leiden comes along and points out that a twenty-year-old proof system is flawed.’ Hiep graduated cum laude on 23 May.

‘Small programming errors can have significant consequences,’ says Hiep. ‘Especially if the error is in the part of the software that handles and protects our working memory.’ These systems ensure, for example, that users can temporarily share their memory without risk. Hiep explains: ‘If there’s a mistake in such an operating system, you can easily get a data breach, and everything is out in the open. Errors in memory security are the leading cause of common vulnerabilities and leaks.’

The threat posed by such bugs to digital security is underscored by a White House press release from last February. It calls on the scientific community to come up with solutions to this ‘persistent problem’.

Eliminating bugs in software

Hiep works on program correctness, which means eliminating bugs in software. ‘This field is already fifty years old,’ he says. ‘I focus on the correctness of so-called pointer programs. These are programs that work with memory addressable by pointers: this includes almost all programs today.’

'As a manufacturer, you must first be able to demonstrate that your printer poses no threat to Microsoft systems.'

For twenty years, there has been a method to prove there are no bugs in such pointer programs: separation logic. It’s a fundamental field with many practical applications. Hiep explains: ‘If you’re a printer manufacturer and you want Microsoft to automatically recognise your printers, you first need to prove that the printer’s software is no threat to their operating system. This is done using separation logic. Facebook also makes extensive use of it. Thousands of programmers are employed there, using AI to continuously analyse for errors in the software. And how does that AI work? With separation logic.’

A gaping hole not everyone wants to hear about

Separation logic is thus a way to find errors in computer programs. But Hiep’s research goes one level higher, as he explains: ‘It focuses on finding errors in that proof system, in the separation logic itself.’ It’s not that the current system is incorrect. ‘That is, if you prove a formula, then it is indeed true. Only I discovered that there are also true formulas that you couldn’t prove with this logic. So you have an incomplete proof system that is correct but cannot prove everything true.’

You could call it a gaping hole in the proof system. And not everyone was happy to hear that. Hiep explains: ‘If you've been working in this research area for a long time, or if your company has invested millions in it, it’s not pleasant when a PhD student from Leiden comes along and says it doesn’t add up. It took quite a bit of effort to get my articles published. But I succeeded.’

‘Suddenly, I was faced with a challenge’

But why investigate something we’ve been (supposedly) successfully using for twenty years? ‘I discovered it almost by accident,’ says Hiep. ‘I initially worked on a new type of separation logic: dynamic separation logic. But then I encountered a problem. I came up with two formulas and wanted to show they were equivalent. They were, but none of the existing systems could prove it: I had found a gap. Suddenly, I was faced with this challenge. It was no easy feat, but I finally managed to close the gap.’

Applying discoveries in practice

Despite being able to start immediately as a university lecturer in Leiden, Hiep chose a new challenge in Cambridge. ‘I’m going to work at Amazon. There, I can immediately apply all my new insights and discoveries in practice.’ And the White House? ‘My dissertation, including an accompanying letter, is already in the mail,’ concludes Hiep.

Hans-Dieter Hiep defended his doctoral thesis titled ' New Foundations for Separation Logic ' on 23 May. He graduated cum laude.

Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica

Hiep conducted his research at both the Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Sciences (LIACS) and Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI).

Founded in 1946, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI) is the national research institute for mathematics and computer science in the Netherlands. It is located at Amsterdam Science Park and is part of the Institutes Organisation of NWO. The institute is internationally renowned. Over 150 researchers conduct pioneering research and share their acquired knowledge with society. Over 30 researchers are also employed as professors at universities. The institute has generated twenty-nine spin-off companies.

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She Just Earned Her Doctorate at 17. Now, She’ll Go to the Prom.

Dorothy Jean Tillman II of Chicago made history as the youngest person to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health at Arizona State University.

By Alexandra E. Petri

When Dorothy Jean Tillman II successfully defended her dissertation in November 2023 to earn her doctoral degree from Arizona State University, she couldn’t wait to share the news with her best friend.

“It was a surreal moment,” Dr. Tillman said, “because it was crazy I was doing it in the first place.”

Dr. Tillman, at only 17, became the youngest person to earn a doctoral degree in integrated behavioral health from Arizona State’s College of Health Solutions, all before she was eligible to vote. Earlier this month, Dr. Tillman, now 18, took part in Arizona State’s commencement ceremony and delivered remarks as the outstanding 2024 graduate at the College of Health Solution’s convocation.

Lesley Manson, program director for the doctorate of behavioral health at Arizona State and Dr. Tillman’s doctoral chair, said Dr. Tillman displayed extraordinary perseverance, hard work and dedication for her young age, tackling every challenge head-on.

“She can serve as a real role model,” Ms. Manson said.

Dr. Tillman, called D.J. by her family and friends, was an early bloomer. She grew up in Chicago and was home-schooled from a young age, first in a group setting through online classes, and then by her mother, Jimalita Tillman, a single parent with a background in community theater.

Dr. Tillman was part of a gifted program before transitioning to home-schooling. Jimalita Tillman continued her daughter on an accelerated track: By the time she was 8, she was taking high school classes. While most 9-year-olds were learning math and reading, Dr. Tillman was starting college online.

At the time, they lived with Jimalita Tillman’s mother, Dorothy Wright Tillman, a civil rights activist who worked alongside the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and was a Chicago alderman. Dr. Tillman is her grandmother’s namesake (hence the II at the end of Dr. Tillman’s name).

During her early college days, Dr. Tillman’s classroom was often a Starbucks in Chicago, and her days began as soon it opened, she said. Her go-to order was an iced peach green tea with lemonade.

“Around the time when kids went to lunch, we’d be closing the computer,” said Dr. Tillman, who said her discipline and focus come from her grandmother.

Because of her age, Dr. Tillman lived at home while pursuing her higher education, and most of her coursework was online — a challenge for a self-described social butterfly. “I do love meeting new people and talking to people and understanding them and how their brains work,” she said. She found other ways to stay connected with friends through after-school activities.

At 10, she earned her associate degree in psychology at the College of Lake County in Illinois. At 12, she received her Bachelor of Science in humanities at Excelsior College in New York, and at 14, she earned a Master of Science from Unity College in Maine. She chose those fields because they can help scientists “understand why people treat the environment the way they do,” she told Time for Kids in a July 2020 interview.

Ellen Winner, a professor of psychology at Boston College and the author of “Gifted Children: Myths and Realities,” said that children like Dr. Tillman have a motivational intensity she calls a “rage to master.”

“One of the reasons they push themselves is they have a high, innate ability of some kind, and so learning, in whatever they are gifted in, comes easily to them and it’s very pleasurable,” she said. Schools are often not equipped for such gifted children, she added, which may lead parents to home-school their children. The trade-off, she and some experts say, is missing out on socialization and learning with children their age.

“There’s no perfect solution to kids like this,” Ms. Winner said.

Jimalita Tillman said she was sure her daughter was finished with higher education after earning her master’s degree. Dr. Tillman had just launched an organization to support Black youth in Chicago interested in STEM and the arts called the Dorothy Jeanius STEAM Leadership Institute. It was 2020, just after the beginning of the pandemic.

She was surprised when her daughter said she wanted to pursue her doctorate, and even tried to dissuade Dr. Tillman. But Dr. Tillman wanted to help young people with their mental health. She told her mother to trust her.

“I had to follow her lead,” Jimalita Tillman, 42, said.

Dr. Tillman was accepted into the management concentration at Arizona State’s College of Health Solutions, an online doctorate program. Her thesis on developing programs to reduce the stigma for college students seeking mental health services was based on a study she conducted for an in-person internship at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. Dr. Tillman hopes her story resonates with girls who are talkative, outgoing “out-there kind of girls who are trying to figure themselves out but are very smart.”

“I want them to see someone who has taken that energy, sparkle and excitement and packaged it in a way that is classy and beautiful,” she said.

Dr. Tillman may now have her doctorate, but she’s also excited about teenage things — like attending a prom. On Saturday, she going as her best friend’s date to his senior dance. They’re taking an Escalade outfitted with stars on the ceiling, she said, a feature she requested and that her mother made happen.

Dr. Tillman has been focused on school and her professional pursuits, and she plans to host her institute’s summer camp again. Then, she said, she plans to take a beat and have a “fun teenage summer,” doing things she loves, discovering new hobbies and figuring herself out in the process.

“I want to focus on who I am,” she said.

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• 18 January 2023

PhD training is no longer fit for purpose — it needs reform now

You have full access to this article via your institution.

Graduation day for PhD scholars at the University of Bologna, Italy. Doctoral assessment in most countries is largely unchanged since the nineteenth century. Credit: Roberto Serra/Iguana Press/Getty

These days, there’s barely a world leader who doesn’t talk up science. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the star turn at the annual Indian Science Congress, held this month in Nagpur, where he exhorted the nation’s researchers to do the science needed to make India self-reliant. At last October’s landmark Communist Party congress, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping set out his vision of how science and innovation could drive growth . And last August, US President Joe Biden signed the CHIPS and Science Act, which unlocks US$13.2 billion for semiconductor research and workforce development, in a bid to maintain the country’s technological primacy .

In each case, the message to researchers is crystal clear: leaders see science as essential to national prosperity, well-being and, of course, competitiveness. So, is research fit for the challenge of advancing, refining or critiquing these goals? Not exactly. And it won’t be until there is fundamental reform to the gateway to a research career: PhD training.

Training in trouble

As Nature and other publications have reported persistently, PhD training worldwide has been in trouble for some time. Surging inflation has eroded the already-meagre value of students’ stipends in most countries, creating a cost-of-living crisis. Early-career researchers constantly report concerns about a chronic lack of support and poor-quality supervision, with senior researchers rarely trained in mentorship. Racism and discrimination are systemic in academic culture in many places.

Collection: Career resources for PhD students

Furthermore, PhD candidates are inadequately prepared for the cross-disciplinary working and large teams that characterize cutting-edge science today. This is especially true for careers outside academic research , where the overwhelming majority of PhD candidates will be heading .

It is not all bad. Universities in a small number of high-income countries have reformed, or are reforming, PhD assessment. But in most places, and especially in low- and middle-income countries, a candidate’s work is still evaluated using a single-authored dissertation. This is ‘defended’ before a scholarly panel in what is still sometimes called a viva voce (‘with living voice’ in Latin), a nod to its nineteenth-century origins. And in many countries, candidates must publish in a journal before they get a PhD, something that critics say could fuel predatory publishing.

The system’s strains have become more obvious because the number of people doing PhD training has been rising sharply. According to the 2022 book Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education — available as an open-access PDF; see go.nature.com/3zihyuk — the number of PhDs awarded in China more than doubled from 23,400 in 2004 to 55,011 in 2016 (and reached around 60,000 in 2019). India’s numbers increased from 17,850 in 2004 to 25,095 in 2016; US figures climbed from 48,500 to 69,525 over the same period (see ‘The rise of the PhD’).

The rise of the PhD

The number of students awarded PhDs each year is expanding in a number of countries. In emerging economies, this follows growth in universal access to education.

*2011; †2017. Source: M. Nerad et al . (eds) Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education (UCL Press, 2022). https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800080188

The doctorate updated

Too often, PhD training is still, at least conceptually, organized as it was after its development in and subsequent export from mid-nineteenth-century Germany. At that time, young scholars were attached to individual professors in a master–apprentice relationship, with the objective of safeguarding and advancing knowledge in individual disciplines.

That cannot continue if the next generation of scholars is to meet society’s demands. There needs to be a revolution in the organization and funding of PhD training. And it must be on a similar scale to the shake-up that took place when school and university education stopped being a privilege enjoyed by relatively small numbers of people — those with wealth, or those training for occupations such as politics, religion or teaching. As education expanded to be open to everyone (at least in theory), it was no longer feasible to offer tuition in small groups where one person did most of the teaching, with little or no training. Countries introduced subject specialists as teachers; they limited class sizes, experimented with new educational technologies, collaborated on quality-assurance measures and drew on educational research to understand how students learn in different ways.

The editors and contributors of Towards a Global Core Value System in Doctoral Education , who are all experts in higher-education research, policy or practice, provide snapshots of the state of play in various countries, including all-important examples of innovation in PhD training. Some candidates are instructed in cohorts with more than one supervisor, so that students are less isolated and better protected if a relationship with a single supervisor goes bad. Some take additional courses of study, or have their research progress assessed periodically — the kind of guided approach that happens in education more broadly.

Reforming PhD training will be like turning a tanker. It will be slow. It will require planning and resources. But the end result must be a transformation on a massive scale, just as happened when primary, secondary and university education was reformed. If our leaders want scientists to work harder for society, they, in turn, need to work with research to ensure that PhD training finally exits the nineteenth century and joins the twenty-first.

Nature 613 , 414 (2023)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00084-3

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Meet EPA Wetland Ecologist Amanda M. Nahlik, Ph.D.

EPA researcher Dr. Amanda Nahlik works on understanding how anthropogenic disturbances, including climate change, affect wetland biogeochemistry across regional and national scales. She is the Office of Research and Development’s Technical Lead for the National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) program , under which annual, field-based condition assessments of the nation’s aquatic resources are conducted in lakes, rivers and streams, coasts and estuaries, and wetlands on a rotating schedule. Over her career, Dr. Nahlik’s research has spanned many different aspects of wetland and aquatic ecology – including water quality improvement, carbon storage, greenhouse gas emissions, ecosystem services, and development of indicators and metrics of aquatic ecosystem condition.

What are you working on right now?

I have many concurrent projects, all of which utilize data produced through the National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS). The wealth of data produced through NARS since its inception in 2007 provides unparalleled opportunities to answer questions about our aquatic ecosystems at national and regional scales. One of the most exciting questions I’m currently investigating relate to carbon storage in wetlands across the conterminous United States . Wetlands can be incredible carbon sinks, but changes to our landscape, changes in policies, and changing climates can have impacts on stored carbon, resulting in transformation of stored carbon into the atmosphere as potent greenhouse gases (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane). Understanding how much carbon we currently have stored in our nation’s wetlands and temporal changes to carbon stores is important for protecting and managing wetlands across the nation, especially in consideration of climate change mitigation.

What is your education/science background?

As an undergraduate, I studied biology and environmental studies at Kenyon College, a small but renowned liberal arts school in Gambier, Ohio.  I conducted several years of independent wetland research during my summers with Dr. M. Siobhan Fennessy , who greatly influenced my life under her mentorship through her contagious enthusiasm for wetlands. After graduating with my B.A. in 2002, there was no question I would continue onto graduate school. I studied wetland ecology and biogeochemistry under Dr. William J. Mitsch at The Ohio State University in Columbus for both my M.S. (2005) and my Ph.D. (2009). During my doctorate research, I spent several years in Costa Rica, studying greenhouse gas emissions (methane in particular) and carbon cycling in tropical wetlands.  Dr. Mitsch made great efforts to introduce me to other influential scientists. One of those influential scientists was Dr. Mary Kentula , a wetland ecologist at EPA’s Pacific Ecological Systems Division (PESD) in Corvallis, Oregon, with whom I worked as an EPA Post Doctoral Fellow from 2009-2013. Under Dr. Kentula’s mentorship at PESD, I helped to plan and analyze the first National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) in 2011. For a few years, I continued to work on NWCA research under a Cooperative Agreement as a Research Associate at Kenyon College until I was hired permanently at PESD in 2016. I assumed the role of the Office of Research and Development’s Technical Lead for the NARS program in 2023.

When did you first know you wanted to work in environmental science?

I was one of those five-year-olds that knew what they really, truly wanted to “be” when they grew up.  The natural world, and later ecology, always interested me. My parents fostered my curiosity as a young child through frequent outings to the many zoos, museums, and botanical gardens that Chicago has to offer. Throughout my early teens, I spent many summers and evenings taking ecology and field biology classes and even traveled to Belize as part of an intensive marine biology course in high school.

What do you like most about your job?

My job is not a job – it is my passion. At EPA, I am encouraged to be curious, to investigate scientific questions that have long gone unanswered, and to reach managers and policymakers to make real-world impacts on our environment and for the public. NARS, is an amazing program to be part of because of the unparalleled quality, quantity, and longevity of the data, but also because of the amazing team of scientists with which I collaborate. They inspire me every day.

How does your science matter?

The NARS program is crucial to meeting Clean Water Act (CWA) goals to “restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the Nations’ waters” (CWA§101(a)). NARS is the only program in the United States that produces aquatic ecosystem data using a national-scale survey design and consistent, field-based methods. The NARS program provides critical information about the state of our aquatic resources, but perhaps even more importantly, the cyclic nature of NARS allows us to track trends in ecosystem condition over time to assess whether the nation is meeting objectives of the CWA to maintain or improve the integrity of our water resources. The datasets produced through the NARS program support myriad of research, both within EPA (e.g., in the Office of Research and Development, Office of Science and Technology, Regions) and outside EPA (e.g., in state agencies academia, non-governmental organizations).

Despite the many critical functions wetlands provide on the landscape, such as flood amelioration, climate change mitigation through carbon storage, groundwater recharge, nutrient storage and transformation, and wildlife habitat, wetland loss across the United States is occurring at substantial rates, with net losses increasing over 50% over the two decades ( Lang et al. 2024 ). The National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA) is arguably the most comprehensive wetland dataset that exists for the United States, with data collected from approximately 1,000 sites every five years that span from nutrient concentrations in the water column, to plant species lists and abundances, to human-mediated physical alterations, to soil profiles and soil chemistry. Understanding the how wetland condition and wetland functions are affected by stressors, such as anthropogenic disturbance, climate change, and nutrient inputs, is important for protecting and managing wetlands across the nation.

If you weren’t a scientist, what would you be doing?

I can’t imagine not being a scientist – it is so engrained in who I am. But when I’m not actively working on research, I love to read (I’m currently on a science fiction kick), knit, and hike. I spend lots of time outdoors – especially at wetlands – with my two young children, who are just as curious about the world as I was at their age!

What advice would you give a student interested in a career in science?

I have gotten to where I am through a lot of hard work, persistence, and adaptability, but most of all, through connecting with already-established professionals in the field I wanted to pursue. In some cases, that meant a simple email to a lead author on a journal article I read.  In other cases, it meant volunteering for an event or a short internship. Setting yourself apart in your prospective field as early as possible – by introducing yourself and getting your name out to others – will help gain you recognition that makes it easier to find your path. Lastly, it’s important to recognize that the path isn’t always clear; after my undergraduate degree, it took a year of working at bookshops and answering phones at an office before I decided what I specifically wanted to study in graduate school. Don’t be discouraged if you don’t have all the answers right away!

If you could have dinner with any scientist, past or present, who would you choose and what would you talk about?

I would love to have dinner (or even better, a field trip) with Dr. Henry Chandler Cowles, a botanist, conservationist, and one of the founders of modern ecology. In a lot of ways, it was specifically his theories that ignited my interest in ecology; in third grade, I took a dunes ecology class at the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, where my interest in ecology was ignited by the same ecosystems that inspired his publications on succession. I would ask Dr. Cowles about his strategies for convincing a seemingly intractable public to preserve natural systems.  I imagine we could talk about changes in ecology and succession in response to anthropogenic disturbances and climate change for hours!

You are stranded on a desert island; how do you use science to survive? 

I lived on a tropical island for about six months to conduct coral reef surveys! Granted, I was not stranded and had many modern amenities, but water was always a primary concern as we received less than 20 inches of rainfall per year. Every drop of water that reached the rooftops was captured in a cistern and saved for drinking and cooking. So, the first thing I would do if I was stranded on a desert island would be to set up a system to catch rainwater and/or a simple system to evaporate and desalinate water. Even though much of our U.S. population is fortunate enough to not have to think about clean drinking water on a daily basis, it wasn’t all that long ago that our water quality in some areas of the U.S. was so poor that rivers were catching fire . Clean drinking water is still humanity’s most basic need, and under the Clean Water Act, EPA and states are responsible for ensuring that we have drinkable, fishable, swimmable waters now and into the future.

Editor's Note:  The opinions expressed herein are those of the researcher alone. EPA does not endorse the opinions or positions expressed.  

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