Division of Imaging Sciences

Do a session over at the Rayne Institute. Nice group of PhD students – who actually seem to know each other. Bit of banter as they wait for me to start. Goes well I think, though one guy at the back smirked the whole way through. Was I really that ridiculous? Good questions -already someone has followed up for a 1-1.

Passing on Knowledge

At my time of career – am looking very seriously at my 60th birthday. Or my 60th birthday is looking very seriously at me – you get to ask yourself questions like ‘What am I about?’ ‘What am I for?’

So it was nice to work with 2 colleagues preparing sessions with PhD students and to feel I was able to make a helpful contribution. Not just knowledge but encouragement. A really nice hour and a half.

Actually the knowledge is a small thing – more important is the confidence. Most of my colleagues are nervous of working with PhD’s as indeed was I. You need to find a quick way of getting credibility with them so that you can get on with applying traditional adviser skills of empathy, understanding and exploring of options. There will be a pressure for PhD advisers to possess PhD’s which would be a pity. The possession of a PhD might help with the empathy and understanding – but not necessarily so. Because you quickly realise that the experience of a PhD is enormously different in different disciplines. So would you have to have a PhD in the discipline of the student you were advising? No!

Graduate School Inductions

We do not often meet up as the GS team, so it was nice to see everyone over in the FWB reception area. I did a couple of group sessions. It was nice to feel relaxed about these – in previous years I would not have done. Managed to get both of my groups to talk and interact. I sat with other support services in the graduate lounge and chatted to a few PhD’s – the whole thing seemd better than the 3 previous GS inductions.

Working with Scientists

All three of the scientists i have counselled this morning suffered in one way or another from poor communications within their workplace. One of them havd a really interesting insight. For her the endless shifting of plans was a nightmare. She really needed to know what she was doing. In MBTI terms a confirmed ‘J’. She noted that the postdocs in her lab were so laidback as to be horizontal, and that her PI was in her terms ‘vague’ . I said to her that it was precisely this lack of structure that appealed to some academics. Its often sena s the essential’freedom’ to pursue ideas. Of course it is not universal, but the observation was telling. The difficulty of advising unhappy PhD students is separating the inevitable indeed essential problems and dips form more profound issues which mean that the environment does not fit with a student’s long term needs. Of course one can never know, and cannot give ‘advice’ here. But you can get them to analyse the issues and guide them through potential modes of action and response.