The PhD Survival Guide Podcast

Oct 07 2024 26 ep. 47 mins 9

The PhD Survival Guide Podcast artwork

Are you a first year PhD student trying to figure out how to navigate grad life? Or maybe you're a fifth year looking for the motivation to write out the last chapter of your dissertation? Regardless of where you are or where you want to be, this is the podcast that talks all things grad school! The purpose of this podcast is to highlight some of the things that I, and others, wish they knew prior to starting their grad school journey. We will be covering a multitude of topics such as mental health, good practices, how to ace your first seminar, and much much more!

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25. Casual Conversations: Why you're not broken - With Alison Miller, PhD

Oct 07 2024 79 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! After our short little hiatus, I am proud to announce that we're back and we're starting strong with a brand new Casual Conversations episode with Alison Miller of The Academic Writers Space! In this episode, we spoke to Alison, who has well over 20 years of experience mentoring students and mentors alike in the academic setting, about var

24. Casual Conversations: Exploring non-academic paths in the PhD - With Dakota, PhD

Jun 17 2024 103 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! As we always say here on the podcast, every PhD journey is unique. I worked full-time in the laboratory and had the privilege of dedicating the majority of my time to my experiments. While I have talked in depth about the pros and cons of this, not all of you have the same experience. In this episode, I spoke to Dakota, a recent PhD gradua

23. Casual Conversations: From diverse roots, to doctorate - Crossing academic origins - With Cristina, MPH and Sarah, BS

May 15 2024 114 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In the recent past, some of you have reached out asking these key questions: Does it really make a big difference to have a Master's degree? Or does the research experience you completed in your Bachelor's degree really prepare you for the research burdens in a PhD? What if you don't have either of these things, will you be at

22. Casual Conversations: How to navigate relationships in the PhD - Creating sustainable connections - With Dr. Victoria Godieva

Apr 11 2024 106 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! Pursuing a PhD can be a very isolating experience. You may soon come to realize that the demands of being a PhD student can consume your time. This drastic shift in your work-life balance can also significantly affect your relationships, including family, friends, and significant others. In this episode we talk with Dr. Victoria Godieva ab

21. NOTHING IS WORKING!!! - How to properly troubleshoot - Don't be the definition of insanity

Apr 01 2024 34 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In my PhD, behind every single successful experiment, there were multiple (and I mean a ton) of failed experiments. That's totally normal! It's through failure that we learn how to find success, and you're going to fail a lot in your PhD. As such, it's important to learn how to properly troubleshoot an experiment or procedu

20. Casual Conversations: Transforming your notes to transform your PhD - Tending to the knowledge garden - With Jorge Arango

Mar 25 2024 77 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, I talk to author Jorge Arango about his book - Duly Noted: Extend your mind through connected notes. This episode is packed with information on how to think differently about notes as well as how to use notes as tools to progress your research. As always, we hope you enjoy this episode! Get Duly Noted: Extend your mind th

19. Casual Conversations: Recruitment limitations, online PhD, working full-time - With Vinita Puri

Feb 26 2024 103 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, I had the opportunity to talk about so many different topics and issues that various students face, but I never had to deal with personally. I spoke to Vinita Puri, an international online PhD student from Canada doing her research in the United States. Vinita covers her experiences with recruiting for her research, what i

18. Conquering comprehensive exams - Comps, quals, prelims - What are they and why are they so scary?

Feb 05 2024 34 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! At some point of your career as a PhD student, you will have to take the dreaded comprehensive exams (comps for short). Doesn't sound familiar? Maybe you call them preliminary exams or qualifying exams. Regardless, this exam is a necessary requirement for all PhD students to become PhD candidates. In this episode, I talk about why comp

17. How to present with no data? - Seminar and presentation formatting - Ace your first presentation!

Dec 21 2023 38 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! In this episode, we talk about how to give a presentation when you still have little to no data to present on. Whether you're a first year PhD or just starting a new project, you might be expected to present on your work and that can be pretty scary! Don't worry at all as I will go over how to format your presentation and recount m

16. Where has Ferass been? - Updates on what I've been up to - What's to come?

Dec 07 2023 17 mins

Welcome to the PhD Survival Guide Podcast! This episode is sort of like an update to tell everyone what I have been up to, why I haven't been uploading in a while, and where the show is going to go from here. It's been a long time since I've been recording but I am happy to be doing it again and look forward to future episodes! Special thank you to all that have support