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Data will come as part of your PhD, do not compare your amount of data to others, and never think there is an early expectation for how much 'perfect' data you should have generated during your PhD - it can all go into the thesis!

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Data will come as part of your PhD, do not compare your amount of data to others, and never think there is an early expectation for how much 'perfect' data you should have generated during your PhD - it can all go into the thesis!

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A PhD is a qualification, not a personality trait. Work hard, but don't make it your whole life.

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A PhD is a qualification, not a personality trait. Work hard, but don't make it your whole life.

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The current code for the fantasy league is wrong: I will update it on Slack soon

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The current code for the fantasy league is wrong: I will update it on Slack soon

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Get to know other DiMeN students! Many of us hang out regularly and provide an additional outlet to vent about work, and even find opportunities for collaboration

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Learn how to say no! You don't have to take on every opportunity or do every side project presented to you.

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Learn how to say no! You don't have to take on every opportunity or do every side project presented to you.

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Its harder in the beginning but eventually realise it is your project. Supervisors are there to help, advise and direct but not dictate. 

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Its harder in the beginning but eventually realise it is your project. Supervisors are there to help, advise and direct but not dictate. 

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Get social! Join the Slack group, get active on twitter, and join the new Fantasy Football league (code: 8znn4m)

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Get social! Join the Slack group, get active on twitter, and join the new Fantasy Football league (code: 8znn4m)

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Embrace it! Get in touch with other people in your cohort (and other cohorts) and use the support network

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Have time to rest before hand if possible (use holidays from jobs/ dont take on extra work) so you start refreshed in a good mindset 

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Have time to rest before hand if possible (use holidays from jobs/ dont take on extra work) so you start refreshed in a good mindset 

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Don’t put too much pressure on yourself in first year, let yourself enjoy your phd

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Don’t put too much pressure on yourself in first year, let yourself enjoy your phd

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Try to get started with the practical side of your project (e.g. lab work) as early as you can. At first, you may feel like everything is going wrong: this is okay! It's all part of learning, and the sooner you get started, the sooner you'll master the skills. It can be tempting to spend months doing nothing but reading and planning - however, striking a balance will leave you feeling better prepared in the long run.

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Always remember, you were chosen for your PhD project from a whole pool of amazing candidates, and you absolutely deserve to be here! There will be times you feel like nothing is going right, or you'll never be able to get your head around something, but this is totally normal and you will get there. Your PhD is 3.5 years for a reason - if everything worked first time, you'd never learn anything and be done in a year! 

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Always remember, you were chosen for your PhD project from a whole pool of amazing candidates, and you absolutely deserve to be here! There will be times you feel like nothing is going right, or you'll never be able to get your head around something, but this is totally normal and you will get there. Your PhD is 3.5 years for a reason - if everything worked first time, you'd never learn anything and be done in a year! 

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Don't worry too much! First year is all about settling in, learning techniques, and gaining confidence as a researcher. No one will expect that much of you, so don't worry if experiments don't work, and you find it hard, that's perfectly normal - it gets easier and the data will come!

Try to do as many extracurricular training/opportunities as you can in your first year, it's a great time to learn and embed yourself in research culture while your workload is comparatively less. Especially try activities you would haven't done before - public engagement, PGR rep, writing, lab demonstrating, etc., are all good opportunities to learn, and can inform later career choices if you find you really enjoy something!

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Stay curious, ask for help whenever needed, don't keep your worries to yourself - there is an entire cohort that is going through the similar journey! Attend the social events & try to keep a good work-life balance

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Personally the most important thing to help you through a PhD is the work/life balance. Yes there might be some long days, such is the nature of research, but it's important to take the time to enjoy the next 4 years as well.

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Find the reason why you're doing this and then hang onto it when it gets hard (especially if England is not your home country).

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Don't be afraid to tell your supervisor what you need even if what you need is for less on your plate at a particular point

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You get out of it what you put in so don't be afraid to put in the effort but know your limits and recognise when to slow down and take it easy to recharge

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Write everything down, especially 'why' you did something.

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Write everything down, especially 'why' you did something.

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Get yourself out there, throw yourself into everything, meet lots of people and have fun! Your PhD (especially the first year) will be one of the most difficult things you do, so make as many friends as possible – in your lab, other students/staff in the uni and DiMeN students!!!! – and build a support network, but also so you can switch off and remember to live and enjoy yourself.

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Don't compare yourself to others - your PhD is yours, it doesn't matter if others seem to be making 'quicker' progress etc.

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Don’t get emotionally attached to your projects. It’s an objective journey. Your end point is submitting a piece of work reflecting your scientific journey, positive or negative. Record everything down, organise yourself from day 1 and keep your thesis in mind. Make sure every file has the name and date. As soon as you get data, analyse, process and put into a single ppt presentation. Having data in a single place will be useful.

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“there is no such thing as a perfect thesis, just a complete one”!

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“there is no such thing as a perfect thesis, just a complete one”!

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Take time to do the reading before jumping into research, things will feel so much easier.

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Take time to do the reading before jumping into research, things will feel so much easier.

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Get organised from the get-go (notebooks, study hours etc) and make friends 

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Get organised from the get-go (notebooks, study hours etc) and make friends 

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Get organised from the start. Get yourself a notepad/diary or an app. Keep a record of everything!! 

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Get organised from the start. Get yourself a notepad/diary or an app. Keep a record of everything!! 

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Write everything down. Don’t be afraid to ask questions 

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Write everything down. Don’t be afraid to ask questions 

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Enjoy it! Don't put too much pressure on yourself to work as many hours as you can during the week. A PhD is so much more than your thesis. Get involved in faculty events, extra curricular activities and internships/placements.

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Making friends and meeting people in a new city can be hard, especially in COVID times, but making the first move in terms of introducing yourself to people in the lab/around the office and asking people to go for coffees/drinks etc. is really worth it even though it might seem a bit daunting at the time! It's really helpful to have a good support network around you, especially when the PhD stress is getting you down

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Take your time getting organised. Nothing worse than reading all those papers or completing experiments and not knowing what or where you got the information from.