Last week, Sandra at Discovering Biology in a Digital World had some interesting thoughts on Life science PhD’s as industrial strength technicians. What I thought interesting was this bit: This wasn’t for a technician job, but a few years ago, I was in the position of hiring someone to help me on an education project. [...]

In the US it’s called Grad School, but in the UK we just call it “doing a PhD”. Here’s how I chose my PhD position, and some resultant advice for those currently looking for a PhD.

A reader recently asked for an explanation “about choosing grad schools, taking the GREs, visiting campuses, speaking to potential advisors, and how you guys decided on where to go.” For me, to be honest, I think that I was astoundingly naive in my decision-making for where to go for graduate school.

Cover letters are possibly the most important documents you will write in your career because they can open or close the door to your dream job. But, surprisingly, people often under-estimate their importance and assume that they are just the lesser companion to the CV/resume. Of course, that’s not the case. Your cover letter should [...]

The Howard Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) has announced a $300 million competition to support the USA’s best early career scientists in biological and medical disciplines. The recipients of the seventy available awards will be selected from researchers who have led independent laboratories for two to six years at one of the 200 eligible U.S. [...]

For many of us, grad school immerses us so deeply in first-hand laboratory research that we begin to think that that’s all there is, and when faced with either limited opportunities for postdoctoral and (later) faculty research positions, we become blind to our other options. Others simply want to get out of academia and don’t [...]

Are you a visual, aural, read-write or kinesthetic learner? If you don’t know, it could be a good idea to find out. Changing the way you learn, study and take notes to suit your learning tendencies can allow you to learn faster and make your newly-acquired knowledge stay with you for longer.

Without good planning and preparation, writing your thesis can be a nightmare. Here are some tips on how to make the process a whole lot easier.