HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL PG STUDENT

Dr Ard LouisTheoretical PhysicsUniversity of Oxford

Advice from Peter Harrison and Mark Berner

-Time management-Relationship with supervisor-Form cohorts-Participate in graduate seminars, even if it is not exactly what you do-In 1st year it may all be quite uncertain.-Pay attention to writing style – guilds

outline

• A bit about me• Tips on Oxford PG life• Success in academic science?

Biological self-assembly

• Self-assembly of multi-component structures

• Can we understand?

• Can we emulate?(nano-science)

http://www.npn.jst.go.jp/ Keiichi Namba, Osaka

04/20/23

Biological self-assembly

• Self-assembled from identical subunits (capsomers).• Characteristic number T.• Capsid T: 12 pentamers, 10(T - 1) hexamers.

T=1 T=3

Self Assembly of “computer viruses”

Iain Johnston

Playing with legos?

outline

• A bit about me• Tips on Oxford PG life• Success in academic science?

We’re not in Kansas anymore

• With the exception of a few professional degrees, the majority of programmes at Oxford Uni concentrate around research.

• Undergrad: you learn to consume knowledge

• Postgrad: you learn to generate knowledge

Navigating the Oxford maze

• Get to know your supervisors

• You will learn more from fellow students than from anyone else

• The system is very informal and very flexible …. but hard to understand sometimes..

Navigating the Oxford maze

Personal Challenges:• Loneliness• Time management/stress• The system• Other students

Aim high! Have fun!

• It would be a supreme irony if a demanding educational system served mainly to eliminate many of the most talented. ... We don't need just more facts. We do need more deep understanding. ... There is no money for simply sitting in the library and thinking.•Thomas G. West (1997) In the Mind's Eye. New York: Prometheus books

outline

• A bit about me• Tips on Oxford PG life• Success in academic science?

#1 Key to my success as a scientist:Forming a good team

?How do you become an academic supervisor?

David will probably not be an outstanding philosopher, because he is too well-rounded and interesting a person to succeed in academia, lacking the single-minded obsession and personal insensitivity that facilitates brilliant work.a Princeton assessment of a philosophy PhD student ...

A sum rule: Probability you will produce DPhil students ~ 1/(# of DPhils per supervisor lifetime)

The bad news:

Ambition, focus, drive, passion,sacrifice .... obsession?

?How do you get there?

a few tips....

Most important research skill:Ask the right questions! why do you do what you do?

what is the big picture?

a few tips....

Most important research skill:Ask the right questions! why do you do what you do?

Maximise your creativityknow yourself

Tokyo Aug 06 22

a few tips• The first principle is that you must not fool yourself--and

you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you've not fooled yourself, it's easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that. -- R.P. Feynman, “Cargo Cult Science” (1974)• http://www.physics.brocku.ca/etc/cargo_cult_science.html

a few tips

a few tips....

Most important research skill:Ask the right questions! why do you do what you do?

Maximise your creativityknow yourself

Get out of the house/lab/department:collaborate, talk to visitors, go to conferences

a few tips

A DPHIL/MPHIL/MSc/M… is training, not a life work ...

publish or perish .... (learn how to write)

polish your talks .....

focus on getting results

Don’t be too mercenary ...

Don’t be too mercenary

• measures of success?• publications in high impact journals, citation

counts, H index, • How much funding you brought in• What committees you are on ....

• What is academic success?• What is success in life?

Sharpen your axe