All entries for Tuesday 12 May 2015

Welcome to the CES PHD Support Group blog

Welcome

It brings me great pleasure to announce forming a PHD support group. The group is called CESPHD and as the name suggests it is aimed at all PHD students at the Centre for Education Studies.

Goal of the group

As many of you have indicated on various occasions, there is a need for some sort of a group that allows students to discuss their research and help each others overcome the similar obstacles they are facing. Well, here's your chance, an informal group formed and managed by students. Thanks to everyone of you who expressed interest and helped with your valuable input (especially Asima, Hafiz, Sakinah & Natia)

The main goals of the group are:

1. help students meet on a semi-regular basis in a friendly environment where they can talk openly about their research experience
2. transfer research experience and share helpful tips
3. capitalise on the collective thinking and allow feedback for those who would like to present their work to a fresh set of eyes

Additional benefits include (and are not limited to)

1. Sharing tips on valuable papers and books
2. Provide solutions to potential problems (brainstorming/focus group)
3. Giving conference heads up
4. A good place to just hang out and plan fun activities

The formula of the meeting

As mentioned above the meetings are biweekly and take place in the late morning. The meeting is open for everyone to show up and leave whenever they feel like it.

Please keep in mind that this is definitely not a formal thing and most definitely not mandatory.

In order for the meeting to be most fruitful you are encourage to:

• Have a personal 'agenda' for the meeting; this is what you want to get out of the meeting. You personal agenda can be some piece of work you are working on and feel stuck and in need of fresh eyes to have a look at.
• Don't expect everyone to show up so try and make use of as many people who are present on the day.
• If you are not facing any problems with your research (in which case congratulations!! you are the 1 in a million) you are still welcome to take part and help other students. Who knows? you might just pick up the most useful piece of advice for your work (well... it's a possibility!
• Be reasonable in your expectations, this is not a tutoring group or a workshop (although some members might be up for one-to-one tutorials according to their time and availability.

Looking forward to your participation both in the Group and online, please feel free to view, comment and post on this blog.

Mohammad Waseem Sandouk : 12 May 2015 18:57 |  Tags: Cesphd |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem