PhD week 67: 15 Month Report

Diplacodes trivialis—Today's picture of the day on Wikimedia Commons. Licence: CC: BY-SA.

One of the more critical pieces of administration that Lincoln University requires of PhD students is that at around 15 months after starting their studies, the student gives a presentation to a select group of academics, including the student's supervisory team. This presentation explains what progress has been made to that point, what problems had been encountered, and what the plan is from that point onward. It's a process that is designed to identify problems fairly early in the piece and to revise the scope of the study where everyone has a bit more of a realistic view than in the proposal stage.

This past week, I had mine. I didn't find it particularly arduous, and the general consensus was that I was doing fairly well. A couple of concerns were raised, mainly around timing of certain aspects of my research, and encouraging that I clarify the exact questions in one of my objectives. I found it encouraging, looking back over the past 15 months, and comparing what I said I would do with what I've actually done. Happily enough, I wasn't too unrealistic in most of my proposals, but there are a few aspects which I haven't done to the extent that I would've liked. The timing of the report was a little annoying, as it took time away from other things that I would've liked to have done, but overall I found the process to be a valuable one.

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