Isolation. One of the most common problems for PhD students is the feeling of isolation. PhD candidates often work alone, having few or sometimes no other people on their project.

• Owning your time:

One of the most important aspects of PhD study is strong time management to achieve the optimal work-life balance. You should view your Doctorate the same as a full-time job, while also appreciating that a complete lack of leisure time can be damaging to your health and chances of success.

Following the COVID-19 lockdowns, there may still be times when you'll need to work off-campus. To ensure the quality of your work doesn't suffer, it's necessary to plan your time on campus carefully to get the most out of the opportunity - for instance, you may need to book study spaces or research facilities in advance.

In terms of the qualification itself, time management is particularly important when writing your thesis. 'One needs to be disciplined enough to get work out to supervisors, giving them enough time for critiquing,' warns Siddartha Khastgir, head of Verification & Validation (V&V) of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs) at WMG, University of Warwick.

'Sending large chunks of work to supervisors is a common pitfall. Short and regular submissions are much more productive,' he adds.

Similarly, it's important to recognise when additional duties such as teaching undergraduates or becoming a student representative are taking up too much of your time - if the quality of your PhD is suffering, it's okay to reject the opportunity to do new things.

 

Managing your supervisor

A positive student-supervisor relationship is paramount to your PhD's success. However, it's not uncommon for problems to develop. These include:

• Absence - Your supervisor may be frequently unavailable, perhaps due to other research commitments. If your second supervisor doesn't increase their level of support, you'll need to demand more regular contact - either online or in person.
• Conflict - If your research is interdisciplinary and you've been allocated two leading supervisors, they may give you conflicting advice - or even dislike each other. If so, you could meet with them separately - but whatever you do, don't take sides.
• Intimidation - Your supervisor may actually be playing a more active role in your PhD research than necessary, something that is particularly likely if they're attempting to compensate for their inexperience. Don't be afraid of asking them to take a step back.
• Leave - In some rare cases, supervisors may retire, change university or go on sabbatical with little notice. You'll need to discuss what happens next with your department.

If your situation doesn't improve after you've talked through any problems together, you should consider changing your supervisor.

 

Catching 'second-year blues'

A PhD's length and intensity makes an unwelcome dip in confidence, motivation and morale almost inevitable. This usually happens once the initial excitement of being a Doctoral student has died down and is commonly known as the 'second-year blues'.

Siddartha emphasises the importance of remaining optimistic and discussing your feelings with other PhD students and your supervisor. Second-year blues are often cured by strong support, encouragement and constructive feedback.

You can boost your confidence by presenting at conferences or online seminars and help to alleviate any lack of motivation by pursuing varied, interesting and rewarding tasks. Always remember that training courses and other methods of support are readily available to PhD students to help strengthen any weaknesses you may have.

Siddartha believes that the second-year blues can be mitigated by setting realistic expectations from the outset. 'At the start of the PhD, every student has the aspiration of changing the world,' he says. 'Students need to manage their expectations to do something really in-depth with great rigour.'