Here are some of my quick notes from a ‘Managing Your PhD’ workshop that can be applied to the EngD.

The focus is on the student to manage their PhD and communication with their supervisor.

A doctorate should be proof that you can be given some money and can be trusted to work for a number of years without supervison.

Writing conference papers could provide useful deadlines to complete work by.

You should understand that both people in a conversation should benefit in someway, this will aid networking. Prepare ground work for meeting people, by reading their work and having opinions/disagreements, or other talking points.

Points on a PhD

• A thesis is Back Rationalised; it is not a diary of progress but a justification of the final result and methodology.
• If someone can predict what your PhD will produce then it’s not at the right level.
• A PhD gain be gained from years of failures – as long as you understand why.
• Your PhD topic/area might become redundant by the time you finish, but your acquired skills will not. The lecturer studied for 4 years on computer modelling using 32k of memory, computer power had increased by then (but the techniques were useful).
• Industry employs students to either; decrease costs or generate money.

The idea of looking at the proposed EngD/PhD using a system model was interesting as you take into account the ‘soft’ (skills, people & relationships) and ‘hard’ (systems, planning, structure).