Social Media and the PhD

By
I am a social media lover. I love using twitter, facebook and I am even getting the hand of Google +.. 

In November I am going to be speaking at the PhD Journey conference (set up by students, for other students)  in Aberdeen about social media and the PhD. 

I have done a number of things that simply would not have happened if social media did not exist. Like being invited to be an official blogger at an international conference (that also helped me raise money to attend the conference, and present some of my research work). I have also been able to keep up to date with research and network using social media.

I wanted to share a couple of ways in which using social media can help during the PhD. Including the use of support networks like #phdchat, #ecrchat and twitter journal clubs. 

I don't want to bore people with stories just about me so I wanted to know if people were willing to share any of their success stories, or find out what/why people have difficulties with using social media during their PhD.

If you are willing to share anything, you can leave a comment or email me :-) 

Thanks! 

(This is a brief begging post, the thesis is still ongoing and is taking up the vast majority of my life but I am very nearly finished...)

Comments

  1. Eva27 September 2012 at 07:45

    just a few off the top of my head:
    - getting useful advice and examples on how to make a poster for a conference when i needed it
    - connecting through email with researchers worldwide on my topic: mostly sharing my experimental data with the numerical folks
    - tons of advice from other blogs, #phdchat, #acwri, #ecrchat (I'm in a research-only track so it gets lonely by times + limited guidance on the general research skills here: I got all info from blogs, books and chats)
    - some fun stuff: becoming blogger for TEDxDelft, getting to review software, being interviewed for umpty reasons at my university (also got nominated as one of the highlights in civil engineering because of my pioneering in social media here)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Heather Doran28 September 2012 at 01:51

      Those are all fantastic! Thanks for sharing Eva :-)

      Delete
  2. Unknown25 October 2012 at 04:29

    Hey, nice site you have here! Keep up the excellent work!


    PhD research guidance

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to help someone that is writing up their thesis

By
Image
Writing a thesis is a lonely and it can be a very stressful time. I found it extremely difficult to keep up with friends and family. Holding normal, conversations that lasted longer than two sentences without my mind drifting away to thesis related thoughts was also a challenge. Quite a few of my close friends have gone through their thesis too and I thought it might be useful for those that haven't experienced the joys, highs and lows of thesis writing how they can help support those that are writing up. A few things that you can do to help... See if they would like to go out for food or a walk but don't get annoyed if all the said person does is talk about their thesis. Getting writers away from their computer can be a welcome distraction. Send them some nice smelly soaps/shampoo - I stopped all shopping when writing up You could also send fruit and healthy snacks. Confession time. I once spent a weekend at my desk writing up and ate all of my desk mates food becau
Read more

How many papers should academics publish per year?

By
Image
Post-doctoral researchers in Medical Sciences at the University of Aberdeen were told this week that they need to be publishing, on average, 3.25 papers per year in order to have a competitive chance of getting a research fellowship. I always get worried when I hear exact numbers being quoted as 'what you NEED to have'. The number, apparently was determined by asking research councils that give fellowship grants what they look for. A good idea in theory, the ones that answered the request said they want (on average) 3.25 papers per year. But do the people that receive fellowships really have that record? That isn't clear. With a decrease in research council funding is more research being funded by industry? I don't know, as I don't have the numbers. I'm just speculating, but, if you are industry funded my experience has been so far that you are likely to publish less as your results will go towards things like patents and be kept internally for the company.
Read more

Getting Women into Science, EU Directive

By
All my wonderful lady friends (I'm talking to the non sciency bods here) I need your help. Please watch the video below and leave a comment on my blog page (at the bottom of this page) letting me know what you think of the video (giving your current job - you don't need to leave your name). Does it make you want to work in science? Update 18.7.12 Thanks for all the comments! I  forwarded them on to the EU commission that produced the video. They did receive quite a response to the video from across the globe, and a few 10000 blog posts!! Here are a few reflections  - Science, a people thing  - I think this is the blog post I agreed with the most  From the Guardian - Science: it's a girl thing! A viral fiasco New Statesman Huffington Post (UK)   - they ask 'is the video sexist?' Wall Street Journal - describe it as a porn film They did take the video down, and here is the website now - http://science-girl-thing.eu/
Read more