You probably don’t need me to remind you that currently everything is currently grinding to a halt. More and more universities are closing labs and asking students and staff to work from home. At face value this could cause a lot of disruption for experimental PhDs. Indeed the university I go to is starting to consider allowing students to pause their PhD to avoid this. However, I believe that whichever stage of your PhD you’re at, there are productive things you can do to work from home. Of course, if you fancy taking some time off then now would be a good time to do so. But with closures anticipated to last for many months it probably makes sense to try and spend at least some of the time doing work. Here are some ideas for what you could do with your time.
Make professional looking figures and illustrations
For better or worse there is no denying that having amazing visuals increases the apparent quality of your work. It may seem superficial but there are good reasons to ensure you have good quality artwork in your documents:
- Images make concepts relating to your work easier to understand: this can increase citations.
- Your work becomes a a joy to look at, maintaining interest with readers and making the paper more memorable. In the same way that you probably initially skim through papers looking at the figures, you’ll find that reviewers and examiners do the same.
You can also use artwork destined for papers in presentations and your thesis, so it’s a good use of your time.
Don’t know where to start? Well that takes me on to my next suggestion…
Learn a new skill
I think all of us have something we’ve always wanted to learn but never get around to. Well, now’s the perfect time!
Increase the quality of your work
- Artwork – As we discussed above, good artwork is a great investment in your time. For illustrations consider Photoshop or Gimp (which is free). Visio is an option people I work with use for diagrams of experiment setups. For displaying data there is Origin or Excel. I’ll include CAD packages in here too: I use SolidWorks but free versions you could use at home include AutoCAD.
- Technical Writing – Writing technically doesn’t come naturally, especially if you’re writing in a second language. Now could be a good time to work on your writing and your boss probably has some extra time to proof read it for you too!
- Statistics – Statistical analysis can be scary. SPSS can be good for carrying out statistical tests. I’ve used a subscription to Laerd to help navigate which tests to use for each specific data set and your supervisor would likely be happy to pay for it. If your project suits it, some time learning R (free) may be well spent.
- Animations – Animation software such as Blender (free) is unlikely to be a necessity for your project. However, I have known people to create amazing visuals to explain complicated concepts which wouldn’t come across well with static 2D figures. Journals are increasingly keen to accept supplementary videos and love posting them on social media.
Boost your productivity:
- Learn a programming language such as Python. There are a whole host of free online courses out there such as Codecademy to cover whatever you fancy learning.
- Improve your skills with programs you already use such as Excel. Things like macros and keyboard shortcuts can make a big difference.
Analyse data
Okay, so perhaps this isn’t the most fun job but if you’re doing an experimental PhD you might have some data you’ve not yet got around to analysing. Now could be the perfect time to knuckle down and get on with it!
Write a paper
If your project is at a later stage you could start to write a paper. As long as you’ve settled on a method you don’t even need much data to begin with, just writing the introduction and methods is a good start. I wish I’d started my first paper sooner and not wasted months before getting feedback. If you’re new to this you might want to check out the series I’m currently working on to help guide you through writing your first paper.
Write a review article
A good review critically evaluates existing work of multiple groups in a field or across disciplines, provides a logical organization, and makes the material more easily available to those not expert in the area through clear text and figures. Reviews should lay out the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.
ACS Nano Author Guidelines
Don’t have enough results yet to write an original research paper? Write a review article. A great idea some groups encourage is for first year PhD students to write a review article around their topic. I’m sure there are articles you could write, I can think of at least three for my own work which would be valuable to other researchers. Clearly it requires you to gain a grounding in the literature and can help overcome the difficulty of writing your first paper. Plus they’re ideal content to help with the literature review section of your thesis.
Make a start on your thesis
Starting to work on your thesis may seem intimidating but there are bits of your thesis that every PhD student can get on with – no matter which stage you’re at.
- You could firstly start by making a plan of chapter titles and what content to include.
- Write the literature review. If you’re at an early stage, even just reading articles and making notes to help your literature review will help inform your project.
- Make a start on the figures (see the sections above).
- I personally recommend writing papers and turning these in to chapters. Therefore if you’re midway through your project consider first writing a paper as described in the section above.
Communicate your science
Start a podcast, blog or Youtube channel to communicate the work you do or any science-related topics you want to share with the world. Both Science and Nature actively accept career stories from academics of all career stages. You could submit an article for something research/career-related which you feel passionate about. Last year I had an article published in Science about how reading fiction helped my work: they really do consider a wide variety of articles! On the back of that article a few weeks ago Science asked me to be on a panel, you never know where these things could lead.
Equally if you’re keen to share your experiences here, such as your PhD journey, I’d love to hear from you! Get in touch here.
Good practice for working from home
Sync your data
I use Box and Google Drive to ensure I have local up to date copies of my work saved on both my work and home computers. Ideally you don’t want to have to download a copy and manually upload a new copy of anything, this is a recipe for disaster.
Remote desktop
If you need to be using your computer at work to access certain programs, your university probably has provision to allow remote access. I have access using Microsoft Remote Desktop. Be aware that it relies upon a decent internet connection at both ends and otherwise it can be a painful process. This is why having local copies synced via the cloud can be better for most things.
Watch out for references
If you’re planning to edit documents with references, either switch off instant formatting (see below) or sync your reference manager. I use Endnote which offers sync options and I believe Mendeley does the same.
Take breaks
Working from home means less separation between work and play. Make sure to set boundaries on where or when you’ll work. That will help you to feel less anxious about how you’re spending your time.
Here is a good twitter thread I found with extra suggestions you might find useful:
What am I doing at the moment?
I wrapped up my lab work earlier in the year and last month handed in my thesis (woo!). Since then I have been working on getting some papers published. Conveniently this writing can be done from home without too much adjustment. Besides that, I’m beginning to prepare for my viva which will take place [remotely] a week tomorrow: wish me luck! Finally, I’m trying to now focus more time on this website so as always do let me know any suggestions for content you’d like to see.
How are you planning to spend this time during university closures? Do you have some ideas I should have included? It would be lovely to hear any stories or suggestions from fellow students!
