How important a part of a phd is communicating your ideas to other PhDs and academics

To what degree is this important?

Reply 1

It's very important. Talking about your research is one key way for your ideas to shape up. I don't know about you, but when you can't explain your ideas clearly to others it usually means the ideas are still relatively informed. It's a great feeling when you can explain fluidly what you are researching, why and how. It doesn't come straight away, it develops and evolves. It's also essential practice for the IA, IE and the viva examination at the end of it all.

Reply 2

Keele Rep

Official Rep

I'd agree with @cheadle. Communicating your ideas to others (whether that's other PhD researchers, more senior academics, or non-academic/general audiences) is a great way of developing your thinking, as well as developing your presentation skills and confidence. Even if you don't intend to go into academia after your PhD, the ability to communicate your work and ideas with clarity and confidence to a variety of different audiences is a crucial skill in many professions. Plus, as @cheadle has said, your PhD will often be examined via an oral thesis defence/viva.

The PhD can also be lonely experience at times so presenting your work offers a valuable way of getting 'out of your own head' (so to speak), stepping back from the work to view it from a different angle, distilling your ideas down to key points and arguments, and receiving feedback that will (hopefully) help you to develop your work. It's also a great way of making connections in your area of research, building a support network, and of learning from peers and colleagues.

I completely understand why a lot of PGRs have an fear of presenting work but remember that presenting doesn't have to mean giving a full conference paper. My first presentation was an academic poster, then I moved onto a lighting talk and a PGR 'work in progress' session, before giving my first full conference paper. I actually found the lighting talk much harder than the conference paper because it's very difficult to distil your ideas into such a short timeframe. That said, the experience was also extremely useful as it got me thinking about the key aspects of my research and what the most important things I wanted to convey were.

Hope that helps!

Amy Louise
PhD Candidate & Student Ambassador, Keele University