phd students

Hi. You might need to be a little more specific. I.e what area?? What are interested in finding out??
I’m a first year PhD student in microbiology. The first 3 months was me essentially learning the ropes from what previous masters/undergrad student in my area (I am the first PhD student in my area in my lab) and completing a project proposal (a basic timeline of what I am going to do in my PhD, and some background basically), reading papers and doing some bioinformatics. But I also started to look into some ideas for what I think would be a good avenue to go down (with my supervisors help). From January is when I am starting to do some other experiments that haven’t been done by previous students. The end of my first year I have to do an annual review which is essentially a mini dissertation, followed by a presentation in front of panel members (two internal examiners). I have to do an annual review every year (but this isn’t the case for all universities), but it’s really there to make sure I’m on track. At the minute, I do have work/life balance, but I assume in year 2>, this might not be the case. I also will be attending conferences throughout my PhD and on placement in industry for 3 months.
Does this answer your question? 😆

I’m aiming for 1/2, but I know some people
Who don’t have any. I don’t think it matters too much in the UK. I guess it depends on what you want to do after your PhD.