About this episode

Dr Ajantha Abey discusses essential research habits for PhD students that can enhance their academic journey.

Dr Ajantha Abey narrates his blog written for Dementia Researcher. In part one, Ajantha covered the practical lab-hacks: experiment numbering, file naming, reference managers and spreadsheets. This time he moves up a level, to the habits that sit around the experiments rather than inside them. He makes the case for recording why you made a decision and not just what you did, keeping every half-formed idea in one running list, building relationships with colleagues long before you need a protocol or a reference, going to small local meetings from the very start, saying yes to teaching, outreach and committee work, and paying attention to what comes after the PhD while there is still time to explore it. None of it is glamorous, and Ajantha is the first to say so. But the argument he makes is that a PhD is a marathon, and the systems you set up in year one are the ones that stop your future self getting lost. https://www.dementiaresearcher.nihr.ac.uk/blog-more-research-habits-i-wish-id-started-earlier-in-my-phd/ -- Dr Ajantha Abey is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Kavli Institute at University of Oxford. He is interested in the cellular mechanisms of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr Ajantha Abey

Topics covered

• PhD research habits
• scientific practices
• career development
• academic relationships
• research organization

Keywords

• PhD
• research habits
• academic success
• scientific research
• career advice

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Dementia Researcher, Kavli Institute, University of Oxford

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