Handbook for PhD Students
This PhD Handbook serves a dual purpose: it describes the research methodology of our group and gives general advice to students, and it sets out the standards and processes that all students in the group are expected to strive for.
You should adopt a particular approach to our individual meetings: use it as a resource, and come prepared to maximise the usefulness for you. Each meeting should follow this structure:
1) Recap: what was the state of your work at the last meeting, and what did we agree you would do for the next meeting?
2) Discuss your progress, problems, ideas
3) Propose what to do next, until the next meeting
Your supervisors want to give you helpful feedback. However, keep in mind that supervisors have many such meetings, and it can be difficult for them to keep all details in mind between meetings. So, to facilitate useful feedback, it is helpful to remind supervisors of the state of the work and current targets.
Preparing for the meeting means that you give some thought to 2) and 3) before the meeting. During the meeting, you should note down all work tasks we agreed on, which can be used for 1) at the next meeting.
If you want more detailed technical feedback on an idea, it is best if you can send me a write-up of the idea prior to the meeting. Writing it up is also immensely helpful to clarify your own perspective.