Amir's Manchester PhD Research Tips

Amirhossein Balali, CPHD, SFHEA is a postgraduate researcher in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, and is a recipient of our Dean's Doctoral Scholarship. Read his top tips on the funding nomination process, believing that you're good enough to do a PhD, appreciating your time before you start a PhD, and much more.

This is an edited transcript of Amir’s advice, and you can listen to his thoughts in full, as well to as all of our other research advice, here

On...the importance of your supervisors guidance

"It is one of the most important things to have a good relationship with your supervisor. Your supervisor is the person who has gone the way you want to go many years ago, so you may see your target as something small, but your target is something big and they can see that from above. All of your targets, you may reach them step-by-step, but the supervisor sees them in advance. If you have a friendly supervisor and you make a good relationship with them, they can guide you. They may stop you sometimes because you're going the wrong way and you're going to make a mistake, but it's better for you. I would say try to find a very good supervisor who is expert in your field and knows what is going on. Once that’s done, it's better to trust them each week or each two weeks in your PhD meetings, try to tell them what has happened, how you're proceeding, what is your aim, and they will be able to guide you."

On...meeting new people

"When you come to a new university, especially when you are coming from another country, it's very important to find friends. Most of us come here alone and we may miss our family, our friends, our country, our home, everything, so I would suggest that you start by finding friends, getting familiar with the people around in their work office or wherever that they are, this can help a lot. In my case, I was the same, I found two or three friends and we spent most of our most of our time together, especially during first semester. What we did was to study from the morning to the afternoon, and after that we went outside, going to gym or something like this, and it was very important for my well-being."

On...making the most of your PhD and learning as much as you can

"I would say a PhD is the time between your undergraduate studies, and your future career, so it's a very good opportunity to learn whatever you can. Once one of my colleagues, who is a senior lecturer, mentioned whatever you need to learn, do it in your PhD. After that you start taking advantage of what you've previously learned. The good thing about a PhD is that you have opportunity to go very deep into your topic, maybe other topics as well, and learn as much as you can, because once you're a lecturer, for example, your time is limited. Of course, you should read papers, you should be careful about what is going on in science, but PhD is the best chance you have for learning."

On...the nomination process for university funding

"Basically, first you need to get your offer of study, after that each supervisor is allowed to nominate only one applicant to go for the next round. It's important that you be the best among all the students that are being recruited by your supervisor for the following semester. After that the supervisor nominates you to the department and the department will do a shortlisting. If you're shortlisted, you will be invited for an interview and if you're successful in the interview as well, you will go to the next step, which is faculty level. The funding panel from the faculty will be in the interview, and the decide on the final winning applicants."

On...being organised with your time

"Try to put enough time for each aspect of your PhD. PhD is one name itself, but it has many objectives and many of the objectives must be done simultaneously. For example, you may have three objectives at the same time and, if you're just focused on one of them, you cannot do it. It's better to allocate time. For example, if I had three objectives, I would put two hours for each, and after that, if I have extra time, I would focus on the one that I couldn't do. The important point here is that, everything cannot be done in one day. One objective may take three months, so it's better to allocate time for yourself and in the same time put time for your well-being and your work-life balance. One of the things that my friends and my wife know about me is that after 4 or 5pm, I just shut down. I go to gym, I spend time outside, with my family, cooking and going outside, but once it's 5pm, I just shut down. Maybe I'm in the middle of my job and I’m doing something, but I just stopped because it's important to put time for yourself."

On...believing in yourself

"First of all, I've seen many applicants that think that they're not good enough to be nominated for funding. I know one of them who is very close to me and I supported that person to do it. So do not think that you're not good enough, you are. These kinds of scholarships are competitive so sometimes people who are applying with you are not strong enough, so don't think that you're not strong. Just go for it. I would say if you're planning to maybe apply for the next year, it's a good idea to have a publication. Although one of the good things about the UK is that it's not necessary for you to have publications to get a scholarship. I've seen many people who got it full scholarship, but they don't have any papers. If you have time, they would suggest that you prepare for kind of paper. At least think about it or start doing something so that you can put in your CV. If your CV is strong, your research proposal is strong and you do a good interview, you will get it. About preparing for the interview, there are many websites you can just search, find the questions that you're going to be asked and prepare for them."

On...appreciating the time before you start your PhD

"I usually see many applicants are in a rush to just start their PhD, don't rush. Once it has started, it has started. You have it for three to four years. I would say try to enjoy and take advantage of the time as much as you can before starting your PhD. In the meantime, you might just think about how you may do your research, how you may start, what are your research questions, how you're going to search, what websites or databases you need? But just think about them, not getting into it deeply because once you start it, you have to do it. Try to enjoy."

On...not being scared of a PhD

"I wish I'd known that a PhD is not as difficult as it sounds. Really! I thought that it's going to be very tough, but especially in my case as I'm continuing what I did in my Masters programme but deeper. So it is not as difficult as it seems, if you know what you want to do, if you have good supervisors who are experts in your field, it's going to be fun, so don't be scared."