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>> 30.08.04

Prominent mathematics
Reading through the Sunday newspapers, an article in the Independent on Sunday gave prominence to the finding of an 18th century church minister and mathematician. (Robert) Thomas Malthus hypothesised that unchecked population growth would see demand for subsistence would far outstrip food production capabilities in his essay, On Population (1798). Recent research has shown that this is indeed the case:"The world is consistently failing to grow enough crops to feed itself, alarming official statistics show... The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation's (FAO) latest report on global food production says that... {>>}

>> 27.08.04

Annual report
Many thanks to Paul for his insights into the EngD research degree; I can't say I envy him whilst he is on his outward bound course camping in what is almost certainly wet and windy conditions. As for my recent break in France, I had a very productive time, due in part to the stormy conditions that lasted for four days in total. Now that I am back to the maths work, the reality of the impending annual report has started to manifest itself in a large pile of text... {>>}

>> 19.08.04

Strategic Management
Today I've been working on the only project I have at the moment that is not de facto managed by me. "Strategic Management of Urban Road Networks" is a government project being managed by the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL). The basic idea is to examine how various highways authorities (County Councils, Metropolitan Borough Councils, Unitary Authorities etc.) go about the management of their networks with regards to such things as technology, organisational arrangements and information dissemination. The team consists of about six people, mostly from TRL. I have to travel... {>>}

>> 18.08.04

On the buses
Today I'm taking some time to work on a slightly more technical piece of work involving Real Time Passenger Information (RTPI). Guildford, like a number of towns in the UK, has recently started installing the infrastructure to provide "real time" information both at the bus stop and on the web that gives accurate information on exactly when a service will arrive at a particular stop. Each bus is kitted out so that it can be tracked by GPS and reports into the mainframe here at the NMIC in Leatherhead. Where... {>>}

>> 16.08.04

Report time
One of the biggest gripes of many PhD students is the dreaded write up phase of the degree. This usually involves several months of thankless scribing and hoping that you've either documented everything you’ve done or relying on your photographic memory. Students on the EngD scheme are assessed slightly differently. Final assessment is 'thesis by portfolio' as opposed to thesis by dissertation. The portfolio that is used as your final assessment vehicle consists primarily of six monthly reports that you submit throughout the degree. In addition to this, you can... {>>}

>> 13.08.04

Captain car share
As I like to do at least every couple of weeks, today I am working from home. At first I was sceptical as to whether or not I would ever get any actual work done but my experience thus far has been very positive. The big difference seems to be having a high-speed Internet connection. Wireless broadband, a laptop and nearby phone means that most rooms in the house can make a pretty good makeshift office. The other requirement has to be that you’re doing something that genuinely doesn’t require... {>>}

>> 11.08.04

Pick a project, any project
Some PhD projects suffer from the accusation that their final results have little or no relevance once they've been published. I remember seeing one thesis that had been written about the differences between Bermondsey in South London and a village in rural Africa. Quite to whom this was of use to evades me but I’m sure that someone has a solid use for this sort of thing. Answers on a postcard to the usual address. Given the 'with company' setting for EngD research, an EngD project will be based on... {>>}

>> 10.08.04

In for the long haul
One of the first things that stands out about the EngD is that the scheme runs for four years as opposed to the usual three for a PhD. The principal reason for this is that about a quarter of your time is spent attending taught 'modules' (usually of one week in length) that are distributed throughout the four years. The remaining three years is set aside for research – broadly the same amount of research time available to a PhD student. Together, these modules are intended to be roughly the... {>>}

>> 09.08.04

Choosing the EngD
Like the majority of you reading these lines now, the term "EngD" meant nothing to me until relatively recently. Students can study for a Doctorate of Engineering (to give it its full title) at one of the 15 academic centres in the UK. Each centre has its own 'specialist' area around which it offers projects. The Surrey/Brunel programme that I'm registered with specialises in the field of 'environmental technology' though this could perhaps be better described as projects that deal with topics related to sustainable development – reducing the impact... {>>}

>> 08.08.04

Minding the shop
A big thanks to Rich for his warm introduction and for being brave enough to leave me the keys to the shop as it were. Over the next two weeks I hope to give some background on both the history and structure to the EngD, what makes it different from the standard PhD and the sorts of things that keep me busy as a "Research Engineer" as students on the scheme are known. The EngD is a relatively new qualification having been established in 1992 after a review of doctoral... {>>}

>> 05.08.04

Guest diarist
From Friday, I will be away on holiday for two weeks. In order to keep the PhD diary functioning at some reasonabe level and to help provide further information about the sorts of options available in the higher education world after a first degree, my good friend (and very occasional squash opponent) Paul Canning - who is currently enrolled on the EngD (Civil Engineering) postgraduate course at the University of Surrey - will be taking over the roll of diarist to shed some light on what keeps him busy during... {>>}

They are always boffins
A wonderful article on the BBC news website has combined the two things I have a deep-seated interest in: film and maths. Researchers at King's College London have apparently devised a formula that takes into account all those factors that make something scary and puts them together in such a way that will tell you how scary a film is. Apparently, The Shining is the scariest movie ever. The first thing to note about this is that the formula is a complete nonsense; then again what would you expect. As... {>>}

>> 03.08.04

Campus pictures
Whilst the sun has been shining and everyone has generally been enjoying themselves, PhD students have sat in the their dark little rooms doing their dark little sums, watching their skin turn to a pale imitation of itself and wondering whether it will ever be their turn to sit in the sun. Not strictly true, of course, any of that - for the life of a PhD student is more flexible than a circus performer, but some of the sentiment is correct. To allay some sort of Dracula complex in... {>>}

>> 01.08.04

Academic speed
I have just finished reading Gordon Brown's biography, in which it is stated that the current Chancellor took some ten years to complete his PhD on the Labour socialist movement in Scotland. That's right: ten years to write his thesis and thus be awarded the title of Doctor of Philosophy. The length of a PhD has always been a subject that has fascinated me for it reveals something very curious about the academic world and the individuals contained within it. Specifically, I think that the academic world shapes those within... {>>}