>> 04.04.05

BAMC one year on
Nobody needs me to highlight how quickly time passes by — life does that easily enough. But upon arriving at the department earlier this morning, I was reminded by a fellow postgraduate student that our supervisor was away at a conference this week, and with that reminder a gentle nudge concerning the slow trickle of time that thwarts us al eventually. Being away at a conference is not so odd where my supervisor is concerned, since he has been to a couple of conferences over the last few months. What... {>>}

>> 17.12.04

Christmas quiz
A formidable silence from the PhD diary over the last few weeks. There is an excellent reason for this, the details of which will become gradually apparent after the Christmas period and which will require a change of name for this diary. But more on that another time. In the interim, the mathematics and statistics department at the University of Surrey last night had its christmas dinner. It is tradition for there to be a quiz at this thrilling event, normally coordinated by the inimitable Gwen — the lady that... {>>}

>> 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... {>>}

>> 25.03.04

Viva l'Espana
Now that the end of the undergraduate term is upon us, I will be off on holiday for just over a week, until the second week of April. As a result, the PhD diary will suffer — much as it has done for the last few weeks — from a lack of updates. In the meantime, please occupy yourselves either with the prime number calculator or my efforts elsewhere. (The latter point may be an admission of guilt, although the about page would prove to be just as incriminating if... {>>}

>> 19.03.04

Tumbleweed (it's all gone quiet)
Despite the charge of the PhD diary resolutely resisting the temptation to digress in to the sorts of insignificant trivialities that are so often associate with the "blogosphere", at least two occurences today were of startlingly ordinary proportions that their lack of inclusion here would be surprising. The first was the observation of a toupee quite literally blowing in the wind. Today is a blustery day and if the toupee in question had have been any bigger it would have resembled tumbleweed lumbering across some dusty outback or other in... {>>}

>> 28.01.04

Headphones on/head down
This week has seen a concerted effort to establish a good working routine and has achieved a small modicum of success. As I am sure many people can appreciate, the need to check the recent headlines at the BBC or check for mail has on previous occasions proved to be a distraction — to the point where I have considered adjourning to the library for a while; steadily, though, I have grown out of these habits and this week has been the first time I have noticed a difference, which... {>>}

>> 13.01.04

Tea facts
You shall have to excuse the digression, but given that I have opened a new brand of tea this morning for consumption in the "office", I though I would share with you the "facts about the nation's favourite drink" included within the packaging (the nation referred to being the United Kingdom, presumably). "The people of the United Kingdom consume nearly 15,000 tonnes of tea a year. 68% of the population enjoy a cup of tea every day. 90& of cups of tea brewed are made with tea bags. Most of... {>>}

>> 12.12.03

Another early morning
Once again, I found myself in the "office" a good half an hour before 9am, which signals an interesting change in my approach to my work. Having arrived early previously this week and had a good day, I decided to try and give it another go today. The reason is partly to do with another turn at being an exam scribe this afternoon (which will be quite a nice, easy finish to the week) and partly to be able to give me a peaceful chunk of time in which to... {>>}

>> 30.11.03

Something for the weekend
The weekend has proved to be very relaxing. In fact, the seven or so weekends I've encountered since the start of my PhD have proved to be quite relaxing, because on the whole I've done very little in the way of work during them. I've been considering whether this is a good thing or not and, up until now, have yet to come to a final decision. As I see it, working relatively hard five days a week at this stage is acceptable, because it allows for the prospect of... {>>}

>> 27.11.03

PhD timescales
Having briefly discussed the phases of a PhD, it is perhaps time to include a list of the important dates associated with a PhD. These are by no means accurate, but do provide a rough idea of what needs to be achieved by when (all dates are the time by which the following description should have been achieved): 3 months: define your research area and possible project title; read the majority of the background and current literature. 12 months: transfer report. Submitted to allow a student to 'upgrade' to a... {>>}

>> 19.11.03

Setting the alarm for the morning
Having never been particularly good at getting up in the morning, I was hoping to establish some sort of routine that determined a regular arrival time in the "office" in the maths department. The plan was to arrive at around 9:30am, have a cup of tea and catch up on some news and then get down to some serious work. What has actually happened, however, is that the alarm goes off and I tend to fall back to sleep. Not entirely a new experience, but a little disappointing. It does... {>>}

>> 09.11.03

Daily meetings
A relatively hot topic of discussion within the postgraduate "office" at the moment is the regularity of meetings a student has with their supervisor. It is normal practise for a student to meet with their supervisor once a week, perhaps sometimes more, occasionally a little less, and for that meeting to last around an hour. That is certainly the norm within our office — and from what I hear of other departments it is simliar there too; the exception, therefore, is me, because I meet with Dr Hydon every day.... {>>}

>> 07.11.03

Ebb and flow
Starting anything new can always be a daunting prospect and the idea of three years study certainly fits the bill. What if I can't do it? What if I'm not good enough? What if I don't come up with anything original etc. ad infinitum are the general feelings I suspect most people probably have and are certainly the ones I am most accustomed to at the moment. Armed with such questions, I spent my meeting with Dr Hydon today discussing the ebb and flow of a PhD and tried to... {>>}