Is it time I let go of the academic dream? I seem to have been battling with this question for several years now. For as long as I can remember, I wanted to do science – I mean proper science: lab coats, devising experiments, late nights peering down a microscope, Read more
PhD students are busy, it’s a given. And even though we all complain about it, everyone ends up accepting the burden and moving on with their projects. On a regular ol’ morning, a few months ago, I was particularly busy. Drowning in lab work, I had tons of data to Read more
What those in dying business sectors call failure, we in tech know to be pre-greatness – Gavin Belson, CEO of Hooli. These may just be the words of a fictional character from Silicon Valley, but they struck a pretty resonant chord with me this month. I’m Alex, and I’m in Read more
So, the first post of Clutter. What shall I write about? Something cheery? That would be ideal. But I’d instead like to write about my PhD viva. ‘Viva’ is actually an antonym for ‘cheery’, in case you didn’t know (note: untrue, but feels like it should be true). My PhD Read more
I have at one time or another, been on every side of a PhD viva. In about 4 months time I’ll be in another one, watching one of my students hopefully produce a vigorous defence of his thesis. Which is good because I’ve read the thesis and it certainly needs Read more
There is a sort of mythos that surrounds doctoral studies – this harrowing vision of life at odd hours, in strange surroundings, with little contact with the outside world. It is a position of solitude and unwavering focus at a level that excludes all human relationships and other concerns. The Read more
Update: Viva finished and passed. I’ll write up a summary next week! So 6 months after handing in my thesis I am just a day away from my viva/PhD defence. Rather than spend today writing a blog post, I’m off to go furiously read my textbooks while I try to Read more