National Graduate Seminar (NGS 2011), University of Petronas, Sept. 2011. Panelist for session 'Graduate Life: Sharing of Experiences'

1. NGS 2011 UTP
Graduate Life: Share of Experience
18/09/2011
University of Petronas
Dr. Rosdiadee Nordin

2. Selecting and Managing Supervisor
• Why supervisor is important?
• PhD is about you and supervisor – marriage,
father and son, etc
• Choice of Uni – is it important?
• Selection criteria and registration process

3. Selecting and Managing Supervisor
• Student expectation on the supervisor
• Some cases, supervisor don’t have clear idea
about your research
• Co-supervision: mutual agreement among
students and supervisor(s)
• Progress meeting : do we have to meet them
often?
• Supervisor style: different people with ‘unique’
personality

4. Selecting and Managing Supervisor
• How to handle conflict with supervisors?
• Balancing between research and supervisors
expectation
• ‘Hobby research’ – not your actual/ core
research
• Publications – expectation between
developing and developed nation

5. Time Management
• Why managing time important (limited study
period)
• Is it important to finish early?
• General guideline (ideal case):
– 6-12 months: research direction (proposal)
– 12-18 months: initial results
– 18-24 months: data collection and analysis
– 24-30 months: research extension and analysis
– 30-36 months: thesis writing

6. Time Management
• What happened was:
– 1st year: Motivation, new environment and
adaptation process
– 2nd year: same routine, troubleshooting/ problem
with research leads to disappointment
– 3rd year: under pressure to complete study
(financial constraint), wake up call (ToC) – time is
moving so fast!
• Critical phase: the final 6 months!

7. Prioritizing Commitments
• Supervisor(s) vs. Family
• Family: Wife vs. Children
• Part-time work vs. Study
• ‘Cuti Belajar’ – the literal meaning!

8. Family Issues
• Let the supervisors know you have a family to
look after
• What happens at lab stay at lab!
• Away from the country – death or sickness
within the family
• Community activity and help