Mastering Your PhD

Prof. Dr. Bart Noordam (1964) obtained his PhD degree in Physics (cum laude) at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After a brief stint as a Postdoc in the USA, he headed up a research group at the FOM-Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) in Amsterdam. There he studied the ultra-fast interactions between light and atoms. Prof. Noordam has supervised 9 PhD students and published over 120 scientific papers. He interrupted his academic career for two years to work as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, and returned to AMOLF in the fall of 2002 as director of the institute. Bart Noordam gives short courses for graduate students to get the most out of their PhD. The enthusiast response over a training course he gave for EURODOC triggered the ideas behind this book (EURODOC is the European convention of the representatives of the national PhD student unions). Patricia Gosling (1963) obtained her Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry and English Literature from Northwestern University, USA. After a 3-year period working as a research assistant in neurophysiology at Stanford University, she re-located to the Netherlands where she received her PhD in Organic Chemistry at the University of Nijmegen. From 1996-2002 she ran her own communications company, with a focus on scientific journalism and teaching writing and presentation skills to graduate students of Environmental Science. From 2003-2004 she was employed as a medical writer with Excerpta Medica (a division of Elsevier). She has also translated and edited numerous books and documents for the industrial and academic communities. A US native, Dr. Gosling has lived and worked in the Netherlands, Morocco, and France. Currently employed as Research Manager at the European Neuromuscular Centre in the Netherlands, she is the author of two guidebooks (Ethnic Amsterdam, Vassallucci, 2002 and The Lovers’ Guide to Amsterdam, Vassallucci, 2003). Fluent in Dutch and French and an enthusiastic student of Arabic, Dr. Gosling has chosen to follow a non-traditional post-PhD career path that has proved to be both eclectic and rewarding.

Introduction.- Getting Started.- Setting Goals and Objectives.- How to Think Like a Scientist.- Good Experimental Design.- Charting Your Progress Month by Month.- Dealing with Setbacks.- The Art of Good Communication.- Presentation Skills and Group Meetings.- Searching the Scientific Literature.- Your First International Conference.- From Data to Manuscript: Writing Scientific Papers That Shine.- Celebrate Your Success.- How to Cope with Your Annual Evaluation.- The Final Year: Countdown to Your Thesis Defence.- Putting It All Together: A PhD ... so What's Next?.- Writing Your Doctoral Thesis with Style.- The Final Act: Defending Your Thesis with Panache.- Lessons Learned.