Chronicles of a First-Year PhD Student
If someone had told me a year ago that I’d be five months into a PhD in Edinburgh, I probably wouldn’t have believed them. Not because it wasn’t something that I aspired to, but because the reality of uprooting my life, moving to a new city and being miles away from my family and friends was unimaginable. Fast forward to now and I’m glad I made the jump.
Now that I’ve (mostly) settled in, I feel like I’ve had just enough experience to share my ‘day in the life’ of a research scientist – or, more accurately, an aspiring one. While I don’t technically have a set time to be in the lab, I aim to start early to make the most of the day. Having left behind the soul-destroying commutes of London, I’ve made it my mission to spend as much time outdoors as possible. This means that, as a keen but likely hazardous cyclist, I try and walk into work as much as I can, which is a lovely 45-minute walk next to the Water of Leith and then through the park (or a 35-minute jog if I’ve overslept).
I’m currently part of the four-year Human Genetics Unit rotation programme, where two three-month periods are spent in labs of our choice. We’ll choose our final project in April, which will keep us busy for the next three-and-a-half years. So far, the programme has been a great opportunity to broaden my skills and gain hands-on experience. My first rotation focussed on how mutations may disrupt meiosis and prevent complete gamete formation. This involved dissecting mouse tissue, fixing chromosomes to slides and then visualising them using a fluorescent microscope. I really enjoyed this project as it helped me to appreciate how further work in this field could positively impact reproductive health in the future.
At this stage, I’ve just started my second lab rotation, so my days are quite varied. Most days start with a degree of experiment planning, especially if I have a lab meeting or seminar that I want to squeeze in during the day. Lab meetings are a chance for us to hear about what our team members are working on, which is often helpful to my own work and general understanding of the field, especially as a new member.
Around meetings and seminars, I can be found running around the lab. My lab work is largely self-directed. For instance, earlier this week I had some maxi preps to complete, which is a DNA purification method, and I needed to make sure I had a block of uninterrupted time to do them in. I also needed to make sure the equipment and reagents were working and ready to go at the right temperature – mid-experiment surprises aren’t much fun and can very easily turn into a long lab day (unfortunately speaking from experience).
Catching up with my friends is an important part of my PhD (in my opinion anyway). Even though we’re all in different labs, the other first years and I mostly manage to eat lunch together – it’s so interesting to find out what everyone else is up to – our days are often so different from each other. It’s also a great opportunity to troubleshoot – if something in the lab isn’t going right or if I’m struggling with an experiment, the chances are that someone will be able to give me advice, considering our varied backgrounds. We try to spend time outside of work when possible. Most of the time we’ll grab a drink at a nearby pub but, every now and then, we’ll challenge ourselves with something slightly different (and a little bit Scottish), like a ceilidh!
Every PhD student will tell you about the importance of work-life balance, even though it can sometimes feel hard to find and harder still to maintain. One of my favourite things to do to relax is run to the beach. Portobello beach is easily my favourite place in Edinburgh – it’s a great way to switch off after a long day as it’s so peaceful and reminds me a little of home. Back at the flat, I usually catch up with my flatmate, who’s also a first-year PhD student. We cook most of our meals together (with varying degrees of success) and it’s always fun to hear about her day as she’s in a different field, so her perspective is fascinating.
That pretty much sums up a typical day in my life as a PhD student and hopefully has been an interesting insight into life as a first year. It’s a mixture of excitement and confusion, progress and setbacks (plenty of those), routine and unpredictability. While I still very much feel like I’m finding my feet, pursuing a PhD has so far been an incredibly fulfilling experience.
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