From Pterosaurs to Postdoc adventures: How a PhD at Edinburgh can shape your future
By Natalia, from Poland, studied a PhD in Geology and Geophysics
Hi, my name is Natalia. I graduated with a PhD in November so I’m fresh out of the University. I did my doctorate on pterosaurs, so Palaeontology. Pterosaurs are weird, flying creatures from the Jurassic period. I’m currently working as a museum curator and am about to become a postdoctoral fellow in Hong Kong.
I always wanted to move to Edinburgh
I was quite lucky because I was living in Manchester before applying so I could go and see the city. That really helped me make the choice. But I always wanted to move to Edinburgh because it’s a great university with a great reputation. It has a beautiful campus overlooked by a huge volcanic mountain, which is in the middle of the city. You also have the North Sea next to you, so you have mountains, sea and old Gothic architecture.
It’s a capital city so lots of events happen, almost non-stop. It’s a good way of having a good work-life balance because you will be working and realise that there’s a big film festival or something happening and because festivals are time limited, you feel like you have to stop working or you’ll miss it.
City and University intertwined
Overall, I like Scotland as a country. It’s very progressive, very migrant friendly. You have a lot of free perks, free sanitation products, a lot of welfare support. I really recommend Edinburgh because the city and the University are intertwined. A lot of the city is owned by the University, so it feels like a big campus in a way.
It’s good if you like big cities with capital city perks but with a small city vibe. However, be prepared for not much sun, quite cold weather and quite expensive rent.
In my case, I chose the University because of the research looking at Jurassic works on the Isle of Skye as it’s the only university that looks at that region of the world. So, there might be some specific element of your Master’s or PhD that you want to study and it’s only taught in Edinburgh.
Relationship with my supervisors
Every supervisor is very different. You’ll probably have a supervisor and co-supervisor for your project if you’re doing a PhD. My supervisor happened to have a baby at the very start of my PhD and then covered as head of department, so I had very limited time in person with them and our meetings were mainly monthly email updates. This suited me as I’m very independent and I like working on my own.
Regarding their personality, I would advise you to contact the supervisors of a project before starting by chatting online to get a sense of their character so you know what to expect beforehand. I would also recommend asking students within the lab groups how they’re feeling and how they manage things. If you can, find out who’s currently being supervised, get in touch and just ask them about their experiences. This can help you decide for yourself if you like the supervisory style or not.
It really depends on you. I had a great time with my supervisor despite our relationship being slightly more distant from other people. I knew people who went to their supervisor’s house for tea and knew their entire family.
Career reflections
I realised during my Masters and PhD that academia might not be for me. But you know, once you are there, you want to go with it. When you do your doctorate, you are not an expert in the field, your doctorate is there for you to learn new skills relevant to your science and publication, but also transferable skills for other industries.
I became a part-time illustrator in my free time and made use of the free training and resources for opening your own business, including guidance on filing taxes, securing patents, and other useful entrepreneurial skills.
Some doctoral projects and masters also have an internship element to them. My doctorate had a Personal Internship Project (PIP) which added three additional months to my PhD as work experience, which I took in Poland to do some museum work. Your supervisor, because they have a lot of connections, can also help and guide you. Through my supervisor, I got some work experience working as a consultant for TV and film.
Take every opportunity
Take every opportunity you have, don’t feel like you can only follow things that will be relevant to your thesis. It’s for training and your personal growth so feel free to use the resources and time to find opportunities which may seem unrelated to your career. Use the doctorate or your master’s to really make your CV as good and varied as it can be because you will have so many different training and networking opportunities.
I was very lucky because straight after my PhD, I got a job in the museum industry and a few months later, I got a postdoctoral fellowship so the experience in Edinburgh really helped me to get jobs immediately that I would not have been able to get otherwise.
