When it comes to applying for a position, we cannot do much to change our qualifications and other facts but we can adjust its content to communicate what is most relevant for the position and take care of its layout. Principles Who is the CV for? Tailor it for different kinds of employers. Cut out
Based on my own inexperience and observations! Practical stuff Mute microphone when not speaking to minimize background noise and feedback. Use headphones and microphone to avoid feedback and get the best audio both ways. Use the ‘screen share’ option to show the agenda, presentations, and documents being discussed. No karaoke (where you read the screen
The best tip is to start writing now, as soon as you start the research. Do not wait until after you have some data. The thesis is the only thing examined for a PhD, and sometimes for an MSc. It does not matter how much lab and field work you did. Nor how many wonderful
In an ideal world, you find your passion and get a scholarship to study it with a leading expert in the field. I had friends who did unexciting PhDs and then switched to their passion, and never looked back. A PhD is foremost, training in science. Keeping this in mind, you need to make a
The process for examining and approving a PhD varies a lot between countries. In continental Europe, science theses are a set of papers copied into a single volume with appropriate introductory and synthesis chapters. Some universities have internal and external examiners, some have formal Viva Voce (interviews), some only external examiners, and other only an
By Dinusha Jayathilake, University of Auckland What is Species Distribution Modeling (SDM)? SDM is a numerical tool to predict the potential distribution of a given species or a set of species by combining the occurrence records and environmental variables layers (Pearson 2007, Elith and Leathwick 2009). For example, if we are interested in modelling the
A recurring ‘issue’ amongst under-graduate, post-graduate students and post-docs is dealing with stress. Perhaps the most useful short course I ever did was in stress management. I wish I had done it years earlier. This post is not about the good stress; the stress that helps us focus, the stress we may deliberately put ourselves
What kind of data are available? The data comprise of records of the occurrence of a species or higher taxon (sometimes animals and plants can only be identified to Genus or Family) in a place at a particular date. Most records include latitude and longitude coordinates. An increasing number of records have additional information, such
Having reviewed posters for awards several times at conferences and university competitions, here is my hit list of where many posters win and fail in content and design. In content The key message and findings are hard to find. The novel aspects of the research are not obvious. The poster is of highly specialist interest
Thinking what not to do may help to avoid doing the wrong things. So our research group recently brainstormed on how to fail a PhD. Ideas on how to fail were as follows: …………. Depend entirely on your supervisor, so then everything that goes wrong is their fault; Avoid discussing your work with others, especially
