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Global Talent Visa: A Comparative Analysis of the UK and Australian Programs

by INSPIRATION

In an era of globalization and rapid technological advancements, the demand for highly skilled individuals has never been greater. Recognizing this need, both the United Kingdom (UK) and Australia have established Global Talent Visa (GTV) programs to attract and retain top talent in various fields.

While both programs share the common goal of attracting exceptional individuals, they exhibit distinct differences in their eligibility criteria, application processes, and accompanying benefits. This comprehensive analysis delves into the intricacies of each program, providing a comparative overview to assist prospective applicants in making informed decisions.

Eligibility Criteria: A Tale of Two Thresholds

The eligibility criteria for the GTV programs in the UK and Australia differ in terms of their emphasis on specific achievements and the level of recognition required. In the UK, applicants must demonstrate exceptional promise or proven leadership in their field of expertise.

This can be evidenced through internationally recognized awards, publications, or endorsements from renowned organizations. Australia, on the other hand, places a stronger emphasis on established achievements, requiring applicants to have a record of significant international standing or contributions to their field.

This could include prestigious awards, leadership positions in international organizations, or groundbreaking research contributions.

Application Processes: Streamlined Yet Stringent

The application processes for both GTV programs are streamlined and efficient, yet they maintain a high degree of scrutiny to ensure that only the most qualified individuals are granted visas. In the UK, applications are submitted online and typically processed within three to four months.

The process involves providing comprehensive documentation, including proof of exceptional talent, endorsement letters, and English language proficiency certification.

Australia’s application process follows a similar online format, with processing times ranging from three to six months. Applicants must provide evidence of their significant international standing, endorsement letters from recognized organizations, and English language proficiency certification.

Visa Conditions: Ensuring Compliance and Integration

Both UK and Australian GTVs are subject to certain visa conditions that must be adhered to by holders. These conditions are designed to ensure compliance with immigration regulations, promote integration into the respective societies, and safeguard national interests.

Common visa conditions include maintaining a valid passport, providing timely notifications of any changes in personal circumstances, complying with all applicable laws, and paying any applicable taxes.

Additionally, GTV holders are typically required to reside in the respective country for a specified period to maintain their visa status and potentially apply for permanent residency.

Benefits: A Pathway to Success and Stability

The GTV programs in both the UK and Australia offer a range of attractive benefits to successful applicants. These benefits are designed to incentivize highly skilled individuals to relocate and contribute their expertise to the respective countries. Common benefits include:

  • The ability to live and work in the UK or Australia without the need for a job offer

  • The ability to bring family members to the UK or Australia

  • The ability to apply for permanent residency after a period of time

  • Access to a wide range of healthcare, education, and social welfare benefits

  • Opportunities for professional development and career advancement

Conclusion: Choosing the Right Path for Your Talent

The decision to apply for a GTV in either the UK or Australia depends on various factors, including individual career goals, family circumstances, and preferences for specific industries or regions. Both countries offer attractive benefits, supportive environments, and diverse opportunities for highly skilled individuals.

Carefully consider your aspirations, research the specific requirements of each program, and consult with immigration professionals to make an informed choice that aligns with your unique circumstances. Whether you choose to pursue your talents in the vibrant metropolis of London or the sun-kissed shores of Sydney, both the UK and Australia offer promising pathways to success and fulfillment.

Remember, the key lies in identifying the program that best matches your aspirations and allows you to make a significant impact in your chosen field.

Join the Bootcamp for Postgraduate Admissions and Scholarships

by INSPIRATION

One of the key factors that affect a scholar’s ability to secure admissions and scholarship is access to quality information and preparatory materials.

Scholarleen in partnership with Trontier is organizing a Bootcamp to help bridge that gap and coach scholars on getting postgraduate scholarships and admission in their preferred course.

Through the Bootcamp you will:

  • Obtain the necessary templates, and resources that will help prepare you to get a scholarship for postgraduate studies.
  • Coaching on how to draft great academic CVs, research proposals, motivation letters, emailing potential supervisors, and many more.
  • Personalized review of application materials and feedback.
  • Have an in-depth knowledge of courses you want to take, foreign universities that offer them, and everything it would take to secure admission.

You too can get a fully-funded scholarship. Get equipped in the boot camp starting on the 29th through to the 31st of October 2021. Register by filling out the form at this link below: 

Please share with your network.

Tips For Choosing a Research Topic for Grad School Application

Tips For Choosing a Research Topic for Grad School Application

by INSPIRATION

Not everyone on the verge of applying for grad school knows exactly what they want to do in their research. The first time I started looking for grad school admissions, I had no definite research interest, let alone the research topic. 

By topic, I am talking about the high-level definition of the research you will conduct. There are key reasons you should have a topic in mind for your research. The topic is one you will further develop into a research proposal. 

It will help you streamline the positions you will apply for and the academics you will contact. I will share tips to guide you on how to choose a research topic from scratch. 

Can you connect it to your previous research or projects?

Life many times works in building blocks. While thinking of what to do in your grad program, you might not need to think too far from what you are currently doing or have done in the past. Having continuity can also boost your application and motivation for the research. 

The selection committee likes to know you have the requisite background and skills for the research of interest. They like this because they do not want you to struggle in your new quest, trying to learn every skill from scratch. Some students and supervisors get frustrated by this learning curve. 

Looking back, I remember my bachelor’s project was on how to remotely control household appliances using SMS messages. Today I am doing research related to applying artificial intelligence algorithms on the internet of things systems, one example being the smart home system.

Is the project advertised or are you proposing a research topic yourself?

Projects that are advertised on job boards like jobs.ac.The UK will mostly come with a defined topic and brief description of the project. In such a case, you don’t need to rack your brain to choose a specific topic for your research. All you need to do is to understand the project description and develop it further into a research proposal. 

It might help you check out the research papers of any faculty that were mentioned in the advert as potential supervisors or those to direct informal inquiries. 

Except you are bent on doing a specific kind of research, it is better to stay high level and broad about your research topic at this stage and keep an open mind. That means there will be minor to major modifications to your research proposal as you apply for different positions.

Are you going to be sponsoring yourself or the research will be funded by your supervisor, an industry, or an institution?

You will have more flexibility to choose topics if you are self-funded than if your funding is coming from a source. That does not mean there is no flexibility with a funded position, it only depends. 

Some funding comes with a particular scope of research that must be done. Hence, your topic will have to revolve around the research scope of your funder. If the funding is from the research grant of your supervisor, it is more likely that they will want you to work on an area they are currently exploring or even a new interest for which they want to delve into with the grant. 

Whichever is the case, it is still equally important that you choose supervisors who are well knowledgeable in that research area.

What if you need to change the research topic in the future?

You may worry that if you choose a topic, you may later not be able to make adjustments to it. It is not unusual for research topics to change by small or wide margins as you progress with your research. 

This also depends on who sponsors the project and how many external factors are tied to the project. Writing a research proposal helps the selection committee to know how well-versed you are with the problem and the background for that research area. 

It also gives you a road map of what you will work on for the length of your program. So the focus at this stage will be to know enough to define a relevant problem, identify the research gaps, and how your research will address those gaps.

These are some things to consider as you think about your research topic for grad school. Remember that this will encompass the research proposal you will eventually write, but the topic gives you a high-level understanding of what you want to investigate in your research. 

Best wishes!

Masters degree

Getting a Fully-funded Masters Scholarship in Non-Obvious Places/Unknown Terrains

by BlogINSPIRATION

When it comes to locations to study abroad, many people quickly consider the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and Germany. These are countries with good reputations for quality education. However, good opportunities also lie in countries that are not thought to have a good education. In this article, I will discuss my first-hand experience exploring one of such locations: Taiwan.

It may interest you to know that Taiwan has been rated among the top 10 welcoming countries and the 10 best countries to study abroad. The city of Taipei in Taiwan was ranked the most affordable city for students in 2015 and was rated as the Number one city in the world for expats to live and work abroad. The following paragraphs detail my journey of securing a scholarship from a top 10 rated university in the country.

The Genesis

On the 8th of March 2016, I emailed professors of the Electrical and Electronic Engineering department at CCU, requesting supervision. This was a generic email; my salutation was “Dear Prof” and I bcc’ed all the professors that were working in areas I was interested in. Now I have learnt (and advise) not to send generic emails. Luckily though, I received a response from the Administrative Assistant of the Department of Electrical Engineering who thanked me for showing interest in the research group—Signal Processing and Multimedia Communication—and offered to help me submit my application for admission.

The Process

She sent me the application form and asked me to fill and submit it to her within 10 days. The form had sections asking about educational background, English language proficiency, and personal statement. Normally, you are to provide three (3) referees’ contact; CCU however, asked for two (2) recommendation letters prepared by different referees. I was pursuing a direct PhD as at then so I filled a PhD as my preferred program of interest. I was thinking I could go for an integrated MS&PhD or a direct PhD as some schools do.

Here was the response I got along these lines:

Yes, we do have an integrated MS&PhD, and you need to apply for a master’s program and become our graduate student at the beginning. After one semester of studying the master’s program of EE, you can submit the application form for our PhD program every June 15. But you need to be approved by your advisor, chair, and Committee of Academic Affairs of EE.

After the head of International Students’ Affairs at National Chung Cheng University (NCCU) went through the application, he requested that I submit more documents. I was then to wait for a response from the department‘s Committee of Academic Affairs in a month’s time.

Applicatio n Memo Applicatio n Checklist Results lication Checklist Online Application No ( Z Full Name _ Chinese Name Nationali Department Degree (B / M 1' PhD) A lication Form Transcri t Di lomas Obtained Financial Statement Recommendation Letters Y2 Stud Plan Declaration of N ationali Lan e Proficien Proofs of Other Com 2016/3/6 Revis Ma Ndubuaku Ni eria Electrical Engineering aster materials required by specified program CD N/A

The Suspense

 I was eventually contacted about my passing the stage-1 (department) review.

I was advised to take the following steps early:

1. Contact potential thesis advisor

The department was interested in my research background and could provide me a research assistant (RA) scholarship. I was advised to contact professors (with similar research backgrounds) early on so that I could find my true research interest via extensive discussions with them. This could be done before (via e-mail) or after (via face-to-face) I enroll at NCCU. I was given the name and profile link of one of the professors that showed interest in my research background— who happened to be one of those I had contacted in my initial email.

2. Research Assistantship (RA) position

In addition to a full tuition waiver and free on-campus accommodation (for a year), the RA position from an individual advisor’s project funding plays a key financial support to an international student. I was strongly encouraged to contact the professors of my department for available RA positions before or upon my arrival at NCCU. Normally, more opportunities for full RA scholarships were given to early birds.

The Offering

On the 1st of July 2016, I received an email notifying me that I had won the scholarship. This was followed by the scholarship confirmation letter and the award letter. I was offered a fully-funded scholarship covering tuition fees and stipend for the first year (first two semesters) after which my academic performance would be reviewed. The basic requirement for continuing the scholarship was maintaining an average grade above 75%. My potential thesis advisor also reached out to me with a research assistantship offer (a separate financial support that is given by advisors).

The Aftermath

I was assigned a learning partner from NCCU who was to help me tackle any challenge that I may experience before settling in at the University. I eventually did not take up the offer because I accepted a place at a UK university instead. I wrote to my supervisor and admissions unit to inform them of my position. The experience however taught me a few lessons. The main one is what I already mentioned at the start—there could be gold in unlikely places. Information is key and it is good to look beyond your horizon for opportunities.

To know areas for further improvements in the application process, a questionnaire specifically for students admitted into National Chung Cheng University was sent to me.

Their system was well organized. I think it is possible to reach out to the admissions team without first contacting the professors. After you pass stage one departmental review, they will still require you to contact the professors anyway. These could however be pursued simultaneously – reaching out to the administrative assistant of the department as well as the professors of interest.

Best Countries for International Students to Study

Best Countries for International Students to Study

by BlogINSPIRATION

Based on the last post; top factors to consider in choosing a school abroad. Here, we share the list of top countries in four categories. The categories give you an idea and help you narrow down your options to a handful of great choices and in no particular order. The categories are:

1. Based on the quality of  education (programs)

Research on education rankings should give you a high-level view of some countries that have the best quality of education. The rankings are assessed based on several factors – the level of development of their public education system, people’s preference to study there, and the country’s education quality. The US, UK, and Canada are the top three on this list.

 

Best places to study based on education quality
Best places to study based on education quality

2. Based on employability (career opportunities)

There are two sides to employability, how good the job market is, and to what extent are the market and government policies for immigrants. For the former, the US, Canada, and Germany emerged in the top three. See the list here.

Best places to study based on employability
Best places to study based on employability.

3. Based on location

This considers the quality of life in areas such as; job security, political stability, individual freedom, and environmental quality. According to the US News and World Report, Canada ranks as number one with the best quality of life, a reputation for welcoming immigrants, and favourable settlement policies.

Best places to study based on location
Best places to study based on location.

4. Based on finances (affordability): tuition and living costs

Excluding distance learning, when looking for a place to study abroad, living costs are to be considered alongside tuition. FairFX provides a tool that helps you to calculate the cost of studying in certain countries. According to Times Higher Education, Germany, Sweden, and Finland rank as the top 3 universities with a blend of affordability and quality of education.

Best Countries for International Students to Study
Best countries to study based on finance

However, this is just to get you started with brainstorming and researching locations that best fit you in your search for options to study abroad.  It is in no way exhaustive. You may still find the gold hidden in the rubble if you dig deeper. All the best!

Google-for-graduate-supervisor

The Google for graduate supervisor search

by INSPIRATION

This tutorial will be a follow up of my previous tutorial on searching for potential supervisors. If you haven’t read it please do. A reader commented on my previous post saying “I have been looking for a supervisor that has interest in oil spill studies..Very [hard] to find ..dont know what else to do”.

In this blog, I will show you another approach to search for potential supervisors. This approach may prove faster especially when all that is known is your research interest. Another benefit is that it can help you find academics in niche research areas that you wouldn’t easily find with a normal search. These days, there is Google for many categories of searches ranging from images and datasets to jobs. This one can be called Google for graduate supervisor search.

Step 1: Type keyword in Google scholar

Go to the website scholar.google.com. Type the research interest in the search box. In this example it is “oil spill”.

Step 2: Click author with profile (underlined)

You will find a list of articles and their authors below. The underlined names are those who have Google scholar profile. Click on any underlined name. In this tutorial we click on “M Fingas”.

Step 3: Choose the specific research interest

That takes us to the profile of Merv Fingas. Notice his research interest includes “oil spills”. But here we are really interested in the research area not just on one person’s profile. We want a list of all profiles with research interest in “oil spills”. So we click on “oil spills”.

Step 4: Explore, vary keyword

This will now bring up the profile of all the researchers with interest in “oil spills”. It ranks them according to the number of citations shown in the right column. The number of citations gives a rough idea of the authorities in the field of that research area.

Without an ‘s’, i.e. if you search for “oil spill” you might get slightly different results. Keep that in mind until the Google search engine becomes smarter.

It means you should tweak your keywords with synonyms and related areas. For example, I could vary keywords like deep learning, machine learning and artificial intelligence to capture relatively similar areas of research interest. Also make sure you are using concise keywords that are closely associated with what is known in that field.

For example in “deep learning” research, we find the notable Yoshua Bengio as top on the list with close to 300k citations.

Step 5: Profile academics and contact them

When we click on “Steven Wereley’s” profile, we can glance through his publications to see if they are of interest. The Homepage button can take us right into his personal website or group website, or we could just search him out on Google with his name and affiliation.

On their website, we could look out for their contacts, open positions and any information about contacting them.

I hope this was helpful. Best wishes in your search.

google search germany uni

Step-by-step guide on finding potential graduate supervisors

by INSPIRATION

In my experience seeking graduate (Masters and PhD) admissions, I had to figure out a lot of things the hard way while trying to navigate. I realized even something as fundamental as researching academics and finding potential supervisors can be a daunting task. This is why I thought to break down the steps I took to research potential supervisors in this tutorial.

1. Preliminaries

a. Set down the initial information you need to commence a search including the target country, course of study and research interests. For our tutorial purposes, we choose the following:

Country: Germany

Course: Computer Science

Research interests: Big Data, Deep Learning, Computer Vision, AI, and Cloud Computing

b. Keep a list: Keeping a list of essential information like faculty name, interests, email address and link to page can help you as you go along your research.

2. Google [or-another-browser] search

Find universities offering the course by doing a Google search.

Google search for universities

There are some websites that might give you a list of the universities. Like in the picture below, the topuniversities.com website.

Website listing universities by ranking

3. Systematic navigation

Choose a university from the list. Ideally, you should do it systematically, say following a top-down approach starting from the best-ranked and going downwards. So let’s say you choose: Technische Universität Berlin (TU Berlin).

Website listing universities

4. Find research/faculty page on Uni website

Go to the University website and explore. Remember translating to English where needed. You will be looking out for menu pointing to the research information of the university  such as “academic programs” or “research” or “departments”. Don’t expect them to look the same for all the universities.

University website
Research page
  • This below doesn’t help as there are no links to the academics and their research. Dead end!
Dead end!
  • Now I go to “Faculties”. This looks more promising
Different faculites or departments in the university
  • Bingo! We found what we were looking for. You can now look for one of the research areas in the query given
List of faculty members (potential supervisors)

We can get his contact, and if he has any personal website, we can go in there to find additional information.

potential supervisor contact page

I hope this helps. How have you been going about admission and potential supervisors’ search? Please also share any hurdles you faced and questions you may have about the process.

DISI

Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI) application: How I aced it

by INSPIRATION

Hurray! I received a congratulatory email that I have been selected to participate in the 2020 Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI). DISI is an initiative that brings together scholars and scientists from diverse disciplines including animal cognition, anthropology, artificial intelligence (AI), cognitive science, computer science, philosophy, psychology, and sociology to pursue collaborative research on the nature and future of intelligence. It’s been my interest to get to the heart of AI through a deeper understanding of intelligence. Since AI tends to mimic human intelligence, it is worth knowing how intelligence applies to humans and animals. I feel this understanding will help in designing intelligent machines that can reason within our cognitive radar.

In my application, I was asked several questions for which I am going to share a summarized version of my answers below.

Statement of purpose

Please explain why you would like to attend the Diverse Intelligences Summer Institute (DISI). How does it fit into your current research or future plans? What impact do you hope it will have on your career?

Here, I related how DISI would be my first deep dive into the problem of intelligence having attended several summer schools in the area of AI, Bayesian statistics, machine learning and computer vision. I wanted to see how DISI could help me in answering one of my research questions which is “how machines can extract the most meaningful representations in data”. I went on to mention the benefits of engaging with experts and researchers from multidisciplinary fields.

Proposed project

A big part of DISI is the opportunity to engage in new collaborative projects with other participants. Imagine that you are pitching an idea to fellow participants to entice them to join you in a collaborative project. What would that idea be?

A project that investigates machine intelligence in the context of human intelligence. Still relates to how machines can learn the most useful context of data just like humans.

Inspirational reading

What is the most exciting piece of scholarly writing you’ve read in the past year? And what is the most stimulating piece of non-scholarly writing you’ve read in the same timeframe? Why did they ignite your intellectual fires?

Prof Neil Lawrence’s Living Together: Mind and Machine Intelligence. The worry about AI shouldn’t be whether they will replace us but that because they work below our cognitive radar, they could make decisions without understanding our human conditions.

The second one is Emotional Intelligence (EI) by Daniel Goleman. It got me curious about the relationship between AI and E. Does AI need emotions? How can we create AI with EI?

Exploring intelligences

Please describe an under-explored aspect or manifestation of intelligence, mind, or cognition that you believe merits further investigation.

How to regulate the operations of machines so they don’t trespass human freedom knowing that their predictions are made in an entirely different way from the way humans make decisions.

Contribution to diverse community

We support and value diversity in all its forms. Explain how your personal background contributes to your having a unique perspective that will be an asset to building a diverse community of scholars.

I shared a story of how my teaching of Basic Technology in a local community made me adapt my communication and delivery to match the varying cognitive capacities of my students.

I feel one thing that helped me in my application was the research I first conducted about previous DISI. I read about the interests and works of previous winners and DISI fellows. If you are interested in summer schools on intelligence, you can keep an eye on DISI 2021 or MIT’s Brains, Minds and Machines (BMM). For other interests, you may be surprised at what you’ll find with a google search. Good luck!

doctoral-journey-2

Invitation to speak at the PhD Induction: sharing my doctoral journey

by INSPIRATION

If you just started a PhD, hoping to start in the future or just a keen observer, you are not alone if you have wondered what the PhD journey feels like. When I started my PhD, I had a lot of questions – many things about research felt like a mystery to me. I couldn’t make much sense of why and how a person would spend 3-4 years in a lab working on one project.

Last month I received an invitation from my University to speak to the doctoral students during their induction event. I was very elated and honoured by this invitation, as I couldn’t believe I had come to the point of advising others. It was while preparing my talk that I realised how much I have learnt and grown along this journey. I broke my lessons about my PhD journey into 7:

1. Deepening knowledge

Some universities make it compulsory for PhD students to take relevant courses with a specific credit load in their first year. I realised that my uni and most others in the UK do not take this approach. When I started my PhD, I didn’t have a strong foundation in some courses like AI and Machine Learning. I had to figure out how to acquire the requisite training that will help me to gain a strong theoretical understanding and succeed in my research. I filled this knowledge gap by attending specialised summer schools in my field, some of which I got scholarships to attend. It is possible to enrol in a bachelors or masters course by arranging with the programme leader. Becoming a course tutor (supporting tutorials) is another great way to learn and teach a subject of interest.

Deepen your knowledge

2. Adapting to changes

Things are going to happen that are beyond your control during the doctoral journey. Administrative policy changes may occur, research budget may run out, equipment may delay in arriving, bureaucracy may set in, supervisors may leave. In all of it, you must learn to manage that which you have under your control – the PhD. It is your project and no one else can drive it better than you.

3. Developing soft/transferable skills

PhD is a period you can pick up a lot of vital skills that will help you later in your professional life. This could be confidence, writing, presentation, communication, time-management, initiative, and team-working. It is important to self-assess and identify the areas you need to strengthen and seek for opportunities that will help you achieve this. For example, I participated in the 3-Minute Thesis competition as a way of sharpening my public engagement, presentation, communication, and concept simplification skills.

4. Leveraging opportunities

Be it paid jobs, volunteering, developmental training, or community service, there are numerous opportunities you can leverage to sharpen your skills and boost your employability. The university itself has several programs organised for career development, some of which may be delivered through the research office, career and employability, or student union. Some opportunities may be sought outside the university, for example, volunteering at an event in your field. I found many paid student jobs within the university with some targeted at PhD students, thus lessening the competition. Your university may have business-oriented or self-employment training that get you thinking of how to commercialise your innovation after your program.

5. Engaging with public/research community

During a PhD, there is a tendency to streamline your focus only on solving the specific research question and miss out on the bigger picture. Avenues for public engagement will get you thinking about the impact of your research on the wider society. You will begin to ask questions like “how can the research benefit others?, how can I disseminate my research to the wider community?”. For instance, I collaborated with AccessEd charity to disseminate my research to A-level secondary students to improve access to university. One of my motivations for starting this blog, apart from my passion for writing, was to make my doctoral journal accessible to the community.

6. Expanding professional network

The doctoral period provides lots of opportunity to build your professional network. Some of the persons you will meet at conferences, summer schools, will become your colleagues and collaborators. If you think of your research as a piece of work that will eventually be published to the wider society, then it makes sense to be deliberate about meeting experts and peers, and growing the professional relationship.

7. Connecting to support systems

Last but very important one. No person is an island. Though PhD can be a lonely journey, you should be deliberate about getting support from your support systems, be it family, friends, colleagues, PhD graduates, supervisors, and university support groups. Like I hear, it is normal to get stuck or hit a dead end but don’t stay there.

Just remember that you are not alone on this journey. We are in this together 😊.

7 paid jobs to do while studying abroad to boost your employability [+Remote Working]

by INSPIRATION

Many international students come abroad wondering whether they will find the right jobs to earn extra income alongside developing their skillset for the job market. I have been opportune to work several jobs while studying abroad in the UK, ranging from skills advisor, marketing rep, ambassador to maths tutor, research intern, and associate lecturer. Interestingly, I found most of these job opportunities within the university. Despite the uncertainties around the globe that has left many concerned about the future, there is no better time to be prepared for a career lift. The study period can be leveraged to develop relevant skills for professional life. While the time commitment and remote working options may vary, I advise mostly based on my experiences. I also show you what transferable skills you can pick from these jobs to boost your future employability.

1. Skills Advisor

Also: Study skills mentor, Study mentor, Study advisor.

This job is for students passionate about helping other students excel in their academics leveraging upon their own experiences. They advise students on practical study skills and constructive approaches to academic assignments. They point students in the right direction for the selection and use of support materials and university services that support their learning.
Experience: I have written an elaborate piece on my experience as skills advisor.

Transferable Skills: Mentoring and coaching, consulting, listening and empathy skills, problem-solving.

Commitment: 2-3 hours per week. You might get extra shifts if cover is need for other colleagues.
Remote working: Feasible if there is a way of utilising your skills in an online setting.

2. Demonstrator /Invigilator/Tutor

Demonstrators and tutors oversee and offer assistance to students during tutorials or laboratory sessions. Invigilators support examination provision through timekeeping, dealing with queries during exams, and supporting students according to the guidelines.

My experience: I have worked as a maths tutor at the university for two semesters to date. I support the teaching of Computational Mathematics to undergraduate students. I did an invigilation job only once at a point which was unpaid but led up to the tutor job.

Transferable skills (Invigilators): High degree of personal initiative and responsibility, reliable and dependable, proven ability to follow procedures.

Transferable skills (Demonstrators and Tutors): Team working ability, interpersonal skills, communication skills, motivational.

Commitment: 3-5 hours per week depending on the modules you are supporting

Remote working: With online teaching platforms and tools like Blackboard Collaborate, Microsoft teams and OneNote, this option can thrive.

3. Marketing Rep

Marketing reps create media content such as blogs, vlogs, video, photography, and social media posts. Without any blogging and vlogging experience, you can still quickly jump into this role if you have an interest in sharing your student experience and story with other students. There are usually experienced marketing and media professionals on ground to support in creating content, including providing a full brief around a topic. Typical topics include employability, facilities and campus, finance, accommodation, flexible study, research, study success, and digital skills.

My experience: I registered as a marketing rep in my uni and attended the induction. At a time, I had responded to a marketing brief on city experience, but having received enough blog submissions, I was asked to do a vlog. Outside this role, I have done a few marketing related activities like interview filming for international women’s day and filming to promote a maths resource I designed for secondary schools.

Transferable skills: Creativity, customer service, organisation and planning, time management, sales, motivational, presentation skills, branding.

Commitment: Jobs are flexible, meaning you can work out your own schedule in line with the submission deadline. Jobs are irregular and the working hours depend on the task at hand. For instance, you might be offered 2-3 hours to work on a blog or vlog with a specific brief. Acceptance of brief should be sent in time to avoid missing the opportunity.

Remote working: This surely can be done online since most of the contents are developed for social media. However, aspects like filming and photography are mostly done onsite.

4. Internship

There are lots of internship opportunities which you can undertake while studying to gain industry experience. This is very beneficial as you can work on real problems that will complement your classroom knowledge. It allows you to expand your network and become mentored by experts while giving you the opportunity to push the limits of your skillset within the safety net of an internship.

My experience: During my Masters, I did a research internship at my university, Coventry University, during the summer. The job was advertised for summer and made open for students to apply, get interviewed and work with a principal investigator. I have had an interesting journey with industry internships. I have attended interviews with Google and Amazon, which I didn’t get but which taught me a lot about the computer science field and how tech giants conduct interviews. I learnt better how to talk through problems and figure out the steps to solving them before jumping into coding.

Transferable skills:  Team-working, and others depending on the technical and soft skills you pick up while on the job. 

Commitment: Most of the internships come as short-term temporary roles which can last from 8 weeks to 24 weeks. Average time of around 12 weeks will be ideal if you are in full-time study/research and not taking a summer break during your internship.

5. Student Ambassador

Also: Welcome team assistants

Student ambassadors represent the university and support outreach activities and events like Open Days and Applicant Days. They meet, greet, and hand out promotional materials to prospective students and visitors on outreach events. They take prospective students on guided tours around the university sites while sharing their positive experience and life in university. This role includes welcome team assistants for facilities like library who provide valuable customer service and welcoming experience to users and visitors of the facility.

Experience: I have been working as a postgraduate (PGR) ambassador in my uni for the past one year. I mostly work during the undergraduate and postgraduate open days where I oversee the research stand. I answer research-related questions about funding, applying for PhD, finding a supervisor, writing research proposals, doing research in the uni, and also direct visitors to the right persons for department-specific enquiries. Part of my work as an ambassador has been to conduct a tour of the university for new PGR students during their orientation. I have also been invited to speak to new PhD students about my doctoral journey during their induction event.

Transferable skills: Interpersonal skills, Verbal communication, Versatile team worker, Motivational/inspirational, time management, networking, public speaking, sales.

Commitment: In some universities in the UK, Open Day events could take place about 4-6 times in a semester. Enrolment may take place once in a semester or a few more times for PhD students.

Remote working: Due to most activities being on-site like meeting visitors and conducting tours, remote working may be limited. Many universities have implemented virtual open days and it may be possible in the future to assist students virtually.

6. Research Assistant

Oftentimes, internal departments look for a Research Assistant(RA) to support with data collection, screening, and analysis for a study. Some prerequisite technical skills may be required like understanding of experimental research design and experience of statistics. The research tasks in a human sciences department may include such tasks as launching surveys and questionnaires, preparing analysis, interpreting data, and proposing solutions.

My experience: I am a Graduate Research Assistant at my university by my studentship contract, which means I don’t get extra pay for additional research activities I engage in under the approval of my supervisor. Nevertheless, I have seen departments advertise for RA to support a particular study.

Transferable skills: Working independently, experimental research design and specific technical skills of the research project

Commitment: As the research internships, the contract is usually short-term ranging from 1 month to 6 months.

Remote working: This will depend on the company’s remote working policy and the nature of the job. It is mostly possible to work remotely if no lab work is involved.  With the global pandemic, most companies will relax their remote working policies.

7. Associate Lecturer

Also: College teacher, Visiting lecturer

I kept the juiciest one for the last. An Associate Lecturer provides support on a specified module(s), including the preparation and scheduled delivery of lectures, workshops, tutorials and lab sessions. They contribute to designing assessment, marking and assessing the students work.  Often people ask: “Is it possible for a PhD student to be an associate lecturer?”. I wondered about this too, and I realised after reading this post, and from my experience, that opportunities like this usually come on short notice to fill a gap in teaching within the institution. Thus, you must be proactive in finding them by reaching out to the institution, contacts and decision-makers like the programme leader and department head. You may also find teaching opportunities in colleges and secondary education institutions.

My experience: I started my job as an AL in March 2020. I teach the Mobile and Wireless Networking module to Masters students studying Advanced Computer Networks. This is among the prestigious roles for which a PhD student can be employed in the university, as you get paid at the level of a Grade 6 staff. It also builds your portfolio for future roles in the academia or in the industry where training, mentoring and leadership experience is an essential skill.

Transferable skills: Teaching in Higher Education, training and mentoring, leadership and coordination, presentation skills, research.

Commitment:  Assoc. lecturing can operate on a flexible and part-time basis. Your teaching activities will revolve around the courses you are assigned for the semester. Time is allotted for preparing for the courses, teaching and marking. The role is usually a part-time, fixed-term contract for which working hours is agreed ahead with the faculty.

Remote working: Most universities in developed countries have implemented systems, policies and technologies for distance and online education, hence, are able to move to remote teaching when the need arises.

Graduate scholarship funds -edited

Where do graduate scholarship funds come from?

by INSPIRATION

Knowledge of the sources and mechanics of graduate research financing will not only help you in navigating through the scholarship search process but also in tailoring your application to match the specifications. 

The scholarship can be directly awarded to the students by the sponsor to undertake the research/study. The student may or may not be under obligations specified by the sponsor during or after the research programme. For instance, a company awarding scholarships as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility, without having much expectations on the research/study outcome.

The scholarship can be received as part of a research funding budget. This comes through an organisation which has competitively secured a research grant from a grant agency, usually  a government body responsible for sponsoring research projects. These organisations (mostly universities) use part of the budget to hire graduate students to conduct the research. The main sources of such funding are companies (through R & D) and government (through universities and designated agencies). Fewer portions of the funds come from private donors and charity. By extension, part of the research funding goes into scholarship financing for postgraduate research. 

Sources of Postgraduate Scholarship Fund

I break down the scholarship funding sources into four categories:

  1. Government and public agencies
  2. Charity and not-for-profit organizations
  3. Private donors
  4. Public and private businesses
1. Government and public agencies

Sources of scholarships for international students vary from country to country. Many countries like USA, UK, New Zealand, Japan, and Germany award government-funded scholarships to exceptional international students from around the globe. This is part of their efforts to internationalize their education systems while staying committed to global development and cooperation . Some of the scholarship offered by governments are the US Fulbright Foreign Student Program, UK & British Commonwealth Government, and British Chevening Scholarship.

2. Charity and Not-for-profit Organization

Oftentimes, some charity organizations which are run or influenced by people who appreciate the value of education and research provide funding for postgraduate studies. The charity can also come in form of Foundations set up to meet particular gaps and needs in the society. Some of these charity organizations are Aga Khan Foundation, American Association of University Women and Stephen Oluwole Awokoya Foundation for Science Education.

3. Private Donors

Private donors are individuals who have set up a private fund for students to receive financial assistance. These study grants come in varying amounts with specific eligibility criteria set by the donor. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of financial need or merit depending on the donor. Some donors prefer to remain anonymous and can channel the funds to an organisation (charity or universities) to manage and disburse.

4. Private and Public Businesses

Some businesses fund research as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Others may have a memorandum of understanding with the universities and government to fund the research under agreements that it will benefit in the research.  Example of such scholarships from oil and gas companies in Nigeria are NNPC/Total National merit scholarships, Agip postgraduate scholarships, Shell postgraduate scholarships and NLNG scholarships.

To wrap up...

This is in no way an exhaustive list and is only to give you a broader perspective of where to look and what options there are. Some scholarships may have peculiar requirements and obligations based on the source of funding, e.g. scholarship conditions, eligibility and worth of the scholarship. Please do share your thoughts about scholarship funding sources in the comment section below.

dartboard-with-three-darts-in-bullseye

Perfect Timing to secure a fully-funded PhD

by INSPIRATION

“This is perfect timing to explore options since I have full scholarships (covering fees and maintenance)“, was the response I got from a professor I had sent a cold email to during my search for PhD opportunities. That sounds like the perfect reply anyone can wish for, be it from a potential supervisor or a prospective employer or business lead. Fast forward to today and I am doing my PhD with that fully-funded studentship. Was the studentship journey smooth from the start till I won it? 

Like the dart game, sometimes it may take several tries to hit the bullseye and sometimes you can hit it on first throw. For me the journey took longer than I had envisaged and the bullseye (in fact three of them in quick succession) did not come until after several lonely months of seeking and dealing with rejections. A contact told me of the response she got which went along the lines of ‘why did you wait this long to send me this message. I have already accepted students‘. She felt bad about it and was asking if there’s anything she could do to convince the Professor. I can personally relate to this.

Rejections are tough to deal with and could be taken personally; perhaps the person doesn’t like me or I am doing everything wrong. While they may provide valuable feedback and motivations that prepare us for future opportunities, sometimes it just signals that the opportunity was not ripe yet. It was not the perfect timing! We must do all we can to forge ahead, not letting it hold us back from pressing on and focusing on the future. That said, it’s also time to think ahead and devise proactive strategies to trigger the perfect timing.

In this new year, as we anticipate the ‘perfect timing’ in the areas we are sowing the seeds of hardwork and diligence, let’s keep the positive attitude and not allow the waiting to deter us. Have a great 2020! 

Get inspired by the stories of other scholars!

No junk email

Subject line tips for first email to a professor

by INSPIRATION

“Please what should be the subject of the mail?” was a question from my previous post on sending first email to potential supervisors. Since people still do judge a book by its cover, the email subject line should be treated as the cover of your email. Before we get into guidelines for the subject line, let’s first establish why a good one is important.

Why is a good subject line important

1. So that your email doesn’t end up as SPAM

This is perhaps the most compelling reason of them all. Faculty members have lots of emails to deal with daily. Some are admissions, journal updates, events, internal comms, and of course the real spam. Hence, some have filters set on their email accounts to delete or send emails—from unverified sources, with vague subject lines and with popular signs of malware—to the spam folder. 

2. So that your email does not escape being read

Even if the email escapes the junk/spam folder, there is a high chance that it may not be read if it doesn’t give the reader enough information to expect its content. A nicely crafted and well researched content with a poor subject line may still not motivate the professor to open it. What a precious effort and time wasted!.

3. To make a good first impression

The first impression does not start from the salutation of the email but on the subject line. If the academic still opens the email even with a poorly written subject line, you are making them put in more effort to understand what the email is all about and that may likely count against you.

What should a subject line contain?

There is no one way to write a subject line. These are all guidelines to help you think of how to frame your own subject line.

1. Who you are: e.g. “Prospective PhD student”, “Graduate in Computer Science interested in doctoral study in Computer Vision”

This includes information about what your current position is which gives a clue about what your intentions are. By saying you are a prospective PhD student, it gives an idea that you would be interested in PhD opportunities.

2. What topics/problems you are interested in: e.g “Student interested in XYZ problem”

This is a very specific subject line which gives the professor immediate impression that you have done your background work to know about his interests and aligned it to yours.

3. What you’re enquiring about: e.g. “Enquiry about potential PhD opportunities”, “Request for PhD supervision”, “Seeking for a PhD position”

The subject line can take the form of a statement saying what your general intentions and enquiry is about.

4. Question form: e.g. “Are you taking new graduate students this Fall 2020?”, “Is AI for Social Good studentship still open?”

This works as well especially when there is a pressing question that would stand out to the professor. For example, if the professor said on his website that he wasn’t taking students in Fall 2019 but there is no recent update about the following academic session.

wordcloud - phd studentship

How specific should the subject line be?

Ideally, there should be no such thing as a generic email to a professor, even though the subject line may range from generic e.g. “Prospective PhD student” to specific e.g. “Student interested in XYZ problem”. What is important is that it is precise enough to get them to open and read the email. Specific email subject lines usually leave a stronger impression and motivation to read. However, they can work against you if you include details that are an immediate turnoff or evoke disinterest of the reader. For instance, if you state that you are interested in XYZ research area where XYZ is obviously not an area that the professor is interested in. 

Other specific details you may include in the subject line is:

1. Reference code or short extract of advertised project e.g. “Enquiries about AI for Future Societies (Ref: 1234567)” 

It is good practice to include the Reference code or short extract of the title of a particular advertised project if you’re making enquiries about it. This gives the professor an immediate idea that the email is not a cold call but rather a response to a vacancy.

2. When you want to apply for admission e.g. “PhD Studentship Info needed: September 2020″

Specifically, if the professor had stated that they were not available to take on students in the current year, including this information could indicate that you are well informed.

3. Name of Professor’s research lab, institution: e.g. “Seeking PhD opportunity in ABC research lab”.

In cases where the professor has dual commitments, say a full professor at XYZ university but a visiting professor at ABC university, it may be useful to clarify where you are interested in working.

Additional tips

1. Short and concise

Keep email subject short and concise: ideally not more than 50-60 characters. 

2. Don’t ask lazy questions

Don’t ask the professors questions that you can easily find on their website. An example is when professor has said that he’s not taking on any new students in Fall 2020 and you still email with the same enquiry. You waste their time and yours too. Always do your research first and save the golden opportunity to make a really good first impression. Also, ask yourself whether they are the best person to direct your email to or it’s more suited to another person or department e.g the admissions office, their personal assistant, the group head. 

3. Arrange to start with more important words and phrases

Rather than say “Fall 2020 Prospective student: Research Info needed”, I would arrange it as “Prospective student: Research Info needed (Fall 2020)” as in this instance ‘prospective’ is a keyword and more important than ‘Fall’. Remember that some email boxes are arranged to limit the subject line. Thus, leaving the keywords to the end may not allow them to be seen on a quick glance.

4. Check if there’s a specific subject guideline

Some academics would state on their websites that email subject line should include a particular clause or sentence. Failure to do so is to risk your email being marked as SPAM. That’s why research is always key.

5. Be careful of spam content

Some universities implement spam filters to scan emails. Your genuine, nicely composed email may be sent to the junk folder if its content (also the subject line) contains suspicious details. Some examples to avoid in the subject are:

  • Use of ‘Urgent ‘ e.g. “PhD Studentship Info needed, URGENT!”
  • Excessive exclamation points!!!!!!!!!
  • USE OF ALL CAPS

What subject lines have you found effective for first email to faculty members and why do you think it works? Please share your thoughts below.

king and kingmaker

The story of my scholarship rejections that became another’s admission blessing

by INSPIRATION

An uncle of mine called me up one day and told me about his ward (protégé) who had an urgent need requiring my assistance. His ward had received PTDF scholarship, a prestigious foreign scholarship from Nigeria, but hadn’t been able to secure an admission in the UK. He was at the verge of losing the scholarship if he didn’t secure admission within the limited time frame. When my uncle approached me about this, I found it strange that someone could have such a prestigious scholarship and not be able to find admission. I purposed in my heart that I would do everything possible to help his ward get the admission.

It was strange to me because I recalled how many admissions I got in the UK and lost due to lack of funding. It took me more than a year from when I started my Masters to finally secure it. This reminded me of a popular primary school song we sang those days before meal to express gratitude to God for provision and ability to eat. In this scenario, the lyrics was modified to:

Some have scholarship but have no admission, some have admission but have no scholarship. We have scholarship and we have admission, Glory be to God on high. Amen

I went to my emails to dig up all the faculty members I had contacted who responded to me positively. They were willing to supervise me but didn’t have studentships at the time. PhD admission, in most countries I have seen, is mostly based on the candidate’s ability to secure a supervisor. And that is what my uncle’s ward was not doing right. He was pursuing a PhD as if it was a Masters admission.

Fortunately, his research interests were similar to the ones I was pursuing then. I gave him the contacts of five professors that were working in this research area which I took from my email correspondence. He told me then that his heart desire was studying at the University of Liverpool.

We went into action. I gave him some advice on how to write emails to the professors. I reviewed the emails before he sent them. Fortunately, he got two replies – one from the University of Liverpool professor and another from the University of York professor. Long story short, we went through his interview preparation together with the Liverpool professor. He was offered the admission to his choice university!

What I love about experiences is that whether good or painful, they can become a valuable asset to us and others in the future. It largely depends on how we approach them and what we can make out of them. Our purpose may be hidden within the rubble of our pain. 

My encouragement to you is that you should not despair when you are journeying towards your dream, as slow and painful as it may be. There is a joyful light at the end of the tunnel and greater joy in blessing others with this asset called experience. That joy will overcompensate for all those days of distress. You may not be a king at this instance, but later on you can become a king in your own right and a kingmaker.

wordcloud - phd studentship

5 top websites to find PhD scholarships

by INSPIRATION

One question I usually get from aspiring PhD scholars is “where can I find PhD scholarships?”. Opportunities abound but sometimes information about where and how to find them isn’t that obvious. From experience being in this ‘scholarship market’ and supporting others in their pursuit, I collated a list of websites I consider useful to find PhD scholarships. Most of the websites allow institutions to directly advertise their projects through paid advertisements. Hence, information and sources are kept up-to-date and verified. I highlighted in red some of the things to be aware of when navigating each website.

1. Jobs.ac.uk
  • A leading job board for careers in academic, research, science and related professions. Interestingly, it was launched and still currently managed by the University of Warwick in the UK.
  • They have a good search field. You can search by discipline, funding type, location or salary. There is a well-detailed description of the project and the funding type
  • In my previous blog post, I mentioned how PhD studentship for international students is around 20% of the advertised positions. You can filter by the funding type and narrow down to only the scholarships open to international students
  • Alternatively, you could search for all the projects in your discipline. Sometimes you can be lucky that the position is open to International students but they have to pay the difference in fees between the international and the home rate.
  • Projects advertised at any given time usually range from 300 – 500 projects.
  • In almost all the cases the advertised PhD projects have funding or studentships.
  • Mostly Europe based PhD projects and over 90% are in the UK.
2. Findaphd.com
  • They refer to the website as “a comprehensive guide to PhD studentships and postgraduate research degrees”. I quite agree as they have the largest database among the ones listed with over 8000 PhD projects.
  • Though the majority of the projects are in the UK, you still have a good representation of other countries worldwide.
  • However, many of the projects are not studentships. It is a large mix of self-funded projects and studentship projects. That’s why I found it more confusing to browse through.
  • If you are looking generally for a PhD project, whether it is funded or not, then this is a good place to look as you would have lots of options to think of.
  • Sometimes the advertised projects on this website are already expired. Tip: When you come across a project that has no specific deadline (“Applications accepted all year round”) you should ensure to make contact with the potential supervisor (or listed contact person) to ascertain the availability of the project before putting effort into the application.
3. Researchgate.net
  • A professional network for scientists and researchers that connects over 15 million researchers.
  • If you want to find a website that isn’t dominated by UK universities, then this may be a start. You will find a variety of projects offered by other countries like the Netherlands, Germany, Australia, Norway. The Netherlands had the most PhD studentship positions as at the time of posting.
  • Advertised jobs are not only for PhD positions. That shouldn’t be an issue as the same applies to some of the other websites. However, there is currently no separation or search field for only PhD studentships. You have to manually type in the keyword “PhD” in the search field to narrow down to mostly PhD positions. You have other positions like Research Associate, Post-Doc, research positions in the industry.
  • Has only 3 search terms: keyword, region (select) and research area (select).
  • Fewer positions. When I checked “PhD” as a search term it returned 77 results.  It came down to only 7 results when I narrow down to “computer science” research field.
4. Academicpositions.com
  • A recruitment portal and career network for academics, researchers, and scientists.
  • Has a database of around 600 PhD positions with 98% in Europe
  • Highest Employer currently is CEA Tech in France with 130 positions
  • Has a variety of options and representations from other countries outside Europe
  • The job description for some countries was written in their language (like German).
5. Euraxess
  • It is a joint initiative between the European Commission and associated countries to create an environment for the migration of researchers in the European Research Area.
  • To navigate, use keyword ‘PhD’ in the search for jobs field. You can also narrow down by specifying your discipline in the ‘Research Field’. I don’t find the ‘Researcher Profile’ option very appealing since the ‘First stage Researcher’ option brings up undesirable positions like ‘Assistant Professor’.
  • Gives you ‘where to apply’ option which sometimes leads you to a broken link or takes you to another job website. My advice is that you trace the link back to the  institution’s website where the position was originally advertised and apply directly there.

I hope you found the information useful. An additional tip is that all the listed websites offer some sort of career advice or tips for PhD application. Researchgate’s advice is crowd-sourced like Quora. You may search for existing advice that matches your need or seek fresh advice on the platform. Euraxess points you to resources about settling in and working in a European country.

Are there any other websites you have come across or explored in the course of seeking studentships? I would like to hear them.

Supervisor search concentration

How to get a professor’s approval for supervision on first email contact

by INSPIRATION

Have you sent several emails to potential supervisors for Masters or PhD study and not gotten any responses? While there are no guarantees that an email would get replies even if it’s written by an expert, there are things you could do to boost the chances of getting a response. First impression, they say, matters most. Here I would be sharing one tip gained from my experience with contacting potential supervisors for a PhD.

Common ground

The most important content of your email to a potential supervisor is not your laurels. They can find that in your CV. It is the part where you establish common ground. You must be able to connect the dots between the professor’s research interests and your background. If that element is missing, the email will be like any other generic email (more like a spam) where you only need to change the name of the faculty member at the salutation. Dear X; where X is a set of random faculty members. 

Why bother to customize?

Put yourself in the shoes of these professors. They are very busy. They have tons of emails coming into their inbox every day which they have to skim through. On your part, it might seem fair to send generic emails as you don’t know which one of them will be responded to. More like casting your bread upon many waters. Yes, I understand that sadly you might spend so much time composing a well-customised email to a professor who never gets back to you. The time you had invested in that one email would probably have been used to send 30 emails to other professors. But the idea is not to scatter your seed on any kind of soil but to be intentional and purposeful about the ground on which you sow it.

Spam vs Customised

Any email that you could send to as many people as possible which can still be relevant to all of them would be tagged as spam. If you have an email that can only make sense to one and only one person then it is a customised email. We are going to be looking at two different emails and spot which one looks like Spam and which one is Customised?

Email A

Dear Prof A,

 I am Maryleen Ndubuaku and I am contacting you because I am interested in pursuing a PhD in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at National Taipei University of Technology. I received a First Class Honors Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Engineering from the Federal University of Technology Owerri in Nigeria in 2012 and graduated as the best student in the department.

I am aware of the fact that you are a world class scientist and an accomplished academics working in Taiwan, I write with great assurance that you would be of tremendous help to me in securing admission into the department of Electronics Engineering. Moreover, having gone through your research interest, I find it a perfect match with my career dreams! Your research in wireless communication among others, fascinates me. I have often desired to be part of a team where I would learn and as well contribute immensely to making the future better through excellent research.

I would like to become an outstanding scientist in the future and I believe that attending National Taipei University of Technology will surely help me attain my ambition. It will be a great privilege and honor to work under your supervision – an academic with great international reputation. I am confident that you will serve to mentor me towards achieving my career dreams.

I have attached my documents for your perusal. It is with great expectation that I anticipate your positive response.

 Thank you, Sir!

Yours Sincerely,
Maryleen Ndubuaku

Email B

Dear Professor B,

My name is Maryleen Ndubuaku and I have just completed my master’s degree in Embedded Microelectronics and Wireless Systems at Coventry University UK with a CGPA of 84%. I have worked on several different research projects as a graduate student at Coventry University. In my master’s project, I designed a dynamic and adaptive relay selection scheme for 5G networks. I also worked with the University as a research intern in the area of Internet of Things security, and have submitted an article under review for publication in IEEE World forum for Internet of Things. Presently, I am assisting my internship supervisor with other research projects he is involved with.

I have read several of your recent papers and find them interesting. In Energy-Efficient Relay Selection for Cooperative Relaying in Wireless Multimedia Networks, your conclusions on the advantage of nonuniform power allocation in reducing power consumption relates to my study on dynamic and adaptive relay selection. I would like to investigate the effect of nonuniform allocation of other resources required for Cooperative Communication, such as buffer space. Likewise, I am interested in studying robust relay mechanisms for different network scenarios with the aim of maintaining QoS at satisfactory levels.

In How Cars Talk Louder, Clearer and Fairer: Optimizing the Communication Performance of Connected Vehicles via Online Synchronous Control you raised interesting questions about adjusting the transmission power and data rates appropriately to suit the dynamic nature of real-life traffic. In line with my interest, I am thinking of addressing the need for adaptive and dynamic reconfiguration of the topological structure of connected vehicle traffic in the event of network changes.

My passion to learn further and make significant contribution as an independent researcher drives me towards a PhD study. I would very much like the opportunity to work under your supervision and would appreciate if you could review my attached documents (C.V and university transcripts) and let me know what the possibilities might be.

Thank you for your time and kind consideration.

Sincerely,
Maryleen Ndubuaku

Between the two emails

A: Well-written but can be sent to many professors at a time
B: It is clear that this email is designated to a specific professor

The same way you ignore spam messages and don’t feel obligated to respond to them, that’s how some academics could treat the A-type emails. Writing the B-type emails require a lot of time investment. In future posts, we will look at some tips to prepare such emails. Is it possible to prepare quality emails without having to invest such enormous time that doesn’t guarantee a response? Definitely! we can find a good compromise between spam (speed) and customised (quality). We shall explore that in future posts.

writing a script for 3-minute pitch

Preparing a pitch presentation: best way to start

by INSPIRATION

One of the pains of preparing a pitch presentation, say ranging from 1 to 5 minutes, is how to get started. If it is a competition, it makes this piece I’m going to share even more beneficial. It’s something that produces the blockbuster movies you love to see. It is called a script. When I entered for the 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition—a pitch of my research—I didn’t initially think of drafting a script. I imagined the words would flow freely and fluently. But I was struggling to get started with my preparation. When I presented to a friend, I stumbled over some words and the message wasn’t very coherent. Of course, a key thing when preparing a pitch presentation is getting to know your audience and the overall goal of your presentation. But all of these can be articulated into a script. A script would help to set the stage of your presentation – what you would say and how.

Prepare like an actor who'll take the stage

Think of yourself as an actor; a character who is going to stand before an audience to communicate an idea. The audience will lend you their attention and you have only 3 minutes to make an impression. I was reading about movie acting, and learnt how actors hardly get the chance to change a word from their script. That script had been carefully thought through and drafted by a screenwriter. Every word in it had already been crafted with an overall picture of the movie. A slight modification could alter a lot. One word/action could cue in the next action or could connect to something that would occur later. But then the actors perform so naturally that you can hardly tell they lifted the words from a text. We can employ similar tactic when preparing a pitch presentation.

Don't cram the script

After my presentation at the university 3MT competition, I had a chat with one of the judges during the coffee break. He believed I had crammed everything I said on the stage. I told him that I didn’t, and he stared at me in disbelief. I had practised until the script came alive and became second nature. Drafting a script does not mean having to cram it word for word. Infact, before I started scribbling it down, I had made a mindmap of the key ideas I wanted to convey in the 3 minutes. This helped to give me more clarity and flow during the script writing. How you would gauge if you crammed the script is when you always get stuck after missing a word or phrase. That is to say, you go completely blank or you take extra pauses to recollect what next to say. Also, if you’re unable to improvise or substitute a word that doesn’t immediately come to your memory then it could have been a cramming exercise. 

Finally...

Like an actor, the script is one of the essentials to prepare a pitch presentation that is focused and leaves a stronger impression on your audience. Define the goal of your presentation, sketch out the key ideas you want to convey and fleshen it out with a script. In future posts, I would share more insights on the benefits of using a script and how to draft one.

 Have you ever drafted a script to prepare a pitch presentation, how did that work for you? What do you find challenging about drafting/using one for preparing? I would really like to hear your experiences or thoughts in the comment section below.

qcon-closing keynote

My volunteering experience at QCon London 2019

by INSPIRATION

From 4th to the 8th of March 2019, I had the pleasure of volunteering at QCon London, a tech event famous among professional software developers, engineers and architects. I came across the conference during my occasional routine of surfing the web to check out opportunities for continuing professional development. I was aware that conferences like QCon may not fit into the type that a PhD student would be sponsored by the university to attend given that delivery is mainly industry practitioner-driven. To substantiate that, the conference as at now does not offer any discounts for non-profit companies or students to attend; and there are no call for papers, technical paper submissions and publications afterwards. More so, the tickets were too pricey, with the full conference + workshop costing over £2500.  Hence, I jumped at the opportunity to attend for free in exchange for my help as a volunteer.

Registration desk - 'Welcome to Qcon...Matt...Mike...Mmmm'
What motivated my choice to volunteer

 The idea of volunteering was impressed in my mind whilst at the machine learning summer school where I observed volunteers fully partake of the classes. I imagined it would be a great opportunity to learn new topics in the tech field that could relate to my research and how it fits into the wider picture of real-world applications. My vision for my PhD program is that it would be a time for dedicated research as well as professional development such that I emerge with depth of knowledge and robust experience. It’s also a chance for me to improve on skills like organisation, communication and teamworking. I saw it as the ideal platform to engage with professionals who are doing exploits in other horizons.

Volunteering at QCon - the full picture

We had the briefing on Sunday, the 3rd of March, at the venue, Queen Elizabeth II Convention Centre London,  during which we did a tour round the floors where the sessions were to hold. On Monday I arrived at 6:30 am, to kick off the registration at 7am. Our main task at the registration desk was to welcome attendees, find their badges and give them basic information about the conference. Working in pairs, myself and colleague welcomed attendees whose first name started with letter ‘M’. Around 9am we went into the main hall for the keynote by Sarah Wells. That was the only time we were required at the registration desks. On other days we assembled at the volunteers room, picked up our T-shirts and room monitoring materials and went to our assigned rooms. We were given new shirts everyday [Monday – blue, Tuesday – pink, Wednesday – orange, and a bonus Thursday – ash]. Our role basically was to count the number of attendees in a room, show timing signs to speakers, take votes with the voting boxes and report any technical or general issues in the rooms we were assigned.

End of conference pic, we taking the stage as future speakers 🙂
The fun and flip side

The experience was really awesome, and the event organisation and content was splendid. Some of the tracks I attended were great especially the AI without a PhD and Career Hacking tracks. I fully participated at the advanced session on Deep (Learn) Neural Networks with Pytorch. On the networking aspect, I don’t think I did too badly. Fortunately, I landed two other event opportunities at the conference through the contacts I met. The first was an invitation to the Tech It Forward hackathon event, which I attended the pre-session meeting on the Thursday of the conference week. The second is another volunteering role to a top conference for experienced Agilist professionals. The volunteers’ coordinators were really lovely people to work with and they were very understanding and supportive of our interests to benefit from the conference. It was a beautiful chance to bond with fellow volunteers who came from varied backgrounds and cultures. The program was well structured with enough breaks in-between session that held within ideal time slots: enough to keep audience attention. The food was exquisite, not the typical ‘sandwich lunch’ that one finds in meetings here in England but a ‘proper’ lunch.  I got lots of freebies too! Generally, it was a refreshing time, the best way to spend time away from work doing work.

 

One aspect I thought could be improved on for future events was the way in which rooms were allocated to volunteers. During registration we were asked to choose our favourite tracks which was going to influence our room allocations. However, this did not work out quite well because the track sessions were held across different rooms in a day. According to them, it was a new development this year as they did a dynamic room allocation depending on the interests they received from the attendees. A remedial plan was to do a room swap with any other volunteer that was interested in the session. It didn’t really work for me especially the first and second day. Good a thing there are recorded videos and slides to fall back on. 

I expected it would be a busy week so I had my mind prepared for it, but that meant that for the first two days, I was too fatigued to give much attention to networking. Despite having the opportunity to attend some of my choice sessions, I still had to find the balance between paying rapt attention and keeping track of communication on the WhatsApp volunteer group where updates were shared. This was where I needed to step up and my phone’s battery didn’t help either. It pained me that I lost track of the time we needed to converge for group pictures on the second and third day causing me to be missing in action. Infact, on the third day I had to plead with the coordinators for a picture with all volunteers at the end of the conference. It is great that we held volunteers’ meeting at the end of each day, and on the last day we took out time to give feedback about out experience to the coordinators. 

Certificate

That’s what I was up to that week, and it was a rich, refreshing and rewarding experience. There are several volunteering opportunities out there if this sounds like what might interest you. Know your motivation, check out what is available in your locality, sign up for it and most importantly, enjoy it!

Please leave your thoughts below, and if you have done any event volunteering in the past I would be happy to learn from your experience – how did you maximise it?

Scholar interview series Vol.1...2

#JourneyToScholarship interview series – Vol.1

by INSPIRATION

In this first edition of the #JourneyToScholarship series, Chioma Aloh, a Nigerian and first year PhD student, shares with us her journey to winning her 5-year fully funded scholarship at the Auburn University, Alabama, USA.

Tell us briefly about the scholarship you won?

The route to securing a fully funded position at Auburn University, Alabama was a tedious but promising one. I got a PhD position in the Chemistry department for at least 5 years.

What was the entire process like?

I started scouting for schools to apply to in September 2017 and I sent my first application in December of that same year, all these to portray that the search for schools is a very important part of the process. The overall process is overwhelming till you secure a spot, I learnt to multitask in the best way possible to meet up with deadlines as a priority applicant.

What were the hitches you encountered during the scholarship search and application process, and how did you get around them?

I had written the English proficiency (IELTS) months before I decided I was going to the US, unfortunately not many schools in the US accept the exam as opposed to TOEFL. This restricted the number of options I had to choose from. Also, due to monetary constraints I opted for schools that would accept my unofficial transcript given the option of sending the official copy on getting the admission. With all this in mind, I selected four schools, looked through their minimum requirements, made sure I met them and began preparations for GRE. Typically, most schools require a good GPA, adequate research experience, a few publications and specified percentile of GRE and IELTS/TOEFL score.  In situations where I wasn’t sure of the information on the school’s page, I sent a mail to the graduate coordinator stating my complaints, I always got a reply.

I selected schools by looking at the rankings of my department of choice on US news and at their acceptance rate. This gave me a good idea of what I wanted, also I made sure to check if the department and research areas of the professors I would likely work with suited me or if it had any semblance to what I wanted.

Preparing for GRE and IELTS required time, dedication, discipline and the right materials. I joined some groups on WhatsApp and on Telegram of like-minded people pursuing the same goals, the general goal was simple: do everything in the right way possible to secure a position. I got materials, sample letters, apps and loads of encouragement from them.

What was your Unique Selling Point (What you think made you stand out from the competition and helped you to win the scholarship)?

I think I was selected for the position because my SOP (statement of purpose) was concise and my results (IELTS and GRE) were pretty good.  

What word do you have for aspiring scholars seeking similar opportunities?

Securing a PhD spot requires tenacity and a few good people by your side. The process is different for everyone but usually the aim is the same and that’s what binds us together: secure a position doing all the right things possible and in time. Good things take time, be patient with yourself.

Chioma Aloh Profile picture
Meet the Scholar, Chioma Aloh

Chioma is a PhD student of Chemistry at Auburn University, Alabama. She received a 1st class bachelor’s degree in applied biochemistry at Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. She is an EducationUsa Alumni and currently received a scholarship from Auburn University, Alabama. To fulfill some of the scholarship’s requirement, she teaches general chemistry classes where she guides and prepares students for chemistry practical in the laboratory. Working alongside her Supervisor, Dr. Holly Ellis, she is currently looking into sulfate metabolism, specifically alkanesulfonate monooxygenase system. The study is to understand the novel mechanism of desulfonation by this system amongst other things. As an EducationUsa Alumni, she is dedicated and keen on working interested Masters/PhD candidates through the application process and offer advices on other areas pertinent to the process.

#JourneyToScholarship is a periodical featuring the success stories of students who won study scholarships in the hope that it inspires you to envision the possibilities of making it through the process. For any questions please leave a comment below or get in touch.

study advisor 2-min

My new role as study advisor

by INSPIRATION

One key thing I desired when I started a PhD at my university was to engage in activities that involve helping students with studies, international student welfare, admissions or scholarships. Thus, when I came across the advert for the study advisor role, I quickly jumped at the opportunity. Each week I meet with at most 9 students to coach them on study skills which includes structuring assignments, presentations, referencing and general encouragement. I am said to be 7 things in one: a listener, a coach, networker, role model, sounding board, critical friend and facilitator.

  • Listener – Actively listen to their concerns and ask questions where I need to understand clearly.
  • Coach – Give advice on a wide range of academic issues.
  • Networker – Point them to other departments that can offer more specific help. For example to Career and Employability Services if they need advice on finding an internship.
  • Role model – Essentially to ‘walk my talk’ and to reflect what I advise them in my own academic life and conduct.
  • Sounding board – This is especially for PhD students. To listen to their concerns.
  • Critical friend – To provide them with feedback in a constructive and friendly manner.
  • Facilitator – To ask them strategic questions that would help them to think more deeply and draw out their own conclusions.

Since October I came on board, I can confidently say there are several things I appreciate about this role which assures me it’s the place I really want to be.  There’s an indescribable satisfaction I get whenever I finish a session with a student—that feeling that I am contributing to something that could make a huge difference in someone’s career. Since I meet students from all disciplines and in different levels (Bachelors, Masters and PhD) who share a wide range of academic issues, it’s also helpful to my own study as I get to learn a lot on the spot. I find it to be a useful platform to develop several transferable skills for my future career such as the confidence to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds. One phobia I’ve had in the past was ‘how do I initiate a conversation with someone and keep the conversation flowing such that it doesn’t feel awkward?’.  Since I drive the meeting which is more of a friendly conversation, it means I get better at this and rather than put any pressure on myself to impress, I just enjoy the interaction. Hopefully, in the future, interviews would feel more like this—as if I’m having a conversation rather than being interrogated.

The experience has been exciting so far with the 7 sessions and 12 students I have interacted with. Acting as a confidant to students, I feel privileged to be bestowed such level of trust. Thus, I couldn’t use this platform to divulge any information about my interaction with students, whether it is personal details or illustrations that are attributable to a specific individual. That being said, I look forward to sharing with you the general ideas I have gleaned from this role in the future.

Picture of myself browsing for scholarships

How I secured a fully-funded PhD scholarship in the UK

by INSPIRATION

My experience securing a fully-funded scholarship in the UK  is one I’m always delighted to share. Aside the joy of seeing the toils of several months come to fruition, I hope that it would inspire other scholars in their pursuit. The scholarship award from the University of Derby covers tuition fees at international rate and an annual stipend at the Research Council rate.

The chase for fully-funded scholarship in the UK for an international student could be quite challenging given the fewer opportunities and more stringent requirements of some. I had a quick look at the scholarships in jobs.ac.uk majority of which are advertised by UK institutions. As at the time of publishing this post, there are 506 PhD positions of which 110 positions (22%) are open to international students. A significantly fewer number of the UK scholarships offer full-funding while others have part-funded schemes, for instance, oversea students to pay the difference in fees between the home and oversea rate.

stats of PhD studentship in jobs.ac.uk

The pursuit

Whilst on my Master’s program I was looking out for PhD scholarship opportunities in the UK. Websites like jobs.ac.uk and findaphd.com were my go-to sites for studentship search. After several unsuccessful attempts I started to explore options beyond the UK. I decided to try the direct-contact approach where I had to scout for potential supervisors instead of limiting myself to only advertised projects. For this search to be effective I had to do it systematically rather than just querying google with phrases like “professors conducting research in Internet of Things”. I  narrowed down my search to a country of interest, then to the Universities, then Faculty, research groups, until I drilled down to the profile of academics.  Only if I found a matching interest would I start the process of establishing contact.

Direct contact approach to securing PhD scholarship in specific university

Light at the end of the tunnel

When I have found a matching profile,  I would look through the list of publications to find the most relevant—say one or two—then skim through them. In an email to the academic, I would make a few statements about my interests and how it fits into their work, attaching my documents. This was the approach I took with my current supervisor which yielded a promising response. It was a  “perfect timing” as he was moving from his current affiliation to the University of Derby UK as the founding director of Data Science Research Centre with available scholarships. We arranged a Skype call, and he requested I send a research proposal. I already had some experience preparing research proposals so I brushed up the one I had prepared for a previous application. Now, here we are!

The bottom line

The scholarship pursuit is not always a one-size-fits-all approach; one approach may work for you but not for others. You just have to try every possible approach that suits your needs using the right strategies. This follows with being able to evaluate your strategies and incorporate feedback into the next attempt. The one thing you shouldn’t do is to bow out of the race if you passionately desire the scholarship. Realise there are a lot of opportunities out there, and the main thing standing between you and your dream scholarship is time. That you don’t have it yet may just be that the timing isn’t yet perfect.

Now to the juicy bit

Who knows, this may be the perfect timing someone has been seeking. We have PhD studentship opportunities available now at the Data Science Research Centre, University of Derby UK. Why not check it out and see if it fits your interest or share with someone you think might find it helpful. Let me know if you have any queries.

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Before you make a career switch: Things to consider

by INSPIRATION

My friend studied Petroleum Engineering for 5 years in the University. Three years after graduation, he has been in the job market and hasn’t been able to find a decent job in his field. Now he popped this question to me just recently: “I want to change my career from engineering to a health related field, what do u think?“. Another friend that made a switch from Chemical Engineering to Information Technology said “I’ve always wanted something with computers. But I had no orientation on the course relevance“. 

Career switch could mean different things to different people. I’ve seen a lot of people who studied a course and ended up working in an entirely different discipline. E.g. A microbiologist working as a cashier in the bank. All they needed was to get in with their graduate certificate and receive specialised training for the job. But what about a situation where one has to go back to Uni to gain a period of specialised training for an entirely different discipline?

Reasons people make career switch

1. Passion

Another friend did her first degree in Advertising and Marketing, worked for a few years, and now is back to Uni as an undergraduate to study Nursing. She said her interest in nursing sparked when she worked in child care and it kindled a passion to help kids. To a large extent, what becomes our career hangs on the exposure and opportunities available to us. I didn’t have interest in Internet of Things until I attended a conference in 2015 where I got exposed to a lot of fascinating information about the technology. Your light-bulb moment could be that exposure that makes you ask “why in the world am I not doing this?” which triggers a decision about what you want to do for the rest of your life. In my friend’s case, she switched to a career path that would result in the kind of impact she wanted to make—something that truly gives her the tangible fulfilment of touching lives.

2. Survival

For other people the reason to make a career switch could be to cope with the pressure of a particular situation e.g. harsh economic conditions. It could be that the course studied has become less attractive or that it is extremely competitive as at the time they got into the job market. For instance, Petroleum Engineering was very attractive back in the days and most people who went in to study it envisioned getting a 6 figure job in companies like Shell. But as more graduates were turned out, the big companies weren’t increasing in number, and worse still the crude oil was still being mined around the same region. Such specialised courses that have limited supply of jobs, and which poses difficulty for market entry, would have more competition that slims the chances of succeeding in the job market.

4 questions to ask before switching

1. Can I  explore this new area in depth?

Every skill and expertise requires time to build. One thing you dont want to do is to keep exploring subjects in breadth and not in depth. At some point in your career, to become an expert and increase your market value you need to go in-depth in your particular subject-area. That’s why doctors have to specialise after they have spend years studying the general medicine.

2. Do I know enough about the post-training opportunities?

If you are switching career for survival sake you must make sure you would be able to find opportunities in your new discipline. What you don’t want is to start afresh and hit another wall and then begin to wish you stuck around much longer in your previous career.

3. Can my commitment measure up?

As one gets older, there seems to be less flexibility on what one can experiment on. When you are younger it’s more forgivable to make mistakes, go on a career adventure, try out a thing or two. But as one gets older and begins to have more responsibilities, it becomes important to be a lot more focused and directional. So you have to decide if you can go all out for this new area of training and not trying to be jack-of-all-trade.

4. Do I have the resources and the support?

Switching career could mean starting from a blank sheet so you need to make sure you can do it. If you have more responsibilities already to handle, it becomes even more challenging. Obviously you would need to think of how to fund your training.  It’s also important that you have the support of your close allies as they might be the shoulder to lean on when the journey gets very tough. 

Looking at the brighter side

Having to spend several years studying a course, and then switching can be a hard choice. You have invested a lot of time, and you may still want to stick around a little longer even though it isn’t working out for you. The truth is that there is nothing you cannot pick up if you only dedicate enough time to it.

  • The experience you bring into your new learning

Most students are more focused as at this point they know what they are pursuing. They have identified where they want to deploy the skills they acquire unlike fresh undergraduates you may just focus on the experience and not the livelihood that comes afterwards 

  • Your previous study can help you connect better to your new discipline

Let’s say someone switches from Biological sciences to Data Science. While studying Artificial Intelligence, your understanding of biological neural networks can help you in the design of an algorithm. In fact, researchers at some point may have had to collaborate with other disciplines to do a more grounded work. My research group at the Data Science centre Uni of Derby, are currently working jointly with the psychology department on a research looking at how people interact with Green spaces for improving health and wellbeing. Steve Jobs said the class he attended on calligraphy inspired him in the design of Apple. So your past academic background may not be entirely a waste of time as it may come in handy for the future.

Is career switching something you are considering or might consider, and why is that? Please leave your thoughts in the comment box.

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