My DPhil Buddy

Masih teringat pengalaman sebelum melanjutkan PhD. Saya banyak bertanya dengan senior dan pelajar PhD lain mengenai tip-tip untuk memilih supervisor dan kumpulan penyelidikan. Antara pesanan yang saya rasakan sangat berguna adalah dengan mencari supervisor yang mempunyai pelajar PhD dan Post Doc.

Jika supervisor merupakan seorang yang agak sibuk, kehadiran post doc dan kawan PhD yang memahami akan sangat membantu melicinkan proses perjalanan PhD. Ini bukan bermakna kita perlu bergantung dengan mereka, tetapi dengan memanfaatkan keberadaan mereka dengan bertanya, saling bertukar pendapat mengenai penyelidikan, berbincang, meminta nasihat dan banyak lagi in sha ALLAH akan mempermudahkan lagi urusan seharian PhD. 

Alhamdulillah saya dikurniakan 'DPhil buddy' yang sangat memahami. The US army airforce, Huck (Gambar di bawah). Beliau sudah berumur 42 tahun dan merupakan seorang pensyarah di US. Kelebihan beliau yang pandai mengajar sangat membantu saya dalam banyak segi sepanjang sudah dua bulan berada di Oxford. Selain beliau, post doc di sini juga sangat membantu. Tidak putus-putus mengajar walaupun mereka kesibukan dengan penyelidikan di Oxford.

Alhamdulillah dengan rezeki kawan-kawan yang sangat membantu. Kepada pembaca di sana yang sedang merancang untuk melanjutkan pelajaran, boleh timbang tara nasihat di atas. Moga Allah permudahkan urusan saya dan semua pembaca. Amin Ya robbal alamin.

8.00 malam - Muka kepenatan seharian membuat penyelidikan. (Huck & Me) 

How did my supervisor initiates my thinking?

Almost two months here, lots of things I learnt. For this entry, I love to share how Paul did to initiate my thinking and built my confidence at the beginning of my PhD. I wish to use these approaches when I deal with my students in the future. I can say that I'm so lucky to get supervisor like Paul, really understanding, friendly, and I felt so free and happy to talk with him.

1. His smiling face, make me calm
Whenever I meet him, he always greets me with his smiling face.

2. He start to iniatiate my thinking with what I can do.
I still remember, I came to see him for weekly progress meeting. I told him that I already able to do this and that... He said that was good and keep up the good work. The next meeting, he asked me the principles behind all the things that I was already able to do by myself. I can only answered a few questions and I was really sad. He said to me, when I did any measurement, try to think of why I'm doing that? How can it relates to my PhD? A week later, I came to see him and explain all the unanswered questions. Starting from that point, I start to thinks the purpose of my doing. :)

3. He never said you are wrong directly
If I did wrong, he will always start with; great, good work, good, you almost there. Then only he will explain to me the real answer. By doing that, he actually makes me feel acceptable and initiates me to do better in the future.

4. During my presentation, he will look at me, smiling and I can see the encouragement from his face.
He really appreciates my comment/suggestion/opinion even though it is very simple and sometimes not helping at all. - I become more confident to talk and giving opinions. It also develops my thinking to think further and deeper on one issue.

A friend in need, is a friend indeed

16.11.2016

Felt so tired today, just finished the last participant around 9.30pm. I'm thinking of my husband, he must be waiting for me to come home. I guess, this is the sacrifices  need to be made by every of the doctoral students.

I knew that I missed the bus at 9.30pm. "just wait for the 10pm one", I whispered to myself. I preferred to just wait inside the CCRF instead of outside because it was very chilly.

Huck was there and I knew he was double tired than me, struggling with the research and transfer report at the same time. We had a chat. Even though it was a very short and simple one, it was very meaningful.

Huck: Such a very long day ya
Me: Yes, anyway we made it through, Yeay. Huck, I met Paul two days ago. I thought I was doing well but I'm actually not.
Huck: Why?
Me: Paul asked me so many questions based on what I can do. Unfortunately, I can't answer it. I can perform but I didn't understand the principles overlying it.
Huck: It was absolutely fine. You are here not even two months and lots of things you have done by yourself. I can see that you started to optimize your skills and interact more with participant while performing. You are improving day by day. The thing now is just that you need to start understand slowly the principles overlying all the activities that we have done here. No worries you will be fine. ......(Huck plan my target for one year).... Well, just remember one thing, don't do the progress report last minute like me. Lol
Me: Of course I need to do it early Huck. I need to struggle with the English writing as well.
Huck: Don't worry, we make sure you will make it through....

The last sentences beat my heart. Thank you Allah, for surrounds me with lots of helpful and nice friends.

Tip4 PhD4all: Weekly Progress Report

One of the things that I always do after meeting my supervisor, Paul is progress report. I meet him on our agreed day every Monday, usually around 1.30pm.

Is it so important to document the meeting? 
Yes. The document will be a very useful reference and also acts as a record of my discussion with Paul. Before I meet him for the next week, basically I will always refer back to the previous documented progress report and try to ensure that I reach all the targets for last week and if not, I need to standby with the reasons.

How to document that? 
This is my weekly progress report for your reference. Mine is slightly differ from the others, I think. Anyway, the template designs totally depend on you.The sentences highlighted in green needed further revision by me. Before the next meeting, I will double check that I have covered all the red points and once I have covered the points, I will change the red colour to black. This method is to make sure that I didn't miss what should I know and discuss with Paul.

Date: 14.11.2016		Day: Monday		Time: 1.30pm	Paul & me
1.     Overview of target Nov – Dec 2016	Didn’t reach the target for Capillary imaging.		1.     What happened if the ambulatory monitor didn’t work? 2.     What is the SOP for CPEX? 3.     The principle behind Capillary imaging 4.     What represent the reading on 24 hours BP monitor? 5.     Why should maintained more than 60 cycles/min? What are the meaning of other values V’02, PRE, etc? Afifah, please answer all these questions before next week. Whatever you do, try to think: 1.     What are the measurements for? 2.     How to do the measurement? 3.     How to relate with you PhD
2.     Literature review	Paul asked me about literature review. What did I read?		Please read on PE and echocardiography. Next week explain to Paul. – Read stress echo by Huck – find the gap Try to find your interest
3.     Echocardiography	What have you achieved??		You should be able to do parasternal view by next week Please give more focus as echocardiography will be your MAIN FOCUS.
4.     MRI	What have you achieved??		Understand the anatomy.

GOALS FOR ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY (Nov – Dec 2016)        

Parasternal (long axis)	21 Nov
Parasternal (short axis)	21 Nov
Apical	28 Nov
Subcostal	5 Dec
Suprasternal	5 Dec

GOALS FOR VISIT & STUDY ADMIN– TEPHRA                        

(Nov – Dec 2016)        

BOS (powerful online survey)	Now	√
Trialspark	4 Nov	√
TEPHRA email	4 Nov	√
Acuity	11 Nov
MRI safety	25 Nov	√

GCP Certificate	Nov	√
Honorary contract	Nov	√
Screening visit	1 Nov	√
BP Cuff monitor	2 Nov	√
Vicorder	4 Nov	√
10 minutes walk	4 Nov	√
Bio Impedance	4 Nov	√
Blood pipette	4 Nov	√
Capillary imaging	9 Nov
SPIRO	15 Nov
Retinal imaging	15 Nov
Venepuncture	Dec
Echocardiography	Dec/Jan
CPET	Dec

Where to save it?

Make a folder in google drive, Dropbox etc, whenever you are convenient. 

-PhD is your journey. Live through it and go for it-

Writing your personal statement

A few new websites I found useful this week, which I believe would help many students out there. I know it is not easy to build one, but once you have a  clear aim and target in mind, everything would be fine.

Please spread this to your friends or everybody in need. All the best :)


1. http://www.ox.ac.uk/admissions/undergraduate/applying-to-oxford/ucas-application/writing-your-personal-statement

2. http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/wiki/Category:Imperial_College_London_Personal_Statements

3. https://www.studential.com/personal-statement-examples/oxford-university-personal-statements