Most readers of this blog will have come across me as someone primarily involved in teaching on the pre-reg speech/language therapy courses. However in September 2013, I took on a new role – that of Director of Postgraduate Research (or PGR) for our whole School. This in essence involves looking after the PhD students in the School of ECLS and includes anything from selecting at the admission stage, welcoming new students, making sure that students are progressing satisfactorily, to negotiating with the University Estates service about workspace for students.

To say that this has been a steep learning curve is probably an under-estimate. Every day seems to bring some new issue or fact about PGR that I was not aware of before. ECLS is a very diverse school; in handbooks and at induction we do mention to everyone that there are two other sections besides SLS, i.e. Education and Applied Linguistics, but I am sure this is quickly forgotten as you start to think about linguistics and anatomy and clinics… For me this diversity has meant that not only have I been meeting international students from a whole range of countries, but I have also been trying to get my head around research that ranges from international education to second language teaching to conversational analysis and back to speech and language pathology again, with a few other things I’ve now forgotten about. Two things have stood out though. Firstly, there is a strong support system for PhD students within the university: this means that students get regular meetings with supervisors, that their progress is monitored and help in place when needed, and that their concerns are being listened to and addressed. As regards the latter, the introduction of a ‘Postgrad Research Experience Survey’, similar to the NSS is very recent, but is clearly having an effect. In the past students were very dependent on the resources and time their supervisors could provide and in many instances it was ‘sink or swim’. In my own case, I had an excellent but very eminent supervisor who early on I found frankly scary, so I relied a lot on fellow PhD students for advice in the first year or so. Things would be easier if I was starting out now!

The second thing I have realised is that we do not have many PhD students in Speech and Language Sciences and those we do have are fairly well on with their projects. At the same time we have a clear need for research to develop the SLT evidence base, and also there are funding opportunities out there for those who want to do a PhD. So, anyone who is currently enjoying their dissertation work, or is looking forward to doing it, and who likes exploring complex ideas, this may be for you.

So what is this PhD thing and why would you want to devote a minimum of 3-4 years of your life to doing one? It involves working on a project which you design and carry out yourself; you would have two supervisors, minimally one who is an expert in the area you choose, and one who has a good amount of experience in supervision. While you would need to heed advice from your supervisor, working on a PhD means you have an amazing amount of autonomy to work on something that interests you. You would be provided with research training by the Graduate School and have opportunities to get to know a wide variety of other research students and to discuss your work with them. Many lifelong friendships are forged while doing a PhD! At the same time though, you have to be prepared to work alone at your project and motivate yourself when you hit a tough patch. Why would you do it? Well, if you have a PhD this serves as an immediate indication that you are able to design and conduct research in your chosen area. The way is open to working on further projects, possibly within the NHS, and/or for embarking on an academic career.

You may well be wondering by now why I’m suggesting embarking on more study when most readers of this will be committed to (or seriously thinking about) a clinical career as an SLT. There is a lot to be said for combining the two though. You can do a PhD part-time while working clinically, or you can choose to apply for funding for a PhD after you have been qualified and working for some time – sometimes a good way to do it because after a few years working you are likely to have some burning research questions. Alternatively, if you embark on full-time PhD work immediately post degree, we will ensure you have opportunities to gain further clinical experience in house and get those competencies signed off.

So if you think you might be tempted by this, get in touch with me. You will need to have a good first degree (i.e. 2.i or above), or if you’ve done an MSc, at least Merit standard. Don’t worry if you think that this sounds interesting but you haven’t got the faintest idea for a project; once you have indicated the broad areas you might be interested in, we can get you in touch with a potential supervisor who can help you develop a proposal. Also don’t worry if you are some way off from finishing your degree: the earlier you start thinking about this the better.

Meanwhile I am actively exploring sources of funding that speech & language sciences students can tap in to. Watch this space..

Carolyn Letts