Ramblings of a Drug Discovery PhD student who should really be in the lab or writing her thesis.
There are so many apps and types of software available to help make PhD life that little bit easier. In this post I will share some of the most helpful ones. Image of a laptop and hand holding a smartphone iCal I used to be a paper calendar person and then towards the end of …
Continue reading "Software and Apps that helped me during my PhD"
One of the most useful ways I prepared for my viva was by asking people who worked on similar PhD projects about their vivas and what they were asked. Below is a detailed but non-exhaustive list of questions and concepts I vaguely remember talking about during my viva. I hope it is useful as a …
Continue reading "What was I asked during my medicinal chemistry viva?"
Selfie of Fiona in a mustard yellow top smiling and waving I’ve been neglecting this site of late - apologies! Quite a bit has happened since my last post - global pandemic and protests against racism aside. I’ve written my thesis, defended it, corrected it and now I’m waiting for the official bit of paper …
I'm in the middle of thesis writing at the moment so haven't posted on here for a while - apologies! I was recently asked to take part in my university's PhD spotlight series where you share a bit about your research and student experience at the University of Sussex. It was a really useful exercise …
Q3 PhD update - Less than 3 months left in the lab! September has been so it’s time to update you on how things are going generally with winding up my PhD project. Unfortunately, my papers still haven’t been submitted, again due to not getting the biology numbers I need but things are starting to …
With a heatwave well under way in the south of the UK (which includes Brighton where I’m studying), folks are preparing for some serious heat! As a Scot, I do struggle with the southern climate compared to my baltic homeland. Towards the end of today we clocked on our thermometers it was 29 °C inside …
Continue reading "Six tips to survive a heatwave working in a chemistry lab"
It is now the end of June, so its time to reflect on the second quarter of the last year of my PhD. Did I achieve everything I set out to do? Read on to find out… I did manage to send away the set of compounds I was talking about last quarter – the …
This is the 2nd post in a series of showing how I work. Today I’ll show you around my fume hood. A fume hood is a ventilated cabinet with a retractable hood where I carry out most of my chemistry to reduce my exposure to chemical fumes. Sometimes you have a to share a fume …
This is the last year I’ll be spending in the lab before writing up my PhD next year. I thought it would be useful for me to blog where I am now and what I still need to do in terms of my research about once a quarter. Now that we’re at the end of …
Most people have a desk as a place of work. I’m lucky enough to have three workspaces as a chemist: my desk, my lab bench, and my fume hood, all for different aspects of chemistry research. Today I’m going to give you a tour around my lab bench! My lab bench is used to carry …
The Chemistry of a PhD 