PhD Pain Free: A manual for the PhD Student and Researcher

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This book is over 130 pages long and 32,000 words.

The full table of contents is below.

I’ve supervised almost 20 PhD students and examined 25+ Mphils and PhD theses. My students have come from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Pakistan, USA, UK, Morocco, Kuwait, China, Nigeria, India, and Ghana. It has been a privilege to work with such talented and enthusiastic scholars. During the last 15 years I’ve learned a lot from them. I’ve also examined PhD and MPhil students from across Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Australia. I’ve seen various PhD approaches and different styles and methods deployed. Each country, institution, and discipline has its own flavour, but fundamentally there are some common attributes across all PhD and research projects. I’ve built this guide primarily to help my own students and to share what I’ve learned with them. I wanted to produce a guide/course that would capture my recurring discussions and to save time in the supervisions.

Ultimately, we all want to talk about our exciting research topic and new discoveries rather than the mechanics of the PhD. I’ve also made this guide available to other scholars and researchers, after being asked to do so. It’s a modest price and with all funds helping to fund my own research, fieldwork, and creative practice. I believe this course will save you time and money and is great value. Please remember that every PhD programme is different and will have its own specific requirements. I’m writing here from the perspective of a scholar working in the humanities and social sciences. Research in Science, Engineering, Maths, Medicine may have a very different approach. I’m not working in the ‘lab’ - I’m based in the archive and the field. However, I’m sure that many of the issues I discuss here will be relevant to all PhD students as they journey through their research. The goal of the manual is to help you in three areas:

1. Your Health: A PhD will tax your mind and body. This course places health at the centre of what we do. Look after your physical and mental health and the rest will follow. Without your health everything else becomes much more difficult, if not impossible.

2. Your Wealth: Most of us do not do a PhD with the expectation of making money - but equally we all have to live. This course will save you money by helping you to complete your PhD on time and without unnecessary delay. If a PhD takes you an extra 6 months to complete, and prevents you earning a salary during that time it is a costly affair. Let’s get the PhD completed, and to a high standard, in good time. We all pursue our research for a love of the subject - but that does not mean we shouldn’t get paid for (and place a high value on) our expertise, knowledge, writing, and know-how.

3. Your Relationships: PhDs are stressful and they can cause untold pressure on our close relationships. By planning, having an effective strategy, and learning from this programme, you can protect your time and your relationships. The relationship between you and your supervisor is also crucially important. It is the cause of many problems, anxiety, and frustrations. I’ve devoted a lot of time here to ensuring you can manage your supervisor and keep everything on track. Good Luck with your research and scholarly journeys

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PhD Pain Free: A manual for the PhD Student and Researcher