Soldier, Painting
Thomas Wilkinson
How to Paint: Zhufbar Dwarfs

In which I get ready for Dawi to return to The Old World...

With The Old World bringing back two of my white whales from my childhood in the form of Bretonnians and Dwarfs I’ve had a lot of fun projects this year. I wanted to do a slightly different Dwarf scheme than the old green and gold I remember seeing in White Dwarf as a kid and settled on the old Zhufbar livery of white and light blue. It makes for a striking force on the table top and is relatively speedy to paint up as detailed below!

How to Paint: Zhufbar Dwarfs
Soldier, Painting
Thomas Wilkinson
How to Paint: The Dead of Dunharrow

In which I finally start delivering on the promised painting guides...

I have been sat on a fully constructed Battle of Pelennor Fields box for just about a year after purchasing it as a Christmas present to myself at the tail end of 2021. Having signed up to a few "slay the grey" style challenges in the New Year I thought it was time to start with a nice easy paint job.

How to Paint: The Dead of Dunharrow
Puddings, Sponge
Thomas Wilkinson
Vegan Christmas Puddings

In which I modify an old family recipe to be vegan friendly...

After successfully turning my hand to vegan Christmas cake I thought it was high time I adapted my old Christmas pudding recipe to be vegan too.

Vegan Christmas Puddings
Tinker, Web, Python
Thomas Wilkinson
Dominant Colour Extraction in Python (for a ...

In which I discuss getting the dominant colour from an image quickly...

I have recently made a Discord bot that searches for online versions of board games to help people find games to play remotely. This link will add it to your server.

Discord embeds have a colour bar down the side that can be manually set. I thought it would be cool to have this display the 'average' (i.e. dominant) colour of the board game box and decided to investigate the best way to do it.

Dominant Colour Extraction in Python (for a Discord Bot)
Tinker, Productivity
Thomas Wilkinson
The Holiday Do List

In which I plan my holiday tasks…

So it may just be because it is 2020 or perhaps I'm just a bit lazy but I’ve found that I often start holiday breaks with a list of things I’d like to do and by the end of the trip* I’ve not achieved most of them. Whether it’s odd jobs or relaxing activities I wanted to get through I just accidental sit around and don’t do them. This holiday season I decided I needed a to do list and though I’d try out the new Todoist Boards feature.

*Or, let’s be real this year: sitting on the sofa at home.

The Holiday Do List

industrial placements

Starting 3rd Year/So You Want To Do A PhD?

How to Get a PhD

So I thought as my third year looms it might be worth reviewing my PhD experience and giving new or potential PhD students my thoughts.

2 Years In

So how do I feel now that I'm successfully onto the 3rd year of my programme?

In general, I am enjoying my PhD and I am very grateful for the opportunity I have been given. There are of course downsides but the majority are minor or would be the case in any job (such as delays beyond your control etc.). I am really looking forward to my upcoming industrial placement as it will be a nice change of pace and will (fingers crossed) lead to a publication.

As far as progress goes I could be a little further ahead but with the potential for publications this year and my first oral presentation at BC-ISMRM next week I'm very excited for my third year. There's always a bit of worry from being half-way through something but I'm coping well at the moment.

So You Want To Do A PhD?

There are already books[1] on getting a PhD but I think I'll summarise the general points below.

Why should you do one?

  • You want to get into academia/research - it's still the standard route.

  • You're really interested in a specific research area - if you enjoy it, do it!

  • You need a higher level qualification for your ideal job - though you still need to be interested!

Why shouldn't you do one?

  • Just for the title

  • Because you're afraid of getting a real job

  • You want to stay a student forever

So if you've decided you want to do a PhD there's still a lot of choice for doctoral courses, which one should you pick?

PhD Types

  • Traditional PhD/DPhil - Normally 3 years funded* (in the UK) and takes around 3.5 years, the traditional model with topic usually being set at the beginning by your supervisors. Funding from the research councils is currently £13,590 (tax free).†

  • EngD etc. - 4 years including taught elements and industrial placements.

  • DTC based PhD - usually 4 years with taught elements. Often you don't pick a research topic straight away choosing it between 3-12 months in.

  • Industrial CASE PhD - usually 4 years funded with a 3-6 month industrial placement. These include an increase to the normal PhD stipend of up to ~£7,000

I'm on an Industrial CASE PhD so there's the possibility I'm slightly wrong about the differences between the others.

Once you've decided your research field/topic, the type of PhD you want to do and double checked that your really want to do one - start applying!

Most PhD positions are advertised from January onwards with interviews around February. If there is funding though PhD positions need to be filled and there will be positions advertised all year. Summer tends to have a large number of PhD places which weren't filled early in the year on offer.§

So You're In For The Long Haul?

What can you expect from your time doing a PhD then?

1st Year

Regardless of your programme you are going to have to review the literature. This normally takes around 3 months and is sometimes publishable as a paper if your field is in an interesting niche.

You will learn how to use the lab equipment/computers/databases/blackboards you need for your continued research.

You will probably narrow down the topic area and methods to be used in future years.

You may get trained on something really specific (I was flown out to Bruker in Germany to learn how to program MRI scanners).

You will have some sort of report to get through to the next year. I had to have a full-on viva but other departments have a simple meeting with supervisors to see if you should continue.

2nd Year

This is usually your method development year. For CASE students you may go on your first placement.

If method development is quick you can start collecting useful data.

3rd Year

This is your data collection year. People on a '3 year' programme will need all their data pretty much by the end of this year.

4th Year

On a 3 year programme you will be writing the thesis until your agree viva date. On a 4 year programme you will finish data collection then write the thesis.

VIVA

Graduate! :D

* This is for Sciences PhDs - it is a lot harder to get funding in the Humanities.

†Funding bodies will also pay your tuition fees.‡

‡I believe Wellcome Trust provide the best at the moment with total stipend of around £21,000

§You can see available positions on respective universities' websites and at http://www.findaphd.com

You will write a fair amount of certain thesis sections ahead of this time. Some people write up throughout and continue collecting data well into the traditional data collection phase.

Tom out!

[1] Phillips, E.M. and Pugh, D.S., 2000. How to Get a PhD: A Handbook for Students and Their Supervisors. 3rd ed. Maidenhead: Open University Press.