A laboratory test

In the first half of my 8 week long internship, I was supervised by one of the PhD students, however, in the second half, he went abroad and I was left to work quite independently. He told me himself on my first day, that once I get into it, I will be glad to be left on my own for a bit. He was right.

What surprised me the most about the routine of a PhD student was the daily rhythm. There are no strict working hours nor regular deadlines, the main task is to complete a thesis in three years. At the end of a day, I was often under the impression that everything was going in slow motion – I felt like we did not move anywhere nor found anything of value. But that is what academic research is all about – it is not a straight path and blind alleys are an integral part of the game. In the end, however, all the bits get put together and there is truth behind the common saying that bad results are still results. It is certainly necessary to brace oneself for unpredictable doses of success. Every PhD student in experimental science seems to have a story of spending weeks troubleshooting a single piece of apparatus.

I especially appreciated the social element of doctoral study. In the first weeks, when I was with my supervisor most of the time, I felt that we were spending a bit too much time just sitting in the café with other students. However, when I was left on my own and I barely saw anyone else on some days, I quickly realised that an occasional chat over a cup of coffee really helped me to stay focused, not give in to misery if things were not going well, or share an interesting result with others. Overall, my impression was that doctoral study combines the best from work life and student life – everyone is on their project, for which they get paid, but the atmosphere is very informal and friendly, just the one I know from my undergraduate studies.

The work itself was quite successful. I used a technique called blister-based laser-induced forward-transfer to isolate thermally unstable PCBM molecules in the gas phase, which is important for the future work of the research group. I was especially happy about the final presentation I gave to the other group members – as I worked more or less on my own for a couple of weeks, I was a bit afraid I overlooked some obvious detail and worked on nonsense for the whole time. Luckily, everything went well. What was supposed to be a fifteen minute presentation became a fifty minute discussion and I was glad that my work was meaningful and contributed to something larger.

This summer allowed me to obtain new skills and knowledge in experimental physics, but it was mainly important for my personal perspectives. Continuing to doctoral study is now a clear priority for me, however, I still have one more big decision to make before then. Our School allows fourth year students to spend a year in a company or a research institute. I have so far applied for places in several laboratories and my summer experience really helped me to set my priorities straight and choose the jobs I know I would enjoy. What I went through in my first proper ‘jobhunt’ will be the topic of one of my future posts, so wish me luck in the meantime. The application results will be out soon!