Last October, I had the opportunity to join the Doctoral Training Centre (DTC) embedded within the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacturing in Continuous Manufacturing and Crystallisation (CMAC). As I am close to finishing my first year, I think it is a good idea to explain why it is really worth being four years PhD student in sunny Glasgow. When I joined, I didn’t have a clear idea about how DTC works, so I am going to introduce some of the differences between DTC program and a standard PhD.
*Best (funniest) Acronym of CMAC.
Courtesy of Brucci Wareham
The DTC program lasts four years comparing to three or three and a half years for standard PhD in UK. The reason for that is that the first months are a training course given in seven different universities across UK. Afterwards, the program is exactly the same as for standard PhD. The first year of DTC is more similar to a full-time master and students attend ten weeks of classes spread out over different locations. Until now, I had the opportunity to visit five different universities: University of Strathclyde, University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, University of Bath and University of Cambridge. Therefore, joining to this DTC gives me the opportunity not only to get more knowledge but also to visit some of the most beautiful cities in UK. Especially remarkable was the first week in Bath where I can visit the Christmas fair, one of the most beautiful events I have ever been.
As it was expected, all the topics were related to continuous manufacturing and crystallisation, although the taken approach varied significantly between Universities. For instance, at the University of Bath we learn about co-crystallisation and we had the opportunity of producing novel co-crystals in the lab, what was completely different from the previous week at University of Cambridge. At Cambridge, we were discussing the future changes in the supply chain of the pharmaceutical industry. The background of the members of the cohort varies, therefore the first year of DTC helps bringing any gaps to minimum. In the end, all the members have a basic knowledge of pharmacy, chemistry and chemical engineering and a better idea about other cohort student experience.
After each week, our high level of acquired knowledge was evaluated through assignments which had to be submitted one week later. Those assignments can sometimes be challenging although this depends on the subject and how advance we are during the whole course. The big advantage of studying of this wide range of topics in a short period of time is the development of strong collaboration among cohort members. Our diverse experience was quickly exchanged which in the end produces a really close relationship.
In addition to assignments, during the first year, we have been working on a group project to improve the continuous manufacturing of one chosen drug. At the same time, cohort members have very well organised time by their supervisors such as your literature review, social engagement or conferences. The first year of DTC will be completed by the Summer School (hope to write about it soon). To sum up my first year at CMAC, two of my favorite things of this year were (obviously, apart from learning about the MSWZ) my platypus crystal (on the right) and my wide knowledge about airports, train stations and bus combinations in UK.
I was also wondering how differences between standard PhD and DTC PhD are noticed by other students, so I undertook a survey between two groups belonging or not to DTC and what is their opinion about common issues. The questions were the following:
Q1. Overall, how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with your PhD?
The majority of the people answered that they were satisfied or very satisfied with their PhD. However, those people, who were studying a standard PhD are overwhelmingly "happier" than the DTC ones, probably because of the "many" traveling that DTC students have to do. However, higher percentage of satisfaction showed in the survey, when we asked people from previous years.
Q2. How is the relationship with your supervisor?
The majority of people without distinctions found that the relationship with their supervisor was really good and their supervisors were really helpful in their different topics and always there for them.
Q3. How much did you improve your knowledge about your topic in these months?
In this case, the general trend in these first months is that they know a general idea about the topic. Thus far, DTC students look to be more prone to write their first articles rather than the common PhD students, probably because DTC students have to practice more with writing and improve their academic writing "faster".
Q4.How is the relationship with other PhD students?
PhD students are known for having strong relationships within academic world and the results of this survey were not an exception. The majority of the students felt that they are creating strong bonds with another PhD students. This trend is even stronger in DTC people where everyone considered spending their free time with other PhD students.
Q5.Have you been so busy these months? (Related to the PhD)
In this case, DTC students and PhD students shows a strong difference on opinions. Meanwhile DTC students felt very busy and overcharged of duties, and other PhD students felt more "relaxed".
In general, DTC students and standard PhD students have a similar opinion about the first months of their PhDs. However, in my opinion, being part of a DTC has another big advantage that it is not possible to measure in one survey. The opportunity to study and know different Universities increases your understanding about different methods of learning and researching, but even more important, I had a lot of amazing moments this year (I chose some of my favorite pictures to show that).
About the Author
Carlota Mendez. Carlota is a first year student at DTC CMAC working on 'Process and product understanding of rapid and continuous wet granulation'.
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