There is a temptation to take no holidays at all. I always have a list of personal deadlines to meet, a long list of work that I could be doing and as I am about to enter my final year I am beginning to enter the start of the ‘panic zone’. I believe however, that holidays are extremely important!

1) They give you a time to stop and reflect. Reflecting is important, it gives you a chance to spot if you are going down the wrong path

2) They stop you from getting bored and frustrated. Taking time out allows you to relax, recharge and refresh yourself ready to get back to work

3) Give you a chance to catch up with friends and family, spending time with these people are important as they will help support you through the rough times

4) They are fun, you are entitled to take them and shouldn’t feel guilty!

As for how many holidays you should take… that is up to you. Never let your supervisor make you feel guilty about taking a holiday. Of course you have to handle it properly, make sure you tell them in advance of the holiday and don’t schedule a holiday in the middle of an important piece of work or study (if your research demands set periods of your time).

There is a nice discussion thread here about academics and holidays. One point that is emphasised is, planning, plan well so you can take a holiday. Taking a day off does not count if you spend it at home answering emails and writing a paper or grant proposal…

Personally I will not take the whole 8 weeks as holiday. I will use some of my ‘holiday’ time to persue other interests which are ‘work related’ but not part of my PhD, such as producing Au Science Magazine (a science magazine for Aberdeen).

I have just taken 2 weeks as a proper holiday and it was fantastic. I feel ready to get back to work… but part of my mind is already starting to plan the next holiday.. which will be before the end of 2011!

I think there is something to be gained from traveling with your PhD (whether the traveling is down the road to another city, another country or another continent) no matter what your subject choice is.  One benefit is that you will probably experience a different perspective from people you meet outside your research group/lab. You may learn a new technique or have the opportunity to pick up some extra information. As I have said before, it is important to know what others in your research area are doing. I do appreciate that not everyone wants to travel and you can get some of these benefits from going to conferences, but what if you do want to spend a longer period of time with another group or doing some field research? How do you go about it?

I am in the middle of setting up a trip across the pond to the USA for a month and this is how I went about it.

- I set the expectation early. From the start of my PhD I stated to my supervisor that I would be interested in spending some time in another lab for a period of time as part of my PhD.

- I spoke to my supervisor about possible ideas of what I could do and gain from being in another lab (I sold the idea)

- I worked hard at my PhD so I knew that I was in a position to take some time out to go to another lab if the opportunity arose

- I continued to remind her about my wish to travel (although not every day)…

Eventually an opportunity emerged (after a couple of dead ends) and this is being planned at the moment. Of course there are some other considerations to take into account when planning a trip – who and how is it going to be funded? Some PhDs are lucky and have a designated pot of money for travel purposes. If, like me, you do not have that there are still ways to fund a trip. Various charities have funding available, universities have money for these kinds of trips. I am in the process of applying for funding at the moment, so I will save my tips and hints for that for another day!

Before the conference:

• Have a look over the sessions that are being held (read all the conference information available) decide which you will attend (do not just read the title- make sure you read the abstracts because, as I found out, sometimes things are not all that they appear to be!)
• Do a bit of pre reading  around some of the talks/events that you are attending
• Have a look at the social activities planned (if there are any) make sure you pack/ take any specialised clothing you may need

At the conference:

• Arrive early, leave yourself plenty of time to orientate yourself and take part in any pre conference activities (these are great opportunities to meet people)
• Make sure you attend all ‘social’ events organised at the conference (pre drinks/meals/activities)
• Check out the poster sessions – these are a great way to meet and talk to people.  Talking about the work presented is a great conversation starter
• If there aren’t any social activities planned and you are struggling to meet people, many conferences will have a spot which becomes a ‘talking point’ (for example at this last conference there was a computer game competition at one of the trade stands) if you get involved/hang around at something like that it is a great conversation topic and ice breaker!

After the conference:

Don’t rush straight back to work. Take some time out to summarise what you learnt any follow ups and write down who you met at the conference. Follow up any connections you made with an email/phone call. Write down information about people you met on their business cards or in a notebook. I quickly forget information and you never know when these people might become useful connections in the future.

Don’t forget to have a good time; you don’t have to talk about work 24/7 with everyone you meet. I find that the connections that I make are stronger if I find I have something in common with the the other person (other than the work I am doing) so make sure you get chatting about their life outside work too!

The first meeting was on market based control and was funded by BAE, BT, HP and EPSRC. Among other things, market based control involves designing automated agents, which is especially relevant to the financial sector. The general theme of the project as quoted from the website is:

The problems of understanding, modelling, and above all, managing the complexity of large distributed systems are among the most pressing in contemporary computer science. In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the use of economic methods for the design, management and control of complex computational systems.

The second meeting was on computational social choice which is closer to my research focus. It was great to meet people I ran into in Dagstuhl last year. Computational social choice includes the study of voting systems, coalition formation, social networks, ranking systems and auctions. The area is summarised on the website:

Computational social choice is a new discipline emerging at the interface of social choice theory and computer science. It is concerned with the application of computational techniques to the study of social choice mechanisms, and with the integration of social choice paradigms into computing.

I also got to explore Liverpool a bit. The city was named the European Capital of Culture for 2008. It was evident that the locals were proud of this honour and I noticed various events being organised under this theme.

It appears the rapidly growing areas of computational social choice and market based control have a lot of unexplored territory and many rich open problems. It is fascinating to see how some of the foundational work is directly relevant to companies such as EBay, Google and Yahoo.

Well firstly, funding concerns should not be a deterrent for students to attend conferences and workshops. First year students are especially hesitant to travel because they hardly have material to present. However, the first year is the best time to sample different events, get exposure to new ideas, meet potential collaborators and broaden the knowledge-base.

Moreover, there are many avenues for funding than one should be aware of. The following are some things to keep in mind:

1. Scholarships: many PhD scholarships include a travel allowance.
2. Many events have special funds for young researchers so if you inform the event organizer that your trip is dependent on financial support, you might not have to pay the full amount.
3. Certain events sponsored by the same organization as the student’s sponsor will let the student in on discounted rates.
4. Most departments have a travel allowance for the whole year or the whole PhD.
5. There might be funds specific to your research group which may be used for certain conferences.
6. If the department funds don’t work out, it is worth checking the faculty funds.
7. The university may have some specific funds for country specific travel schemes. There is no harm in asking the graduate office.
8. Ask your supervisor. There is a reason that your supervisor with his years of experience is your supervisor! He may direct you to a channel which you did not think of. He might have money from his own research project. In any case, it is good to keep him or her in the loop for any future plans.
9. Publish or present! The best justification to get travel funds is to publish or present in a good conference. That is extra motivation for your work! Traveling is easier to justify if one is presenting rather than just attending.

Remain informed and keep your receipts. Just like any financial office, the university may ask you to fill up various forms and attach receipts. Therefore it is useful to know the process.