by Dr Catherine Armstrong
For many people, deciding to do a PhD is like taking a step into the unknown: you have several years of study ahead of you and you are unsure how the research project will develop. It may not even work as you originally intended and you may have to radically alter your ideas.
However one of the most important early stages in the life of a PhD student involves successfully completing the upgrade process. This article offers some tips on how to make the most of this challenging phase of your research degree.
What is the upgrade interview?
Many departments and institutions initially register their PhD students for a Mphil or some similar research master's degree. In order to proceed to a full PhD, which takes at least 3 years full time or 5 to 6 years part time, you have to be officially upgraded by your department.
This process involves you writing a research proposal of what you hope to achieve in the next few years and then having a formal interview with members of your department who will judge your suitability for progressing to the next level.
When is it?
Most upgrade interviews will be held towards the end of your first year. By this time you should have mapped out your project and begun to do some work towards it. However, for some people this assessment feels too early, taking place at an uncertain stage. They are still floundering around trying to work out the scope of the project and assessing how to put it into practice. So the upgrade procedure can be difficult if you do not yet have a firm idea of the resources you need, the timetable you will follow and so on. It may be that the upgrade interview forces you to knuckle down and develop a firm timetable, so it can actually be very useful.
In a very small number of cases, the candidate realises that they do not want to proceed to the PhD because their project is not suitable or because they themselves are not capable of completing it. In that case, some institutions will recommend the awarding of an Mphil, provided work of a sufficient standard has been completed.
How to prepare?
The best way to prepare for your upgrade interview is to have regular, detailed meetings with your supervisor(s) because they will be able to guide you through your particular institution's requirements.
You will have to provide some documentation, usually a research proposal of a similar kind to that submitted to funding bodies, including a summary of the resources you will be using, people you will be collaborating with, and a timetable for completion. If you have any conference visits or publications imminent then include details of those, but most people will not have reached that stage until well after their upgrade interview.
Prepare drafts of these documents and show your supervisor. Try to get as much feedback as possible from your peers as well.
You will then submit the documents to an upgrade committee who will read them and set a time for a formal interview. This will usually involve a small panel of two or three members of staff (not your supervisor) from inside your institution. One of these people could go on to be your internal examiner so it is important to impress them at this stage and also take on board any suggestions they may have. Don't worry; they will not expect you to have any conclusions at this stage. They will want you to show that you have used your first year of research well and that you know what you need to do to take your project to completion.
In the interview itself
This is certainly not as formal an occasion as your PhD viva or a job interview, but you will need to prove that you are worthy of going on to do a PhD, so take it seriously.
Make sure you come prepared to discuss your project and take on board any comments given. There is no need to take notes during the interview as your panel will provide you with formal feedback afterwards. If you have any particular questions or worries about your topic or how you will conduct your research then raise them during the interview, but overall try to appear confident and enthusiastic.
Do not use the interview to raise any personal problems, such as difficulties in the relationship with your supervisor. You will have other opportunities to do that. Also this is not the place to discuss very narrow details about your project; your supervisor is far better placed to answer those questions.
The most important impression to convey is that of the manageability of your topic as a PhD project. Make sure your audience know that you have rigorously planned the next few years and that you have the time management skills to complete the work.
A PhD is a huge project but it is not designed to be an open-ended one. It must be compact enough to be completed in the time period specified, especially if you are in receipt of external funding.
Moving forward from here
The feedback you receive from your upgrade committee will be vital in taking the project forward and you should discuss their comments with your supervisor as soon as possible. If they have suggested tweaking your research plans or questions then do give this strong consideration.
The next big targets to aim for are completion of the research phase, writing up and then submission, which will be at least two years away. Two years sounds like a long time but it will go very quickly, so make sure you build on the plans you outlined for your upgrade interview and stick to your timetable.
The most successful projects are usually run tightly from the start rather than being chaotic and unfocussed and having to be dragged back into shape at the last minute. So, go off and get stuck into your research knowing that your institution has given you the seal of approval to proceed.
Good luck!
