Hello

In 6 weeks I start my final year of a Ceng in Electrical/Electonic engineering which I have studied part time whilst being employed in the engineering field.

I am an apprentice trained electical technician and I will be 32 when I graduate. Although I've enjoyed my current field of work I'd really like a change and I have been looking into studying a Phd following completion of my degree.

I understand a Phd is research based and can be undertaken in various ways. I'm just looking for individual experiences on taking on a Phd and how it was studied or being studied?

Also do companies/universitys have an interest in taking on mature Phd researchers and will the choice of my final year project play a part in this?

Many thanks

Did you mean a Beng, rather than Ceng?

I did the typical route of 3 years full-time study at university. You'll need a project - in my case the funding was already in place and they were just looking for someone to do it. You'll have a supervisor assigned who guides you through the work. It then took me another year to write up the thesis part time while doing a research post. Some people manage to get the thesis written within the 3 years, but not many.

I know of other people who have done PhDs part time while working. They would normally be people with years of experience in industry. In that case, they would draw on what they've already done, with additional research to fill it out, to write their theses.

Remember that a PhD must include a significant proportion of original work - it's not like traditional exams where you just have to memorise things that other people have already discovered.

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S P Barker BSc PhD MIET