Applying for a PhD in life sciences (Tamil)

In this podcast series ‘Applying for a PhD in life sciences (Tamil)’, PhD students Manoj Kumar (University of Victoria, Canada) and Ramakrishnan (Helmholtz Center, Germany) discuss a whole host of issues from why you might want a PhD to finding out your interests to eventually applying to the lab of your dreams, using anecdotes from their own journeys. The series contains five episodes. In these episodes, Manoj and Rama discuss answers to the following questions:

Episode 1– Do I need a PhD? What should I expect as a full-time researcher? Am I eligible to do a PhD? India or Abroad?

Episode 2– How can I find out my research interest? How can internships help in understanding my interests? How do I update myself on the latest research in my field of interest? What is not a real research interest?

• Showlinks:
  • Ebola Outbreak video: https://youtu.be/F-JZEaeOmfE
    • Experimental drug: https://youtu.be/IHYrMOykSZY ; https://youtu.be/IdI4r_j7dDE
  • Indian Internship programs:
    • INSA: https://indiabioscience.org/grants/summer-research-fellowship-programme
    • JNCASR: http://www.jncasr.ac.in/fe/srfp.php
    • IIT: https://sfp.iitm.ac.in/; Also available in other IITs
    • IISER: https://www.iiserpune.ac.in/~sspc/ ; Also available in other IISERs
    • NGS Internship program: https://ngsf.in/ngs-internship-program/
  • International Internship Programs:
    • DAAD: https://bit.ly/3qtxHdT
    • Khorana Program: https://www.iusstf.org/program/khorana-program-for-scholars
    • MITACS: https://www.mitacs.ca/en/programs/globalink/globalink-research-internship
    • VBC: https://www.training.vbc.ac.at/summer-school/
    • TIGP: https://tigpsip.apps.sinica.edu.tw/index.php
    • NIG: https://www.nig.ac.jp/jimu/soken/intern/2021/index.html
    • OIST: https://admissions.oist.jp/oist-research-internship-program-description
  • Sci-Hub for papers: https://sci-hub.do/
  • Review journals:
    • Trends journals: https://www.cell.com/trends
    • Current opinions: https://www.elsevier.com/life-sciences/journals/core/current-opinion
    • Annual reviews: https://www.annualreviews.org/

Episode 3– How can I get in touch with your lab of interest? How can I select I prospective PhD mentor?

• Show links:
  • Some Science societies
    • American Society for Microbiology: https://asm.org/
    • American Society of Plant Biologists: https://aspb.org/
    • The American Society for Cell Biology: https://www.ascb.org/
  • Some well known conferences and meetings
    • Gordon Research Conferences: https://www.grc.org/
    • EMBO: https://www.embo.org/events/events-calendar.html
    • CSHL meetings: https://meetings.cshl.edu/meetingshome.aspx
  • Websites with scientist profiles
    • ORC ID: https://orcid.org/
    • Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/
    • ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/
  • Journal Ranking system:
    • Scimago: https://www.scimagojr.com/journalrank.php

Episode 4- How do I select between two PIs? What are the factors to consider while choosing a university/country?

Episode 5- Preparing my PhD application.

If you have the questions listed above, make sure to tune in to the podcast series! New episode weekly!