Here are 10 traits of highly effective PhD students:
๐. ๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ: A good PhD student is curious about the various aspects of his/her research. The student is eager to find answers to what, why, how, and when. Anything not known triggers him/her to dig deeper and find it out. The student asks high-quality questions.
2. ๐๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ: An effective PhD student does not restrict oneself to his/her cabin. The student discusses the ideas with supervisors, lab mates, and other relevant people. The student is willing to provide feedback and happy to take feedback.
3. ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ค๐๐ซ: A good PhD student develops the ability of critical thinking early in PhD journey. He/she reflects on research pieces to determine what are its strengths and weaknesses, how we can improve the weaknesses, where are the gaps, and so on.
4. ๐๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ: An effective PhD student does not take criticism of his/her research personally. He/she reflects on the criticism to understand how the research can be improved. He/she is not afraid of putting his/her research in front of others just because of the fear of criticism.
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5. ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ: A good PhD student is respectful to his/her supervisors, lab mates, other researchers, and their research. He/she is able to communicate their points in a respectful manner. He/she does not boost his/her own research nor does undermine other peopleโs research
6. ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐๐๐ญ๐จ๐ซ: A good PhD student is an excellent communicator. He/she can communicate research in different ways such as through research papers, presentations, posters, and so on. He/she can communicate complex concepts in simple words
7. ๐๐ง๐จ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ก๐จ๐ฐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ก๐๐ง๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ข๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ซ๐: PhD life can have failures in one form or another. A good PhD student knows how to handle failures and does not get motivated easily. He/she works hard consistently and does not expect a big return in little time.
8. ๐๐๐ ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐ง: An effective PhD student does not shy away from learning something new. He/she is always willing to learn new things and apply them in their research in the best possible way. The student is not lazy to settle for the bare minimum.
๐. ๐๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐๐ง๐๐๐ง๐ญ: The purpose of PhD is to convert the student into an independent researcher. A good PhD student does not expect to be spoon-fed. At the same time, he/she discusses and seeks feedback from the supervisors. As the PhD progress, the student becomes more and more independent.
๐๐. ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ค ๐ญ๐๐ค๐๐ซ: A good PhD does not shy away from taking risks. He/she explores adventurous ideas. Moreover, the student takes initiative with well-defined aims as to what to take away from the initiative.
Writer: Faheem Ullah
Assistant Professor
Computer Science, Australia
