Would you consider yourself a failure if you had a one-year Diploma followed by a two-year Master of Project Management, only to find a job outside of a university environment? Of course not.
In my last post I wrote about my adventures in Paris working at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) using state-of-the-art laboratory experiments to explore how fluids influence fault rupture. In this contribution I will tell you about the five weeks that I spent in Rome working at the National Institute of Volcanology and Geophysics (INVG) with Professor Giulio Di Toro, Dr Elena Spagnuolo and Dr Francios Passelegue, focusing on the initiation of earthquake slip.
Continue reading “Earthquakes in the laboratory: Part 2 – Rome”
In 2016, I was fortunate enough to be awarded a 34th IGC Early Career Travel Grant and the RSES Mervyn and Katalin Paterson Travel Fellowship. These awards allowed me travel for an extended period this year to attend conferences and undertake state-of-the-art laboratory experiments at the École Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris and the National Institute of Volcanology and Geophysics (INVG) in Rome.
In this article I will talk a little about my experiences at the ENS laboratories in Paris. During my stay I was able to use experimental techniques pioneered by the ENS lab to explore differences in fault processes between earthquakes resulting from increases in shear stress (such as classic mainshock-aftershock events) and those driven by changes in pore fluid pressure (e.g. during an injection driven swarm sequence). Working closely with Professor Alexandre Schubnel and PhD student Jérôme Albury, I was able to undertake six experiments during the four weeks of my visit.
Continue reading “Earthquakes in the laboratory: Part 1 – Paris”
On 16 November next month, RSES will be celebrating a significant milestone – the 50th Birthday of our first high temperature high pressure rock deformation apparatus, developed and built in-house by Professor Mervyn Paterson. These apparatus marked a major global advance in the ability to measure and understand the strength, rheology and behaviour of earth materials at pressures and temperatures equivalent to depths of 20km in the crust. Even today, 50 years on, these gas medium apparatus remain relevant, achieving unsurpassed mechanical accuracy at high pressure-temperature conditions.
The following is a list collated by a number of PhD students almost at the end of their program. This is usually the most stressful time and these are the best ways we’ve found to keep sane.
1. Keep your hobbies
Don’t give up on the things you love. Make time for them.
2. Go to tea!
There is tea time in the J1 seminar room every day at 10:30-11:00am and its a great opportunity to decompress and chat with colleges
3. Remember to exercise
Exercise improves your mood and can clear your mind.
4. Walking and talking
If you’re starting to stress out, walking and chatting with a friend is a great way to vent all your frustration and pry you away from your desk.
5. #SanitityInNumbers
There are many students in the school and the rest of ANU that are going through the same things you are. There are many opportunities to “shut up and write” including; shut up and write nights, shut up and write days, and if you need an extreme kick up the butt, thesis boot camp. You can also start your own writing group/working group to get some productive peer pressure. Remember #sanityinnumbers
6. Achieve some small tasks
If you break everything up into to tiny task you can bring a little joy into your project by ticking off small tasks. These include life tasks if you really need a break from the PhD
7. feng shui your office and home
If you organise the space around you, your thoughts will follow (probably)
8. Make plans that you can look forward to
Make some plans. A nice weekend. A night off. Dinner with a friend. Look forward to these things and enjoy them when you’re there!
9. Learn to switch off
If you can switch off, it will do your brain wonders
10. Seek help when you need it
If you’re really struggling and don’t know how to make yourself feel better, make sure you seek help. There is a counseling center at the university with same day appointments.
By Tiah Penny
For three weeks of July I go to say “arrivederci” to the Canberra winter, as I travelled to Italy to attend the 14th Urbino Summer School in Palaeoclimateology (USSP). The summer school was taught by some of the leading scientists in the field of palaeoclimate, and attended by over 70 palaeoclimate nerds – I mean HDR students – from around the world. Continue reading “Palaeoclimate in a Medieval city”
Not long after I began my PhD I saw a piece of advice that read ‘be cautious of letting your PhD become the sole thing by which you measure your self worth’. Sounds reasonable, I thought. Only recently, however, have I come to realise its true value.
By Shannon McConachie
When I started my PhD last year, I knew there were three areas I would have the next few years to refine my skills in; research, teaching, and outreach. Research and teaching I knew where to go, but outreach? I hadn’t the faintest clue where to start looking and was, frankly, mildly terrified of the concept.
Then came the email. Inger Mewburn, The Thesis Whisperer, would be running a new course on social media for researchers. After some prodding from my office mate I signed on up and have not regretted it.
This is the last of our photography competition photos here on the blog. If you want to look at more or see what else we get up to at RSES, check out our Instagram!
