By Dr Sarah King

This is a fun but busy week for the Director of Doctoral Studies (DDS), the job I have recently taken over. I have been meeting all the new PhD students and signing their forms to approve the stats and methods courses they are taking to support their PhD studies. Today was my first Research Degree Committee, a formal meeting where we discuss all things PhD related and make School level decisions. Today we discussed how to make sure everyone fills in their attendance records, whether we should set up a formal PhD mentoring scheme, and the best way to advertise and market our PhDs. But, for this week the best is yet to come… Tomorrow it is the annual PhD poster conference, which the whole School turns out for. I have always really enjoyed this event, it’s an opportunity to really find out what people around the School are doing. For the students transitioning from first to second year this is often their first opportunity to present their research outside of their research group, and they get to do so in a friendly and supportive environment. There is a poster prize awarded democratically by attendees. The winner will hopefully be relaying their experiences of their research and the poster session on a future blog. The poster conference is followed by the Great Psychology Bake Off where not only do we get to carry on talking all things Psychology, but we get to do it over incredibly tasty cakes, biscuits and other treats. Finally on Thursday the Psychology Colloquia is taken up by research talks by those second years (going into third year) who weren’t able to present earlier in the Summer. It is weeks like this that I am reminded why I agreed to take on the DDS role. There is nothing more satisfying than watching a new generation of researchers enjoying and talking about their work, and now I’m paid to do it!