Is a Wildlife PhD right for you? 6 questions to ask yourself before you start applying.

by Dr Kayleigh Fawcett Williams, Wildlifetek Founder

I get hundreds of messages and emails from people who are thinking of doing a PhD. If you too have been wondering whether doing a PhD is the right step for you, it’s important to ask yourself some key questions before you throw yourself into the application process.

PhD’s aren’t for everyone. The process can be hard on your mental health, personal life and sometimes your finances too. Having a PhD can close some job openings to you, but open up lots of others. Like every step you take, it is so important to find the right fit for you and your personal wildlife career journey.

However, for those who get it right, a PhD can bestow a wealth of both short and long-term benefits. In the short term, a Wildlife PhD can allow you to travel to places you would never normally get to see and to work with species you might otherwise only read about or watch on documentaries. In the longer term, lots of benefits can come from having been through the PhD process. These include the growth of your expertise, practical skills, critical and analytical thinking abilities, problem solving, knowledge, network and credibility that can lead to a whole raft of new opportunities.

1. What do you want to do in your wildlife career on a day-to-day basis?

Think carefully about this one. Consider not only what you want to do NOW, but also what you’ll likely want to be doing in five, ten and even twenty years’ time. What tasks would you be doing? Where would you be? Who would you be with?

If your long-term goal is to work in academia, then a PhD is a natural step. If not, it is important to consider how the PhD might help or hinder you in getting towards your long-term wildlife career goals. Do your research. Find role models. Talk to them.

For me, my PhD has undoubtedly helped me in my subsequent wildlife career journey. However, I chose and crafted a PhD for myself that allowed me to gain knowledge and skills that I knew would be valuable both inside and outside of academia.

2. Do you like working independently?

Your PhD is exactly that: yours.

Some PhDs allow more structure and support than others, but ultimately your PhD will be what you make it. Even with a very prescribed PhD program, you’ll still need to be comfortable with taking responsibility for your own project and making it your own.

To see a PhD through, you’ll need to be comfortable with pushing the boundaries of research, breaking new ground and finding out things that no human has found before. You’ll need to work things out that no-one else knows how to and you’ll need to troubleshoot issues that non-one can help you with.

This can be a heavy load to bear, but if you succeed you’ll come out knowing more about your topic than anyone else.

Imagine what that kind of knowledge could do for you, and how it might help you in your long-term wildlife career.

3. Do you like asking questions that lead to more questions?

An inquiring mind is a MUST if you want to do a PhD. You should be prepared to bring up more questions than you get answers. Being comfortable with this “not knowing” will help you to survive and thrive in the process, but for many this is something that can be quite unnerving. Some people need straight answers. Some people need certainty. With a PhD, the sands are always shifting as new systems, new data and new people come and go.

4. Do you LOVE learning independently?

This one is pretty simple, right? But I think it really is worth asking yourself if you really truly love this bit. PhD learning is very different from other more structured forms of learning. It requires a level of independent learning that some of us love, and others hate. This independent learning includes not only reading widely, but learning independently in other ways too. These can include: developing your technical skills, trying (and failing) with new methods and also some more personal stuff too.

5. Do you have the resilience it takes?

I’m not going to lie to you, doing a PhD is tough. It takes a lot to both pursue and see through a PhD. It takes a TON of resilience.

Doing a PhD can be very stressful. The intensity of the experience can lead to mental health problems including anxiety and depression. In a study conducted by Nature in 2019, 36% of graduate students from around the world reported that they had sought help for anxiety or depression. Another survey in the UK reported 86% of students experienced marked levels of anxiety.

But resilience isn’t something that you have or you don’t. Left to its own devices, it is something that can wax and wane. However, it is something you can actively work on and get help with.

6. How determined are you to make it happen?

Lots of people say “I’d love to do a PhD someday”, but very few will actually make it happen.

Those that do are fuelled with the determination to see it through. Successful PhD students make it their personal and professional mission to do what it takes.

Will you be one of them?

Still thinking of doing a PhD? Check out our Wildlife PhD Launchpad! In this workshop you can ask all of your burning questions about Wildlife PhDs and we’ll help you to create your own personal roadmap to your very own Wildlife PhD adventure.