Ericka N LAbbe

Professor in Biological Anthropology in South Africa with specialization in forensics. Mom of a teenage daughter. Long distance runner. Fan of cats.

[Faheem Ullah @Faheem_uh]

PhD Students - Here are the top 8 technical skills you need to develop during your PhD.

𝟏. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬: Doesn't matter what field you are working in; you will be analyzing data in one way or another. The sooner you learn how to analyze data from multiple perspectives to extract maximum insight from it, the better it would be for you. If you are smart, you can analyze the same data from multiple angles to get results for more than one paper.

𝟐. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲: You should get a good understanding of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. You may not master both types but it's better to have at least some know of both. Similarly, you should learn about experimental design and data collection techniques.

𝟑. 𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰: Within your area of research, you will come across hundreds of papers getting published. You can't read all of them. You should learn how to identify the most relevant papers. More importantly, you should learn how to identify and extract the knowledge of your interest from those papers as quickly as possible. Also, you should master how to critically read these papers.

𝟒. 𝐒𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐖𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: Generic writing is different from scientific writing. In science, you need to focus on justifications for your choices such as why you used a particular data source or why you used a particular data analysis method. Similarly, you should learn how to bring flow in your writing and avoid abrupt jumps.

𝟓. 𝐃𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧-𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐬𝐨𝐟𝐭𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐨𝐥𝐬: Within your domain, there would be tools that would be commonly used. Learn to use them as soon as you can. For example, there might be some simulation tools, GIS tools, and bioinformatics tools.

𝟔. 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: Irrespective of your field of research, you will have to visualize your findings to communicate it easily to your audience. Such visualization can be in the form of graphs, heat maps, and so on. Learn how to effectively visualize the data.

𝟕. 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠: Programming will help you to automate a lot of tasks. If you learn programming, it will save you a lot of time. As a minimum, you should learn how to use the common libraries in Phyton and R.

𝟖. 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐆𝐚𝐩 𝐀𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐬: Many students struggle to identify concrete gap for their PhDs. You should learn gap analysis either before you start your PhD or in the first 6 months of your PhD. It will save you from a lot of headaches that many PhD students face.

Any other skill to be added?

#phd #skills #research

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@MaeztroML OMG.....he also hates Anthropologists

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@mfullard2 Congratulations Madeleine!!

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@queenofdimeras What the actual F?????

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@FabLabBU Welcome to South Africa! The Cape is beautiful. Pity you won't be in Pretoria.

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@queenofdimeras Awesome Cole!!!

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@queenofdimeras @carlivatiron No....please no

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@queenofdimeras That is insane!!!

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@queenofdimeras I actually watched this on TV and chuckled at the acting....my 20 mins of Days check in.

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@queenofdimeras It is sad. South Africa is doing better and we are in a huge mess with corruption and poor service delivery. We can't even keep the lights on, but we still have healthcare and human rights.

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@queenofdimeras He is the worst!!!! Living up to his name.

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@terriebones3D I am quite fine with this....

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@Summerin3D Yip! Me too!!!

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@KabwePRQ Marius can feel your pain. Do to airport delays they spent a 24 hours in the Frankfort airport last Sunday.

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@Res_Elements @MedUniGraz @RidelAlison @Charchotte @meg_kyla @MaeztroML

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@Res_Elements @MedUniGraz @RidelAlison @Charchotte @meg_kyla

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

@terriebones3D Amazing.

[Ericka N LAbbe @ericka_labbe]

Academia isn't bad, it is just badly managed in many places.

[Marius Loots @MaeztroML]

@NickGuthe @dianaberrent @Tom_MooneyFL @elonmusk Inca approves your message.