PhD interview. What to expect?

[SalwaB]

Hi everyone. I've been invited to an interview for a PhD scholarship, and I'm feeling quite nervous. This is my first time attending an interview of this kind, so I'm not entirely sure what to expect.

The interview is 30 minutes long and will be conducted by my potential supervisor and, I believe, the PhD programme leader. I only received the invitation today, and the interview is scheduled for first thing on Monday, so everything is moving very quickly.

I'm passionate about my chosen research topic and can confidently discuss its value. However, since this is an integrated PhD programme with a taught first year, I'm unsure what other aspects might come up in the interview.

What should I expect, and how can I maximise my chances of being accepted? Any advice or key aspects to focus on would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you for reading.

Is it a named research project or are you putting forward your own proposal for a project?
Have you read up on your potential supervisor's reasearch background/interests? Does your research proposal align well with their area of expertise?

Thank you. I have put forward my own research proposal within the broader topic. I believe the position was advertised by my potential supervisor as it closely matches her expertise. I have reviewed abstracts of her work and plan to read her publications in more detail over the weekend. Since I became aware of the vacancy late, I was focused on developing my proposal so haven't had that much time to read her work.

You'll be fine try not to be nervous but be passionate about your proposed research, highlight the potential impact your research could have, what makes your reseach innovative/how it brings new knowledge to the field. Regarding it being a 4-yr programme, if you have no or limited prior research experience the Master's year will hopefully include a research methods module to give you the skills needed.

You could read up on the soft skills doctoral training that may come with the scholarship and let them know that you intend to make the most of the programme through conference attendance/presenting/ being part of the PhD community at the institution you're applying to and being active in the relevant research groups.

Thank you. This is helpful. 😊

be able to describe previous research you've done - why it is important and what you did

be able to discuss your planned research in detail - both the big picture questions about why it matters and the detailed ones about methods / stats.

How did it go?

I failed my interview and was rejected for a scholarship - my then potential supervisor fought my corner and I was accepted after a bit of back and forth with the head of school. I passed my PhD Jan '24.