How to develop independence as a PhD student?

[Phys12]

Hello everyone!

So, just out of curiosity, how does one learn to come up with their own questions to answer and come up with ideas for new experiment/science as a graduate student? I ask because in my experience, graduate students get assigned a project from their professor (which hopefully the student is interested in as well) and then they work to complete it. Multiple projects are then combined to become the thesis of the student. Is that all that grad school is? If yes, how does one learn to be truly independent and come up with their own questions to answer? And learn how to make discoveries and attack the right problems?

Thanks

 

[andresB]

The phd dynamics vary a lot depending on the Director and the place of the phd.

Some Director/places specifically look for and choose their phd students to work in a given problem and nothing else. Other director/places are more open to the student's Ideas. The time constraint also plays a role, 3 year Phds give less room for improvisation than 5 years phd.

 

[mpresic3]

In the first year or two working with your advisor, you can expect you will be dependent on the problems in his research areas. You will be evolving more independence as you become familiar with the literature, get introduced to other researchers both in and outside of your university, present at conferences, write papers and develop as a researcher.

You learn what problems to attack in your field as your research progresses, and after conversations with colleagues and fellow researchers in the field.

You will most likely make any new discoveries and come up with ideas after great preparation, perhaps after your doctorate.
The doctoral thesis needs to advance the field and be original, but it will probably not be a revolutionary advance, Evolutionary advances are important too.

 

[f95toli]

Is that all that grad school is? If yes, how does one learn to be truly independent and come up with their own questions to answer? And learn how to make discoveries and attack the right problems?

Thanks

It depends on what you mean by "independent". Towards the end of your time as a PhD student you should be able to come up with your own questions within the "framework" of your project. Later,. as a post-doc you can expect to be given a "high level description" of a problem and you should be able to away and figure out which questions that needs to be answered before you can solve the problem.

One important issue here is money. Very few researchers are in a position where they can do whatever they want. Most work is funded by grants which means that what you can work in is ultimately decided by what was in the proposal that that submitted to the funding agency. Hence, you don't become "independent" until you are senior enough to participate in (and lead) projects; and even then you are of course limited by the fact that your proposals need to be funded meaning they need to be in line with the research agenda for the funding agencies (and in line in with the strategy/research agenda for wherever you work)

Hence, ironically, "independence" tends to become possible roughly at the same time you become senior enough to start supervising your own students