Phd Interview Questions and Answers

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- How are you planning to deliver your project on time, what if you do not find the expected results?

1st Question

First of all, let’s look at a project, its attributes and the three stages to include:

• having a goal

• having a start and finish

• requires resources

• mounted to achieve change (contribution to knowledge)

• requires coordination (b/w student and supervisor)

Stages

- Planning

- Design

- Result & review

8 steps to planning projects

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1. Understanding Expectations and Stakeholders

Once registered for PhD, think about…

• Your expectations from your supervisor

• Your supervisor’s expectations from you

• What are the paperwork requirements?

• What is the progress monitoring mechanism?

• Who can help you? Support services?

• Who are the stakeholders and their expectations?

• It is good to discuss!! (With your supervisor and fellows)

2. Define the Scope

Makes sure project is clear to all involved

• Defines the boundaries of the project

• Discuss this with your supervisor and seek his agreement (to avoid problems later)

3. Identify the Tasks

Prepare two plans

• A three year plan (lit. review, data collection, process development, write up etc)

• A short term 3 month plan (experiment design and execution, journal paper writing, conference)

• Divide each task into several sub-tasks and attach a realistic deadline

• Example- To conduct a lab experiment

– Define the objectives of experiment (x days)

– Learn about the experiment procedure (x days)

– Organise lab permission and health and safety checks (x days)

– Organise consumables and samples

– Record results (x days)

– Critical analysis (x days)

4. Identify the Order

4 & 5. Identify the Timings

Classify your tasks using TMG (Time Management Grid) -

• Lay out the tasks that need to be completed

• Use Gantt Charts

• Establish critical path

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6. Identify Risks

• Identify risk

• Risk may come from several sources

• Then assess the risk

• What do you want to do about it?

• In research things can, and do, go wrong!

Prevention is better than cure!

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7. Implement

8. Review

• Report progress against plan, not just progress

• BE HONEST

• Meet with supervisor regularly: integral part of project planning and review process

2nd Question

Not having the desire outcome does not mean failure since it may lead to another discovery. I will go ahead and publish my findings. I am quite aware that PhD ends with either in agreement or disagreement to the hypothesis, well supported by the results we obtain. So, PhD is not always about agreements to the existing facts and theories, many times we end up by proposing new (disagreeing to the existing). But, you are asking about significant results, which is little confusing to me. Getting positive or negative results have their own connotations, so both are equally important. But, there should not be any technical flaw in our methodology, which could be responsible for the negativity or positivity of our results. The experiment designing and methodology are most important part for obtaining good results (negative or positive).

- How will this PhD open the door for your future ambitions and aspirations in engineering?

Successful completion of PhD Environmental Protection Engineering, Reliability and Safety Management will help me to think critically, analyze, and apply information correctly thereby making me an authority in the field. The PhD degree will be an entry ticket to the circle of intellectuals for me and may lead to further research group with the sole aim of invention.

- What Journals will you aim at publishing your research work and what conferences both nationally and internationally will you present your Doctoral studies at?

I will be aiming at Environmental Protection Engineering Journals (such as International Journal of Environmental Engineering, Environment Protection Engineering – ResearchGate, American Journal of Environmental Protection, Elsevier - Process Safety and Environmental Protection, IEMA Journal) Reliability Engineering Journals (Journal of Quality and Reliability Engineering, International Journal of Reliability, Quality and Safety Engineering, ScienceDirect,