Administrative-Info

Administrative and bureaucratic information for lab members

Thesis Project

The 'scientific method' models research as a linear process (Observation $\rightarrow$ Question $\rightarrow$ Hypothesis $\rightarrow$ Experiment $\rightarrow$ Conclusion). However, reality is a lot more complicated. Several philosophers of science have suggested alternative conceptualizations. To keep it simple we will follow a pragmatic view of research as an iterative process where the main narrative, experimental results, and practical limitations are all informed and refined by each other.

This framework provides a structure that is helpful to keep in mind throughout the thesis project and can help ascertain what stage a project is at. Below is a scheme depicting the thesis development and implementation process. There are 4 stages in total, where advancing to the next stage is only possible after getting approval in an all-hands meeting with the relevant PIs. See section below on how to schedule milestone meetings. A good thesis or research project needs a few ingredients: a unified narrative (blue elements), good presentation and clear writing (green elements), and well maintained code (yellow elements). It is important that these elements are present in each and every stage.

Milestone Meetings

Effective feedback from a PI can result in project quality leaping forward. Unfortunately, PIs are incredibly busy, thus part of doing research is to learn how to 'manage upwards'. This especially comes into play when scheduling a milestone meeting:

• Ask your supervisor how to get the project ready for the meeting. They will often require you to prepare your slides in specific ways that best highlight the current stage of the project.
• The slides should not be a wall of text you read off of. Instead focus them around figures and short bullet points. But do prepare 'backup slides' at the end of the presentation with necessary numbers, equations, and algorithm definitions.
• Make a scheduling poll (using when2meet, Doodle, whenIsGood...) and fill in your availability, making sure there are many options across at least a 10 days period. Then send it via an email to all supervisors and PIs. Briefly describe what the meeting is about (two sentences).
• After everyone fills in their availability, pick a time, and send an email with a zoom link (or any other video conference app). Preferably also add a calendar invite.
• Ask if you can record, or take notes during the meeting.
• Send a follow up to the meeting with your TODO list!
• All emails (for all milestones) should be on the same thread!

Useful References

• Ten Simple Rules for Structuring papers