Becoming a Doctor of Philosophy, more commonly called PhD is a great challenge. It requires from a PhD student several years to be achieved and great dedication to obtain results and present them to the rest of the community. Obviously, it is worth it since what is at stake is the improvement of the knowledge in its field and being an active part of progress. In addition, being a PhD student means that one enters a prestigious university and lab and benefits from highly skilled people (namely tutors, professors). These very people who will be able to discuss, orientate and help the student on its way to PhD.

Because a PhD student isn’t that easy everyday, we have made a selection of PhD students blogs -but not only- that might result helpful. As it is shown in the great picture above, the ambition of a PhD may well decrease as years go by, or at least it is what a student can feel. Consequently, we hope you will have a nice and enlightening time reading and/or re-discovering them. Let’s get started!

• My life, my pace – an MD/PhD student’s take on school, lab, LIFE



Who? She is a “20-something woman” (her identity remains anonymous) who shares about her life and about the difficulties she has with her experiments and tutors.

What? Here, you will read quality information. The posts are well categorized:  “Grad students”, “lab-graduate school”, “inspirational music”, “married life” and “sand people”, are some of the areas of interest. No need to point out that reading this blog, you find personal point of views as well as personal matters. But there will always be  insights to help students. For instance, this post might be helpful when looking for a good major professor.

We like: Her views on “sand people” and “married life” where she allows herself to speak and express her feelings regardless the people she talks about. For instance “I think my sister-in-law is an alcoholic” . We’ll let you discover it by yourself.

Resources: http://www.mylifemypace.com / RSS feed

• Counter Minds – A blog about things worthy on the mind

Who? Betül -a Turkish girl in the USA- defines herself as “Hideous PhD student whose major motivation is to take over the world. ”

What? This blog is one nice place to read opinions on almost everything related to science. She discusses what she’s been reading, the hot news or more simply what makes her think. In that case, it ranges from really serious thoughts to more evasive’s. Anyway, it is well written and makes you want read more. The fact that she is Turkish studying PhD abroad is pretty interesting to read her views on her country’s policies regarding the internet.

We like: Her definition of blogging in 5 points “I blog therefore I am”

Resources: http://www.counterminds.com / RSS feed


• Mudphudder – an md/phd medical student graduate student blog on medicine, science, health and school



Who? Mudphudder is an 8th year MD/PhD student at a large academic center. He blogs under anonymous identity and this allows him to free his thoughts a little bit.

What? His blog is welcoming and has plenty of resources. His articles deal with the actuality in the field of science as well as personal opinions. His quite long-term experience is expressed in his posts, as you will notice.

We like: His post “Match day and the rest of my life“. Match Day is the day he will know where he will be going to residency. “Good luck with that!” And we like the great blog’s design that makes you feel like reading a lot. Watch out for his interview by Doctor Anonymous

Resources: http://www.mudphudder.com / RSS feed

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• Seeree, PhD – thoughts from a new phd, current postdoctoral fellow, who has a liberal view on life, love, and happiness.

Who? Seeree is a PhD at the Purdue University in Indiana. Her views are versatile since -as it says in the blog’s description- she talks about life, love, happiness and her work of course.

What? Interestingly, she gives many insights of her work and the problems she encounters that can be used as wise advice for new PhD students.

We like: The “Salvador Dali fine art of the day” picture that you can see in the sidebar.

Resources: http://seereephd.blogspot.com / RSS feed

• JuniorProf

Who? JuniorProf is a blog written by a neuroscientist with a pharmacology PhD in a Pharmacology Department in the Western United States. He does “basic neuroscience/pharmacology research with a strong bent towards pain.”

What? In this blog you will discover the peregrinations of this PhD and the problems for having a Grant as well as personal stories.

We like: This particular post dealing with fashion and what you should wear or not. (“Not the black suit with the blue shirt“)  which is actually funny. For instance, he states that “”Most scientist, contrary to popular opinion, are actually pretty good dressers“. What do you think of that?

Resources: http://juniorprof.wordpress.com / RSS feed

• Neurotopia – Stronger, Faster, Bloggier. Now chuck full of glial goodness . Warning, contains one giant neuro nut

Who? Neurotopia is a blog written by two neuroscience specialists.: the Evil Monkey and Scicurious

The Evil Monkey has a Ph.D. in “Neuroscience from a southeastern university. After a postdoctoral nightmare of Inquisitorial proportions, he is currently working in a laboratory and teaching at a local community college.”

Scicurious (Guest editor for Open Lab 2009) is a “graduate student wrestling with a PhD in Physiology and Pharmacology at a southern institution. She is a nerd, a geek, and also a dork. And yes, that really is her brain.”

What? The blog is an open window on what is going on their minds in terms of studies. It is actually two activities in one :blogging and research. The subjects are really interesting and can keep you reading for a while.

We like: The quality of posts and the frequency they are released. A have to read blog!

Resources: http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia / RSS feed

• Sciencewomen – A scientist and an engineer being the change we want to see

Who? ScienceWoman is an assistant professor in -ology at Mistery University in Mistery City (lol). She writes along with Alice Pawley, an assistant professor in the “super-cool School of Engineering Education at Purdue University“.

What? Interestingly, ScienceWoman has first felt the need to blog to help young students, according to her saying: “I blog about my experiences as a woman scientist struggling to balance the demands of academia and a family. I blog because when I was a graduate student contemplating the future, I felt isolated and alone in my ambitions to do good research and be a good mother/wife/person. I don’t want other young scientists to feel that way.”

We like: The “ScienceWoman says…” category where she leaves room to personal thoughts and advice.

Resources: http://scienceblogs.com/sciencewoman / RSS feed

• Dr. Shock MD PhD – A Neurostimulating Blog

  Who? Walter van den Broek is a Dutch psychiatrist working in a University hospital. His specialty in psychiatry is the treatment of depression. He is particularly interested in electroconvulsive therapy and the development of new forms of neurostimulation for the treatment of depression.

What? He writes about neuroscience and depression mostly but not only. On his blog you will also read about “chocolate, gaming, gadgets and internet.“  This is definitely a nice blog where you will find interesting points of view.

We like: The posts about chocolate! (one of his great interests as explained in the “About” page) Among them, this very one dealing with “the right chocolate dose“.

Resources: http://www.shockmd.com / RSS feed

• A blog around the clock

Who? Bora Zivkovic is a fresh American citizen who has a MS degree in the Department of Zoology at North Carolina State University, studying the physiology of circadian and photoperiodic timing in Japanese quail and has worked on a PhD thesis on molecular, neuroendocrine, behavioral and evolutionary aspects of circadian clocks. He is also the Online Community Manager at PLoS and a respected and admired blogger.

What? His “blog around the clock” is the merging of his 3 former blogs: Science and Politics (a mix of science, politics, personal, blogging-about-blogging and miscellaneous stuff), Circadania (Chronobiology and Medicine of Sleep) and the Magic School Bus (academia and science education). Consequently you will read about these areas of interests in one single place.

We like: His blog in general and his funny profile picture with his geek tee shirt saying “I am away from my computer right now“. Is he?



Resources: http://scienceblogs.com/clock / RSS feed

• Piled Higher & Deeper

Who? Jorge Cham got his PhD in Mechanical Engineering at Stanford University, and was a full-time Instructor and researcher at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) from 2003-2005.

What? “Piled Higher and Deeper” (PhD) is the comic strip about life (or the lack thereof) in academia.

We like: The comics, there are hilarious and the distress it brings in the daily life of a grad’ student (or whoever, I’d say), is delightful.

Resources: http://www.phdcomics.com / RSS feed

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