My daily routine as a PhD student

I’m a third year PhD student and in this blog, I’m going to talk about my daily routine as a lab-based PhD student. This is what my day looks like but it will look different for each student.

I wake up at 7.00am every day and start working at 8.00am. I like to start my day early and do as much lab work as I can in the morning. That includes cell culture, histology, imaging and so on.

I usually have lunch around 1.00pm then do more lab work or some desk work in the afternoon. Desk work can be data analysis or writing paper/thesis. I like to do that in the afternoon with some coffee and cookies! Because I’m in my final year, I have more writing to do and less lab work but I used to be in the lab all day when I was in my second year.

When I have some time, I go out for a coffee with my colleagues to a café nearby such as Hideout Coffee or Starbucks. I don’t tend to have too many breaks because I would rather go home early but it’s nice to socialise with people sometimes and it can be refreshing.

As my PhD is funded by the University, I sometimes have to do demonstrations for lab classes or workshops, or exam invigilation. It can be 1 hour if it’s a short one but sometimes takes all day and I have to plan my experiments around this obligation.

I also have weekly meetings with my supervisors and also with everyone in the lab for 1 hour each. Not many PhD students have as many meetings as I do, but I personally like to have meetings often so that I can discuss my progress and issues with my supervisors when I need some support.

I work until 7.00pm most days but I sometimes finish later or earlier, depending on my workload. I don’t like to work from home so I always stay in the lab or office until I finish the work and then either go home or go to the gym. Going to the gym is a good stress reliver for me and it’s a very important part of my day because doing a PhD can be stressful!

This is my daily routine for a weekday and I hope it didn’t scare you from doing a PhD, as it will be different for each PhD student! The important thing that I want everyone to know is that I’m choosing this lifestyle. I love working in the lab and I love what I do for my project. I plan all my experiments by myself so I am setting my own workload. I could have less work each day if I wanted to but I like to work hard. This is my passion and what I want to do in my life. So I’m enjoying my long days. I hope this blog gave you some ideas of what it’s like to do a PhD.