UTM FELLOWSHIP SCHEME 2025 malaysia

POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP SCHEME

Advice to PhD students or researchers for making meaningful resolutions for 2025:

1. Time Management: Dedicate specific hours each day to research, writing, and relaxation to maintain a healthy work-life balance.

2. Increase Productivity:
Set clear and achievable goals for each day, week or month, like conducting an experiment, reading a paper, finishing data analysis, drafting a review article or research paper or attending workshops, or conference.

3. Expand Your Network:
Attend conferences, seminars, or workshops to know what is latest advancement in your field, what others are working on etc but also to meet peers and experts in the field, potentially opening up collaboration opportunities or gaining new insights.

4. Work on Writing Skills: Scientific writing is an important skill. Commit to write regularly, be it a summary of what you read or an abstract, your result or discussion, or a project proposal. Have a review sessions with your guide or senior students in lab to enhance clarity.

5. Stay Updated in the Field: Find time to read new publications, visit the website of relevant journals, or give presentations in the lab or department journal club. Keep abreast of the latest research developments in your area of research work, this helps you navigate better.

6. Mental Health: Prioritising mental health should be a priority. Engaging in activities outside academia like sports, photography, walking, gymming, reading fiction and nonfiction novels could help you divert from monotonous lab routines. Seek timely counselling, if needed.

7. Professional Development: Look for the opportunities like teaching assistant roles, mentoring juniors, grants writing, or attend workshops on latest techniques that can add value to your skills. It also looks good on your CV beyond dissertation or publications.

8. Backup data & Organise Your Research: Ensure that all your data and notes are well-organised, secure and backed up regularly to prevent loss of work output. This will save you from a lot stress if data are lost. Updating your lab notebook regularly is also part of this task.

9. Seek Feedback: You, as a trainee, should regularly consult with your guide or advisor/mentor not just on your research but also on career planning, manuscript preparation, or job market strategies etc. This will keep you ahead in your stride for career progression.

10. Set Personal Goals: Your personal goal could be learning a new skill related or unrelated to your research field, like a new language, coding, or even a hobby in sports or music which might offer a fresh perspective to life or stress relief.