(This is heavily inspired by Shoaib’s document)
Please read the content below carefully before contacting me for a possible supervision request.
How to find funded Ph.D./Post-Doc position?
Use your network. I am okay with cold mailing, which is relevant to my research. Many groups (including me) advertise their positions on different mailing lists, Twitter, twitter, Linkedin, etc
Follow #NLProc on twitter
Do you have a funding position(Ph.D./Post-Doc).
Whenever I have a funded position, I will advertise it here.
[April 2024] I will soon be looking for a Postdoc position in the EU-funded ELOQUENCE project.
Do you support Postdoc fellowship applications?
Yes. Postdoc fellowship applications usually take time, a minimum of 6 months. Please mail me to discuss the possibility of writing a proposal together.
How can I contact you?
Please email me.
Are you accepting PhD students?
I am always looking for motivated Ph.D. students. Feel free to send your CV and research proposal explaining how it fits my research interest. In your email, specify how you are supposed to fund your study.
I am self-funded. Will you accept me straightaway?
Being self-funded does not guarantee that you can work with me. Before admitting you to my team, I need to assess your research skills and determine if they fit my research interests.
I am an international prospective PhD student. Do you have a scholarship/funding to support me?
Whenever there is such an opportunity, I will advertise here and on online social media like Corpora.
I don’t know if I am suitable for a Ph.D.
You could consider doing MSc (by Dissertation), which gives you one year to prepare for research without any course work. However, the Dissertation will be intensive.
How can I work with you?
Please check my profile to identify if your research interests closely align with mine.
Send me your CV and a short research proposal.
Must specify your funding.
Wait for my response.
If you do not receive my response within a week, perhaps you have randomly sent me your documents without even checking my profile.
Can I still apply without contacting you?
Yes, you can. However, if you want to work with me, please mention my name as your potential supervisor in your application. You can apply here. I will carefully review your application, and a decision will follow regarding further steps.
What are my minimum entry requirements?
Apart from departmental requirements, you must have good programming experience. Most of my projects involve a lot of data collection and analysis, as well as building deep learning models. Ideally, you should have strong experience in Python and be able to build deep learning models (not only using existing libraries). I am also interested in Linguistics, except focusing on socio-linguistics, so if you have a strong background in socio-linguistics and some Python experience.
Do you accept short-term interns?
Yes, I can discuss a possible remote “unpaid” internship setup with you where you can work on research problems in your campus and I can remotely supervise you. If you do a good job, e.g., you publish a paper at a competitive venue, I will not hesitate to write a letter of recommendation for you. Please not that any good project needs minimum 6 months, so you should be able to commit to minimum 6 months.
Do you accept visiting students?
Yes, I do. Please feel free to contact me regarding this further. It all depends on whether I have set aside some funds for visiting scholars.
I want an acceptance letter to apply for a scholarship, can you please give me one?
If you write to me requesting an acceptance letter so that you can apply for a scholarship, e.g., the Commonwealth Fellowship scheme, the straight answer is NO. The correct procedure is to apply to our PhD programme, pass my interview if shortlisted, and based on your performance in your interview, you will be offered an acceptance letter. I cannot just recommend you for a place that bypasses all formal requirements.
What is it like working with me?
My advising method varies depending on the student’s capabilities. In general, I view a Ph.D. as 3 projects. First, I give you a main idea, we discuss and modify it, you code it (I might occasionally look at your code) and we write paper together (large writing by me like introduction). For the second project, you come -up with the main idea, discuss and modify it, code it, and write the paper together (50-50%). For the third project, you take full ownership of the project and mostly inform me of the progress, and we write the paper together (minor editing by me).
You are free to explore the research topic that interests you the most.
You are free to build your collaborative research network.
I will always push you to publish your findings in top publication venues and encourage you to attend conferences regularly.
I will be closely intertwined to your work: you won’t feel ignored! Mostly, we will have a weekly meeting to discuss the project. It is okay that you didn’t make any progress, but discussion is important.
A chance to work with my collaborative network of talented researchers.
Every 6 months or so, we will have an informal meeting to discuss what you want to do in the next 1 year and how I can help you achieve it.
You must start writing your paper as soon as possible. I need an almost-finished draft two weeks before the deadline. Ideally, you start a project as soon as you decide on a rough idea.
You must release all codes and data for all projects so that anyone can quickly reproduce your results.
Note that this is your Ph.D., and you will have a last say in your work. I might have a bit more experience than you, so I can intuitively sense where something can go wrong. However, wherever we strongly disagree, the final decision is yours. And ideally, I would prefer you prove me wrong!!!
Who is an ideal PhD student in your eyes?
There is no shortcut in research. Research is all about multiple failures, so I strongly believe a Ph.D. student should quickly able to bounce back from a failed experiment, and utilising the failed experiment’s learning to improve next one.
Smiles at failures but knows how to defeat failure
Hard working
Passionate
Dedicated
Motivated
Mentally strong
Have a life outside research like Exercise, Dance, Sing, Cycle, etc
Writing Tips
One of the most important things you should learn is how to present your idea to the community, which includes writing a paper, giving presentations, etc. Following are some useful resources.
How do I write a paper? Write Right for Research by Tony Roberts.
How do I prepare a talk by Patrick Blackburn.
How to Organize your Thesis by John W. Chinneck
Jia-Bin Huang’s awesome-tips which covers range to topics