Question: You said you are a first year PhD student what does that mean?

Savannah Clawson answered on 17 Jun 2019:

PhD stands for “Doctor of philosophy”, or rather “philosophiae doctor” in Latin. This is usually the next step in research after you finish your university degree and most science researchers will have a PhD qualification. A PhD usually lasts for 3 to 4 years – you have to do a big spoken exam at the end to prove that you have done enough work and lots of good research before you will be given a PhD!
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I am currently in the first year of my PhD, so I am a first year PhD student. This means I’ve still got a few years of work left before I finish and then I might carry on as a science researcher or I might get a different job. One of the cool things about getting a PhD qualification is that you are officially called “Doctor” afterwards! I can’t wait to be called Doctor Clawson, although my Gran still thinks this means I will be able to treat ill people – having a PhD is not the same as being a medical doctor and I am definitely not going to be qualified to do this haha