My Year 2024 as a PhD Student

jasminnevala
Mar 4
3 min read

Updated: Apr 1

Reflecting on my PhD progress

Last month, I had my annual follow-up group meeting. The follow-up group is a team that provides support and guidance, helping me assess my progress, set future goals, and address any challenges.

I was supposed to arrange my first follow-up meeting within the first three months of starting my PhD, but that detail slipped through the cracks—oops! After the initial meeting, follow-up group meetings are held annually. As part of the process, PhD students submit a progress report summarizing their work.

This recent meeting gave me a chance to reflect on my achievements and set new goals for the coming year. Since I love visualizing data with Canva, I thought—why not share my progress with you?

Experiments

In 2024, I conducted two preliminary experiments that helped shape the direction of my main experiments. I haven’t written about the second one yet—there was just too much going on, and updating social media took a backseat.

First experiment: Conducted in Kuopio, previously described in my blog.
Second experiment: Conducted in Jyväskylä, with some interesting preliminary results.

Early analysis of the second experiment indicated potentially significant differences in plant growth. For example, lettuce seedlings that were not exposed to magnetic fields had longer root lengths than those that were exposed. Additionally, seed vigor—calculated based on germination percentage, root length, and stem length—appeared to be higher in non-exposed seeds.

However, since my initial plan was to conduct experiments using a stronger magnetic field, and the results were inconclusive, I decided to increase the field strength for my main experiments. Before I could increase the field strength, I needed to obtain a magnetic field meter capable of measuring strengths over 200 microteslas (which I finally got—thanks to my awesome supervisor!

Courses

Teaching

A PhD student is also expected to gain teaching experience, so I took the Introduction to Teaching course. Teaching responsibilities can include giving lectures, assisting in courses, or supervising undergraduate students.

Last year, I had no teaching responsibilities, but next year, I plan to teach some courses and possibly supervise a bachelor's student.

Science communication

PhD studies also include communication courses, which I find fascinating—especially because I love learning about science communication. However, I struggle with consistency, something I hope to improve through the course I’m currently attending, where we will be developing a social media plan.

Last year, I also took a course on Open Science, a crucial concept in modern research. Open Science promotes transparency, accessibility, and collaboration by making scientific data, methods, and publications freely available to researchers and the public.

Ongoing courses and literature review

I am currently enrolled in two ongoing courses:

Research Seminars – I attend presentations by other researchers, take notes, and summarize key points. Once I submit a required number of summaries, I will earn one credit.
Graduate Exam Course – This course helps PhD students deepen their knowledge of their field’s literature. Typically, it involves reading a book and taking an exam. However, since no comprehensive book exists on my specific topic, I am writing a review of published articles instead. My focus is to synthesize what is already known about the effects of magnetic fields on plants and identify knowledge gaps.

Behind the scenes: The hidden work of a PhD

PhD weeks are filled with countless behind-the-scenes activities—many of which don’t directly appear in reports but are essential for progress.

A significant part of my time has been spent on:

Designing and setting up experiments, ensuring the reliability of the setup (such as conducting preliminary measurements).
Exploring the theoretical background of my research, investigating potential factors that might influence how magnetic fields affect plant growth.
Science communication & positions of responsibility– I was also part of a team responsible for creating a department newsletter, helping to share research updates and departmental news. Putting together the newsletter takes much more time than expected—from gathering conten and responding to emails to formatting. Our editor handles the final editing process. However, our efforts paid off, as we received a Communication Science Award for our work!
Navigating academic procedures, including understanding expectations as a PhD student (such as organizing follow-up meetings!).

Final thoughts

Reflecting on this past year has helped me see how much I’ve accomplished and what I need to focus on moving forward. While research can be unpredictable, every experiment, course, and challenge is a step toward becoming a better scientist.