English (United Kingdom)

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/featured_content/oa?rat=en

https://curated-unify.zendy.io/wp-json/zendy-region/v1/highlighted_journal/

Global: Zendy Plus annual

Presents the access of premium content as premium feature

Premium Content

Presents the keyphrase highlighting as premium feature

Keyphrase Highlighting

Presents the summarisation as premium feature

Summarisation

Insights

Presents the pdf analysis as premium feature

PDF Analysis

Presents the zaia usage as premium feature

ZAIA

Global: Zendy Plus monthly

Global: Zendy Tools annual

Global: Zendy Tools monthly

Global: Zendy Free Plan

Joining a research group is one of the most important events on a graduatestudent's path to becoming an independent physics researcher and earning a PhD.However, graduate students' perspectives on the experience of finding aresearch group are not well-documented in the literature. Understanding theseperspectives is crucial for evaluating whether departments are providingstudents with adequate support while they search for a research group, and howdifficulties during this process contribute to attrition. Semi-structuredinterviews with N=20 first and second year physics PhD students reveal thatincoming graduate students see joining a research group as a significantdecision, and recognize that it may impact whether they will be able tocomplete the program. We found that students who struggled to find a group feltisolated and worried about falling behind their peers, whereas students whowere able to immerse themselves in a positive group environment reportedincreased sense of belonging in their programs. The process of finding aresearch group often held differential importance for students identifying aswomen and non-binary, who at times reported having to deprioritize theirpreferred research topic in order to be part of a more inclusive workingenvironment. Although incoming graduate students characterized joining aresearch group as a significant decision, they often felt unprepared to makeit. Moreover, they perceived an overall lack of guidance and structure fromtheir departments, and characterized coursework as a barrier to searching for agroup. Our findings suggest that providing students with better support duringtheir group search process could help improve retention, particularly fortraditionally underrepresented students, and improve students' overallsatisfaction in their graduate programs.

Physics PhD student perspectives on the importance and difficulty of finding a research group