Tess is a PhD student in Computing at Heriot-Watt University in Scotland. Tess’ PhD is entitled ‘Improving Healthcare AI-Support Systems for Visually Detectable Diseases: A Mixed Learning Approach on the Edge’ and explores the ways in which diagnostic tools can be made accessible to those in remote and low-connectivity areas. She has also published research in machine translation, demonstrating the importance of interpreting low-resource languages. Twitter: @TessWOfficial

How to Handle the Jump Straight from Undergrad to PhD 

Are you considering going straight from an undergraduate degree to a PhD, skipping the master’s? At 22 years old, Tess shares her experience of this and provides some valuable insights about how she prepared and applied for her PhD in Computing without doing a master’s degree.

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They Said I Was ‘Too Old’ – My PhD Journey

Donna L. Halper’s PhD journey began after she lost her job in radio and wanted to reinvent herself as a full-time educator. However, being in her 50s and a woman applicant meant that she faced rejection from several universities, making her determined to prove them wrong.

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Should I Complete Side Projects as a PhD Student?

‘Side projects’ are valuable additional endeavours alongside your PhD that can build your skillset, relevant connections and future employability – both in and outside of academia. This article discusses some common side project ideas for PhD students, and highlights some of the short-term sacrifices required to complete them.

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