Guides

Guides for applicants

Practical, honest guides on finding the right supervisor and reaching out — the things we wish someone had explained clearly when we were applying.

How to Find the Right PhD Supervisor

A practical, step-by-step way to find supervisors whose research actually matches yours — and to reach out without wasting weeks.

The signals that show a lab is taking students right now — so you spend your effort where it can actually pay off.

What a cold email to a potential supervisor should (and shouldn't) contain — with a structure you can adapt.

The search that works for a PhD is not the search that works for a postdoc. Here's how the two diverge.

Free AI chatbots are great at sounding confident — and routinely invent professors, emails, and links. Here's why, and what to do instead.