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Working from home on your PhD

Seven tips for staying motivated when working from home on your PhD

During COVID-19 we all pivoted to working from home , almost overnight. As we are nearing the 1,5-year mark of this global pandemic, we know that the nature of work has changed. Many companies will adopt a hybrid model, allowing employees to work some days from home and some days from the office.

PhD candidates may find that they will shift to working more from home to avoid long commutes. For other PhD candidates, ongoing COVID-19 restrictions mean that work from home will remain the norm for more months ahead. And, those PhD candidates who work on a part-time schedule, may find that working from home on their research is something they can combine better with their day job.

Regardless of the reason why you are working from home on your PhD, the solitude that comes with working away from friends and colleagues is real. You may feel that it is harder to remain motivated. In today’s post, I give you seven tips on how you can work productively on your research from home.

1.      Communicate clearly with your supervisor

When your supervisor doesn’t see you in the lab or in your office, they may be wondering if you are still making progress on your research. The key here is to make sure you maintain good communication with your supervisor. Set regular meetings: either weekly or biweekly to discuss your progress. If you are working from home and caring for others at the same time, understand that your time is more limited than before, and let your supervisor know about your situation. Work on setting clear expectations with your supervisor: discuss how you will meet, how you will collaborate, and set targets and goals together. You can find an example template for productive meetings with your supervisor here .

2.      Roll with the punches

If you are working from home as a result of a university closure, then develop realistic plans. Change your research plan so that you can take into account lab closures, cancelled field visits, delayed conferences, and summer schools that did not happen. Take stock of the situation, and return to your research question. How far are you? How large is the impact on your work? Where can you pivot in your research? Which opportunities are there? Make sure to discuss this with your supervisor as well.

3.      Beat procrastination

It may be hard to work productively when you are all by yourself. You may be tempted by the distractions of the TV or your smartphone. You may find yourself going down rabbit holes online, or randomly clicking between email messages without answering or getting anything done. If that’s the case, it’s time to beat procrastination.

There is a myriad of productivity technique out there for you to try. You can try out the Pomodoro technique , in which you focus on a single task for 25 minutes and then take a five-minute break. You can timeblock your day, focusing on one task at a time for a certain period (i.e. your time block). You can set word count goals to achieve within two hours. You can gamify your pending tasks. Make sure you plan your days and weeks, so that you know what you should be working on. Then, be very specific about what you want to achieve. Compare “I am going to work on my paper for 2 hours” to “I will write a paragraph about my experimental setup for my paper and will develop the figures to illustrate this paragraph. I will finish this work in two hours.”

4.      Plan rewards

To keep yourself going, day after day, it is important to plan rewards. What do you really enjoy? How can you celebrate a day that went well? This strategy requires you think about two things: when you will end your day, and what you will do after your workday. Just like you would be going for a social activity after work, find things that you can look forward to at the end of the day – this strategy helps you avoid that work bleeds into the evening and weekends when you work from home and there are no physical boundaries anymore. Decide in advance for yourself how you want to celebrate : a nice home-cooked meal shared with your family, a walk to the ice cream parlour, or maybe a long soak in a hot bath?

5.      Stay in touch with colleagues

Working from home means that you are physically distanced from your colleagues, but it doesn’t need to mean that you are isolated from them. If you are on a hybrid schedule between working from home and working from the office, make sure you use your time in the office or lab to hang out with your colleagues. It may be tempting to just use your bench time as efficiently as possible, but put in the time and effort to maintain the relationships with your colleagues as well.

If you work exclusively from home, try to find ways to keep in touch with your colleagues. Take advantage of all the online networking tools. You can set up a recurring coffee meeting, or you can be more adventurous and try out playing a game together online, joining a virtual yoga class together and meeting for virtual tea afterwards, or cook something “together” in the comfort of your own house.

6.      Connect to your “why”

When your motivation is sinking, connect back to your original motivation for doing your PhD in the first place. Remind yourself of your “why” , even when the “how” is different than you had originally envisioned. Write down your reasons for doing the PhD, and read them frequently. If you are going through a rough patch, check in to see how you could strengthen your main motivation. For example, if your “why” is strongly related to the cause that your research serves (for example, potential applications to find a cure for cancer), find ways to connect more directly to this cause (for example, showing your work to a group of oncologists and getting their practical feedback, or connecting online with others who are working on finding a cure).

7.      Take care of yourself

You can’t work productively if you are not taking proper care of yourself. It may be easy to drift away from regular habits and schedules when our work routines have been uprooted. I would encourage you, though, to put self-care front and centre in your days. Working from home is not easy, and it requires that you treat yourself well: by getting enough sleep, by putting in the time to go outside and get some fresh air, by consciously scheduling time for exercise, and by making sure you eat nourishing and balanced meals. By the same token, make sure you can work comfortably from home – if necessary, get the right furniture and gear to be able to work in an ergonomic manner.

Working from home can be a challenge, and it may be difficult to keep going when you are not seeing your lab mates and supervisor. However, with the seven tips outlined in this article, you should be able to find a schedule that works for you, and that helps you keep your research moving forward while remaining healthy and balanced.

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Dr Eva Lantsoght

Dr. Eva Lantsoght is a Full Professor in Civil Engineering in Ecuador and tenured assistant professor in the Netherlands. Her blog PhD Talk addresses the mechanics of doing research, PhD life, and general academic matters. Find her @evalantsoght or at evalantsoght.com.

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The Social Metwork

Phd student blog from the department of meteorology, university of reading, tips for working from home as a phd student.

As PhD students, working from home is an option for many of us on a “normal” day – as indeed is increasingly the case with jobs which primarily need just an Internet connection. But, thanks to COVID-19, working from home (WFH) is our new collective reality. So how can we make this work well, when for many, our offices may only now be a few steps away from our beds? We asked around for advice on this matter from current PhD students.

Remember to take a break every half an hour or so. Go away from the desk!

It can be easy to forget to take a break when you’re “at home”, even if you’re also “at work”, and especially when you’re likely closer to the kettle/food/toilet than you would be otherwise. Get up, move around!

Stick to a regular schedule: when you wake up, go to sleep, work, relax, etc.

This is great advice for doing a PhD in general, but even more pertinent now that our routines have been turned upside down.

Pretend that you “go to and from work”, i.e take a morning and afternoon walk/cycle to mark the start and end of your work day.

A commute can be a great time to wake up in the morning and wind down in the evening. Get creative with what you can (safely, and in accordance with government guidance) do to replace your commute during this time.

Pretend that you go to work by dressing accordingly, it makes the brain active and makes you stronger against the ‘do something else’  or ‘ relax’ mode activated by the comfy at home clothes.

It’s tempting to work wearing pyjamas, but will this help your productivity and mindset? Getting dressed for work can also help to maintain your work-life balance.

Look after your posture. If possible, sit at a desk with a screen at the right height. 

Try to follow standard health and safety advice when it comes to working long hours at a desk. If possible, invest time and money in making your home working environment a comfortable and non-straining place to be.

If you can at all help it, don’t work in the room where you sleep. It can cause difficulties sleeping.

This also helps add some breaks and changes in your day, which can help to maintain focus and motivation.

Enjoy the benefits of working from home: take a break to actually cook lunch, get things done around the house. Let yourself appreciate the things that are handy about it as well as the negatives. 

Being able to get away from your work and do something like ironing, cooking, baking or cleaning might actually help your productivity and concentration by providing a better break than you might otherwise get in an office. Embrace it!

Schedule social e-contact. Don’t let yourself go more than a day without at least hearing someone’s voice on the phone. Use the opportunity to reconnect with old friends. 

In Reading, we’re making extensive use of Microsoft Teams to remain in contact with each other and try to mimic our vibrant work atmosphere.

Do (as long as it’s safe to do so) go for walks, head outside, make sure you do some exercise twice a week. 

Luckily, we’ve got some very nice weather this week in most of the UK. But do please adhere to social distancing guidelines when you do go outside.

It can be easy for the lines between work and life outside of work to be blurred during a PhD at the best of times, and WFH can make this more problematic. Set your hours, and stick to it.

If you work 8-4, work 8-4! At 4pm, switch your computer off and do something different. Without an evening commute, it can be trickier to bring an end to your working day, but this is probably one of the most important things to maintain.

Most operating systems, including Windows 10, support multiple virtual desktops. Try using one of those for your virtual “work” PC, and another as your virtual “home” PC. Then you can keep the two segregated. 

At the end of the day you can switch to your “home” desktop, and then return to “work” the following day.

This Twitter thread has some great advice: https://twitter.com/ProfAishaAhmad/status/1240284544667996163?s=19

Twitter is of course full of great (and not so great) advice. It can keep people connected but also increase anxiety. Be cautious with it, along with all social media during this time.

Allow yourself ample time to adjust, get the important things in order first (friends/family/food/fitness), and build a regular schedule.

This is a huge change. It’s not just a huge change to work, it’s a huge change to our entire lives. Go easy on yourself as you get into the swing of things.

Fill the space around you with plants – it’ll make you feel like you’re outside if you don’t have that luxury – and open your windows every morning (you’ll appreciate the fresh air!) 

Nature is very calming. Open the window, listen to the birds (you might hear them more than you used to nowadays).

Extending our best wishes to all from everyone in Reading Meteorology during this challenging time.

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• CAREER COLUMN
• 28 April 2020

Finding motivation while working from home as a PhD student during the coronavirus pandemic

• Melina Papalampropoulou-Tsiridou 0

Melina Papalampropoulou-Tsiridou is a PhD and MBA candidate at Laval University in Quebec City, Canada, and conducts her PhD research in neuroscience at CERVO Brain Research Centre in Quebec City.

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

At the moment, staying motivated can be tough. Many scientists have admitted this on social media or in online meetings. I’ve struggled to follow a consistent routine and to be productive, thinking twice about getting dressed in the morning while wondering, “What’s the point?” This is especially true when we’re surrounded by distractions at home — a place usually kept away from work.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01292-x

This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged .

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10 tips for working from home during your research degree

With the UK seeing an increase in remote working since Covid-19, you may find yourself working in your living room as well as the library. Never fear, though – we’ve amassed 10 handy hacks for ensuring you stay focused, energised and – above all – healthy while working from home.

1). Try and maintain a routine

Your research journey can go on many twists and turns, so sticking to a routine isn’t usually par for the course. However, when working from home, it can be easy to let things slide or you may find yourself getting distracted. Set yourself targets throughout the day in terms of number of words you wish to write, data you want to analyse and chapters you need to read.

2). Create a contingency plan

If progress on a project is paused due to you being unable to collect data, try to think of the other things you can do. Write an introduction to a paper or work on your literature review.

3). Make a community

If you're working from home, you may feel lonely and isolated from the PhD community. Therefore, it's important to remain socially active and maintain close relationships you may have forged with your fellow research students on campus. Don’t let those relationships falter – create a WhatsApp group or chat on Facebook. Stay connected and keep supporting each other virtually, in the times you aren't on campus together.

4). Stay in contact with your supervisors and other important people

It's important to keep in touch with your supervisors, whether that's in person or virtually. If you aren't able to meet them in person, continue to schedule meetings via Skype or Microsoft Teams. 

5). Dress for work

If you’re struggling to keep to a routine, dressing in 'professional' attire may help with your mindset and boost your productivity as a result.. Working remotely means the temptation to write chapters in your pyjamas is far too great. Ask yourself what your goal is for the day and dress accordingly. You may be looking to analyse data or work on your literature review, so wear clothes to match.

6). Utilise social media…

Not only is it a good source of information, it’s a useful way to stay connected. Go through the research degree journey with likeminded individuals by joining a Facebook group and network with researchers online.

7). ...But don’t be afraid to turn it off

Social media can be a great boon and a real distraction. Make sure it doesn’t fall into the latter category. If you find the likes of Twitter and Instagram are becoming a hindrance, consider installing a web extension that blocks you from accessing certain sites for a set amount of time. StayFocusd and Cold Turkey are two prime, free examples.

8). Take regular breaks

Whether you’re working from home or in the library, it’s easy to forget that as a research degree student you’re entitled to a break. Stay focused and energised by stepping away from your work. Go for a walk to clear your head, enjoy a home workout or even start a blog!

9). Learn a new skill

One upside to working from home is that it provides you with the opportunity to take on a new talent. Keep your mind active away from your studies and begin learning an instrument, start cooking or build up your professional skills.

10). Stay healthy

Perhaps the most important point of all: as Covid-19 is still rife, remain diligent and keep washing/sanitising your hands. Working at home can also cause feelings of loneliness and mental fatigue. Remember to reach out to friends, family and colleagues if you are feeling depressed.

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Camille Bou

September 20th, 2021, a weekday in the life of a phd student working from home.

Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

One of the benefits of being a PhD student is that you have complete control over your time. You decide how to plan your days to achieve your deliverables, take care of yourself, and get involved in opportunities outside your PhD. For some people, this flexibility can be daunting – I would know, as I initially struggled with the lack of structure a PhD has relative to a master’s programme .

The important thing to remember is that there isn’t a perfect “PhD day”. Some days, you will feel like you’ve made no significant progress – maybe because you over-estimated how long a task would take, or a personal emergency came up, or because you went down a fascinating rabbit-hole of research which you’re not actually going to end up using for your project (unfortunately writing from experience).

I eventually found my rhythm – what works for me – as will you. Here is what a weekday in my PhD life looks like, working from home:

I wake from my slumber, make my bed, and put the kettle on to make my morning coffee. I greet my roommate, catch up on personal messages, and have a light breakfast.

I catch up on some emails and messages on Teams as I eat breakfast and sip my coffee, letting it wake my brain. This allows me to stay in the loop of what’s happening within the LSE, and answer any queries addressed to me. I sometimes do this whilst listening to the BBC Global News podcast to catch up on some world news.

I log out of Teams and emails to enable my focus. I get started on the PhD task I’ve set myself for the day (for instance, cleaning a dataset I will use for my analysis).

My stomach grumbles – time for lunch! As my energy levels drop in the afternoon, I usually have a light lunch and another cup of coffee to keep myself from feeling sleepy.

I log into an afternoon webinar organised by my research centre, the NIHR School for Social Care Research and/or the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre.

I return to my PhD task. I sometimes use this time to check in with deliverables for my extra-curriculars, part-time work, or academic development (eg, peer-reviewing for journals).

I usually have difficulty focusing at this time in the day, so I take a break from research to do something else – log back into my emails, clean the house, eat a snack, watch something online, chat with my roommate, or go for a short walk, etc.

I return to my PhD task.

I leave my house to get to my touch rugby game. Playing a team sport has been a blessing for my mental health, and it guarantees I’ll be active at least once per week.

Dinner and beers with my rugby team. If I have significant deadlines coming up, I usually skip the beers and head straight home.

9.30pm-11.30pm

I organise myself for the upcoming days. What I do afterwards varies – I watch Netflix, do PhD work, or work on some things outside the PhD, or just get to bed early.

I hope this gave you an idea of what you can expect a day as a PhD student at the LSE to look like, keeping in mind that your schedule may look completely different from mine upon the start of your PhD journey.

About the author.

I'm Camille, a PhD student in the Department of Health Policy. I'm interested in how context shapes the experiences of young informal carers in the United Kingdom. When I'm not analysing data, I enjoy listening to music and podcasts, catching up on TV series, walking in London's abundant green spaces, and exploring the city’s diverse art, food, and drinks scene!

Thank you for sharing your typical day— such flexibility demands dedication to ones various projects.

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A Weekday in the Life of an LSE PhD Student Working on Campus September 20th, 2021

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Working from Home as A Research Student

• By Dr Harry Hothi
• April 18, 2020

At the time of writing this blog post, many of us around the world are adapting to a new way of working – remotely, from home and for some of us in spaces that may not immediately be conducive to productivity. This working situation is likely to last several months at least, and we do this to help slow down the spread of COVID-19 so we can overcome this pandemic together. I, as a research engineer, am able to continue many of my projects from home, focussing more on writing (lots of papers!); I’m incredibly proud and thankful of the contributions that my clinical colleagues (many that are surgeons) are making to help overcome this pandemic.

For those within the academic research field who have had to make the move away from their university/lab spaces to now working from home, I offer the following tips and advice to help stay as productive as you can:

Define and Create your Workspace

Whether this is setting up a dedicated desk in a home office, a workstation on a dining table or a laptop in a corner of the living room, I think it’s important that you have a defined area within your home that you can call your workspace. If possible, it should be a space free of distractions (including other people!) where you can switch into ‘work mode’ (noise-cancelling headphones might be useful here….) and that you can separate from your relaxation time.

Have a Clear List of Daily Tasks

Do you remember that satisfying feeling of being able to finally close the 20+ tabs you had open in your browser as you were writing up a piece of coursework? That’s a feeling you can recreate every day by crossing things off the to-do-list you put together each evening to prepare for the next day! The secret here I think is to limit to a maximum of 2 ‘key’ things that you definitely want to have achieved in the day plus a handful of smaller tasks that would be good to get done. I prefer to get the 2 big things done first then focus on the smaller tasks but equally, it can be satisfying ticking off the ‘easy wins’ first to set the momentum for the day.

Be Consistent with your Work Times

This period of working from home may be a good opportunity for you to better understand when in the day (or night!) you’re most effective in your projects. Aside from any virtual team meetings you may have planned, you’ll now have the flexibility to start and end your work times based on what works best for you. This may mean waking up at 4am, getting in some exercise and then diving into a few hours of work before others you live with have even woken up! For some, sticking to a conventional 9-5 routine may be best whilst others may even want to start on a project at 5pm!

Whatever the approach you take to timing, the key is to be consistent with it. If you work best opening up the laptop at 6am then try, if you can, to stick to this time every day. Being disciplined in setting this routine and habit will not only help you shift into ‘work mode’ quicker but also help others you live to be clear on when you shouldn’t be disturbed.

Plan Regular Breaks

My general rule of thumb is to take a 10-minute break after roughly every 50 minutes of working. There are no rules here really – working at home means you more or less have control of when and how you work (factors such as children’s bedtimes and spending time with others in your household will need to be factored in). The key here is that you take a few breaks physically stepping away from your workspace – you could make a cup of tea, call a friend or even go for a brief walk. In my experience, when your work environment is also your home living environment, regular breaks are essential to stop things become very stale quickly!

Take Advantage of Technology

You’ll no doubt have come across the many technological solutions out there to stay in touch with others in your research team, as well as other friends and family. These include Apple FaceTime, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp and Google Hangouts, to name a few. Most of these options offer some level of free use which should be more than enough for most purposes; the common limitations that need payment are based around the duration of calls allowed for free (e.g. 40 minutes for Zoom) or the maximum number of participants possible in a single call.

I’d definitely recommend video calling with others in your team at least once or twice a week, especially under the current global circumstances. It’s a great way to check-in with everyone, catch up on work-related things but also just to chat on a personal level; many PhD students, in particular, will likely spend this lockdown period away from family and possibly on their own. Regular video calls can be one of many useful tools for a team to look out for each other from a mental wellbeing perspective.

Please use these tips to maintain some level of productivity in your research work, but remember that it’s also ok if there are days when you’re not productive. For many of us, this shift to working separately from our research teams will be an unwanted one and hopefully, we can return to lab and collaborative office work sooner rather than later. The primary focus under this pandemic should be maintaining your mental and physical health and ensuring those around you are safe and well.

About the Author

Dr Harry Hothi is the Implant Science Fellow of the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) in Stanmore, UK and an honorary lecturer at University College London (UCL). He has a PhD in orthopaedic engineering and is currently supervising three UCL PhD students.

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A Ph.D., or doctor of philosophy, is the highest level of academic degree that you can attain. Consisting primarily of research, a Ph.D. prepares you for a career in academia or research in the field you study.

Students who choose to pursue a Ph.D. online will find it can be completed in less time. Online students also get the added benefit of being able to complete their work from the comfort of home. The overall cost may also be less compared to an in-person program.

We’ve compiled a list of the best accredited online Ph.D. programs to help you start your search.

Are Online Ph.D. Programs Worth It?

An online Ph.D. program is an ideal choice if you want to balance your career and family responsibilities along with your education.

While there are some preconceived notions that online programs aren’t legitimate, as long as the program you choose is accredited, the degree is the same as one earned in person.

While the annual tuition cost to earn a Ph.D. online averages $12,394 for a public institution and $26,621 for a private university, doctoral graduates enjoy a lower unemployment rate and higher weekly salary than those with less education, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)

Did You Know…

• According to the BLS , workers with a doctoral degree earned a median of $651 more per week than workers with a bachelor’s degree in 2022.
• Doctorate-holders boast some of the lowest unemployment rates at 1%.
• In 2019, research found that 39.8% of graduate students were enrolled in online learning.
• The number of doctorates awarded between 2020 and 2021 dropped by 5.4%.
• Not all Ph.D.-holders end up working in academia.

Top Schools for Online Accredited Ph.D. Programs

Capitol technology university.

• Campus + Online
• In-State $25,830
• Out-of-state $25,830
• Retention Rate 75%
• Acceptance Rate 47%
• Students Enrolled 796
• Institution Type Private
• Percent Online Enrollment 98%
• Accreditation Yes

Clemson University

• In-State $14,118
• Out-of-state $37,110
• Retention Rate 94%
• Acceptance Rate 49%
• Students Enrolled 27,341
• Institution Type Public
• Percent Online Enrollment 49%

Keiser University

• In-State $20,800
• Out-of-state $20,800
• Retention Rate 72%
• Acceptance Rate 96%
• Students Enrolled 19,861
• Percent Online Enrollment 50%

Mississippi State University

• In-State $9,110
• Out-of-state $24,790
• Retention Rate 81%
• Acceptance Rate 76%
• Students Enrolled 23,086
• Percent Online Enrollment 43%

Nova Southeastern University

• In-State $33,510
• Out-of-state $33,510
• Retention Rate 78%
• Acceptance Rate 93%
• Students Enrolled 20,898
• Percent Online Enrollment 52%

Old Dominion University

• In-State $7,029
• Out-of-state $26,664
• Students Enrolled 23,494
• Percent Online Enrollment 76%

Saybrook University

• In-State $0
• Out-of-state $0
• Retention Rate 0%
• Acceptance Rate 0%
• Students Enrolled 915
• Percent Online Enrollment 100%

Texas Tech University

• In-State $8,935
• Out-of-state $21,204
• Retention Rate 85%
• Acceptance Rate 68%
• Students Enrolled 40,542
• Percent Online Enrollment 68%

How We Rank Schools

Accredited Schools Online uses a custom ranking system to evaluate schools on their quality, affordability, and reputation.

We rank schools using factors like graduation rate, admission rate, tuition costs, financial aid, and program offerings. All our ranked schools hold institutional accreditation .

For this page, we created a directory of online accredited Ph.D. programs that meet our criteria. The list is organized alphabetically rather than ranked.

Learn more about how we create school rankings on our methodology page .

Does Accreditation Matter for Online Ph.D. Programs?

A college is accredited after being recognized by an independent institution that verifies the school’s courses and programs meet set quality standards.

The school you choose must be accredited in order for your Ph.D. to be recognized by employers , earn professional licensures, and qualify you for federal financial aid.

Legitimate accreditors are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and/or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

How Much Does an Online Ph.D. Cost?

In general, you can expect to pay around $13,000-$30,000 per year in tuition and fees for your online Ph.D.

Several factors affect how much your Ph.D. program will cost, including:

• Whether the program is fully funded
• Whether your school is public or private
• Whether you’re an in-state or out-of-state student
• How long your program lasts (most Ph.D. programs take 5-7 years to complete)
• How much financial aid you get

While many in-person and online doctoral programs in the U.S. are fully funded, these tend to be highly competitive.

One way to save money on your online Ph.D. is to attend a program that offers in-state tuition to residents. Make sure you submit the FAFSA each year so you can secure federal financial aid .

You may also need to budget for occasional travel to and from campus and research sites, especially as you work on your dissertation.

What’s the Difference Between a Ph.D. and a Doctorate?

While a Ph.D. and a doctoral degree, or doctorate, both signify the same level of education completed, their uses are different.

Doctorate is the broader term — a Ph.D. is a type of doctorate. Specifically, a Ph.D. is an academic degree that prepares you for a career in research or teaching in your field of study (such as science, English, or economics).

Besides a Ph.D., other types of doctorates include a doctor of medicine (MD), a doctor of education (Ed.D.), and a doctor of psychology (Psy.D.). These degrees are typically used in either an academic or professional setting.

Online Ph.D. Programs That Don’t Require a Dissertation

A dissertation is a final written project culminating in a student’s original research at the end of their Ph.D. program. A dissertation is typically presented and defended by its author. It’s typically required for degrees with an academic or research focus.

Not all Ph.D. programs require a dissertation. For example, some Ph.D. programs in humanities, education, business administration, and criminal justice require simple or no dissertations for a quicker completion time .

What Jobs Can You Get After Earning an Online Ph.D.?

Once you finish your online doctoral program, you can explore a variety of career paths both within and outside academia.

Many Ph.D. graduates, especially those who studied the humanities, go on to become professors. Other popular roles include administrator, scientist, and psychologist.

Graduates of online Ph.D. programs earn a relatively high average base salary of $105,000 a year, according to Payscale .

Frequently Asked Questions About Online Ph.D. Programs

What is the quickest ph.d. to get.

The quickest Ph.D. to earn are those that award professional degrees and don’t require extensive research projects or dissertations at completion. These Ph.D. programs can include accounting, business, education, and media.

To finish your degree faster, you can also look for accelerated programs that quicken the pace of a program and shorten the time it takes to complete.

Are online doctoral programs legit?

If the online doctoral program is accredited, it is legitimate. Accreditation ensures that the program meets the rigorous educational standards of other comparative doctoral programs.

With accreditation, employers and other institutions of higher learning will recognize your degree. As more universities turn toward online programs to serve a more diverse student population, there are a growing number of legitimate, accredited online Ph.D. programs.

How long are online Ph.D. programs?

Online Ph.D. programs, like any other doctoral program, can vary in length but typically take 5-7 years to complete. A doctoral degree balances coursework with research. Usually, students must meet a certain number of course requirements before they can start original research.

While coursework may take only a year or two, writing a dissertation that meets the program requirements varies from candidate to candidate.

Can I earn my Ph.D. entirely online?

Yes, many accredited colleges and universities offer 100% online Ph.D. programs. That said, some programs may require on-campus experiences, such as library research and a dissertation defense.

What do employers think of online doctoral programs?

It takes a high level of discipline and persistence to obtain a graduate degree, no matter the context. Most employers will recognize and value the hard work it takes to get a Ph.D., whether you completed your doctorate online or in person.

Make sure you research potential programs. If you’re attending an accredited, well-regarded school, employers will value your online Ph.D. just as much as a traditional one.

Note: The insights on this page — excluding school descriptions — were reviewed by an independent third party compensated for their time by Accredited Schools Online. Page last reviewed November 20, 2023.

Online Ph.D. programs provide students with flexible schedules and affordable tuition. Check out the top-ranked programs in this comprehensive guide.

Best Accredited Online Master’s Programs 2024

Best Accredited Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs 2024

Shape your future with an online degree.

Connect with a community of peers, and find a program that will allow you to continue your education in a fast and flexible way.

Research Shows Working From Home Doesn’t Work. Here’s How Employers Should Tackle the Problem

W e followed the science on COVID-19. Now, as the end of the pandemic draws closer, it’s time to follow the science on working from home.

The verdict is clear: For many jobs—particularly collaborative, high skill level, high-value roles—working from home simply doesn’t work, and we shouldn’t confuse a temporary abnormal with a new normal.

The pandemic will not be ‘the death of the office,’ as some have suggested, but working from home also won’t become entirely a thing of the past. Many workers wouldn’t want it that way because they enjoy the freedom and flexibility it gives them. The solution for the future is a structured hybrid model, acknowledging that working from home doesn’t work long-term for most jobs, while still giving workers flexibility. One way to do that would be to allocate time slots—perhaps specific days—of in-office working for all employees to maintain workplace productivity and collaboration, while also allowing working from home to continue outside those hours.

Professor Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School told me in March that, because remote work is going to become a much bigger part of our lives, we need to solve the problem of maintaining a culture when people are “scattered all over the world.”

That problem explains why it took a pandemic for working from home to become mainstream, despite it being an old idea. As long ago as 1970, Alvin Toffler predicted a shift to working from home, as opposed to working in offices and factories.

Half a century later, his prediction came true. Before the pandemic, 20% of workers did all or most of their work from home, an analysis by the Pew Research Center found. That figure rose to more than 70% during the pandemic, the analysis—based on 5,858 U.S. adults—found.

Read more: The Coronavirus Is Making Us See That It’s Hard to Make Remote Work Actually Work

For some, remote work leads to increased productivity, as well as job satisfaction, particularly for those working in technical jobs that require minimal teamwork. In certain industries, this has been the case for some time. Stack Overflow, a New York-based community website for computer programmers, found in 2017 that 53% of 64,000 developers surveyed ranked remote work as one of their five most-valued work benefits.

But the science tells us that workers like them are in a minority and, however topical their case is, we should be cautious about applying such a drastic change across our economies.

Since before the pandemic began I have been assessing multi-disciplinary collaboration in a work-from-home environment for my PhD research at Imperial College, London. Individuals employed on creative projects in virtual teams reported feeling more like a ‘worker’, and less like a member of a family. One respondent said of employers: “They don’t see how early you show up in front of your computer…They don’t see how hard I’m working.”

But more damaging than the effects of working from home on individuals, is what it does to teams. Remote work often breaks the mechanisms that allow a team to work together creatively. Studies have found that the best creative work occurs when a team is in a state of flow, or focuses its collective attention on a single problem together, known as ‘team flow’. But remote work makes it harder to keep everyone engaged in solving that problem. In my study, many respondents said it was hard to gauge when a team member had zoned out during a Zoom call.

Read more: How to Work from Home Without Burning Out

There is currently no digital technology that can reliably create ‘flow’ remotely, and we shouldn’t pretend there is. If it did exist, it wouldn’t have taken the necessity of pandemic restrictions for us to work remotely—managers and employees would have already embraced it.

There’s other evidence that points to this problem. Utah-based virtual whiteboard app Lucidspark found that 75% of 1,000 respondents surveyed in September last year said collaboration was the thing that suffered most when working remotely.

HR departments are now paying the price for this isolation and lack of collaboration, with 2021 already being called the year of the ‘Great Resignation.’ The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that the annual quit rate was 25.5% in 2020 and millions of workers have resigned in 2021.

If employers want to hang on to their staff, they need to find ways to maintain the work-life balance employees enjoyed while working from home. This needs to happen while reintegrating them back into the office, since it is clear from my research that fully autonomous working from home across all industries is neither desirable nor sustainable.

That’s why we need to carve out a third way, where teams that thrive on collaboration are given mandatory times each week when everyone is expected to be in the office. This structured hybrid model is different to hybrid working, whereby employees can come and go to the office as they please.

By combining flexible hours with time slots for compulsory office attendance, we can grant the freedom that white-collar workers have enjoyed so much over the pandemic. It would also prevent the rise of a two-tier model, where those who are present in the office get ahead, while those who prefer to work from home get left behind.

This doesn’t mean a return to the misery of daily commutes. Structured hybrid work could allow workers to travel outside of peak times—removing much of the pain of commuting—as long as they are present for the compulsory time slot for collective in-office working.

The evidence is clear that, for the majority of workers in most industries, working from home doesn’t work. But we can still take the lessons we have learned about what today’s—and tomorrow’s—employees want, and make that part of the new normal in offices post-pandemic.

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Graduate visa route should remain, report finds, after home secretary raised immigration concerns

James Cleverly commissioned an emergency report into the graduate visa route over concerns it was being abused for immigration purposes.

Political reporter @alixculbertson

Tuesday 14 May 2024 14:31, UK

The graduate visa route should remain as it is key to funding British universities and is "not undermining the quality and integrity" of higher education, a new report has said.

The Migration Advisory Committee (MAC) looked at whether the visa was being abused and if it was not being "driven more by a desire for immigration" after Home Secretary James Cleverly requested an emergency review in March.

A graduate visa permits overseas students to stay in the UK for up to three years after completing a university course in the UK. Partners and children can also apply as dependents.

Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick published a report last week calling for the graduate visa to be abolished, claiming it "allowed people to come and work in the gig economy and on very low wages".

University and industry leaders had voiced fears that the route, introduced in 2021, could be axed or curtailed if the report had been negative, with universities reporting a steep drop in international students applying over fears of restrictions being introduced.

But the committee, made up of five university professors and a Home Office representative, said they found "no evidence of widespread abuse" of the graduate route.

"The risks of abuse are relatively low due to the limited number of conditions the route imposes," the report said.

It also found the visa route is helping universities to expand the range of courses offered while making up for financial losses from domestic students and research, and is "supporting the government's international educational strategy".

The report said 114,000 graduate route visas were granted for applicants in 2023, with a further 30,000 for dependents.

It said students from India, Nigeria, China and Pakistan account for 70% of all graduate visas, with India accounting for more than 40%.

Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News

MAC chair and leading labour economist Professor Brian Bell, the head of economics at King's College London, said: "Our review recommends the graduate route should remain as it is, and is not undermining the quality and integrity of the UK's higher education system.

"The graduate route is a key part of the offer that we make to international students to come and study in the UK.

"The fees that these students pay help universities to cover the losses they make in teaching British students and doing research.

"Without those students, many universities would need to shrink and less research would be done.

"This highlights the complex interaction between immigration policy and higher education policy."

A government spokesman said: "We are committed to attracting the best and brightest to study at our world-class universities, whilst preventing abuse of our immigration system, which is why the home secretary commissioned an independent review of the graduate route.

"We have already taken decisive action to address unsustainable levels of migration and our plans are working, with a 24% drop in visa applications across key routes in the first three months of this year, compared with the same period last year.

"We are considering the review's findings very closely and we will respond fully in due course."

Reacting to the report, Mr Jenrick said the graduate route "should be scrapped" and the UK needs to "urgently unwind the sector's growing dependency on foreign students" as he called the route a "backdoor for foreign students to do low-wage work...that isn't attracting top talent".

He said the review's conclusions were "constrained by the narrow terms of reference deliberately set by the government" to back up their International Education Strategy that includes the "arbitrary target" of attracting 600,000 foreign students a year.

"If you order white paint, you get a whitewash," he said.

The British Chambers of Commerce welcomed the report and said businesses have told them finding people with the right skills to plug the gaps "remains a serious issue".

The MAC recommended the government establishes a mandatory registration system for international recruitment agents and that universities should be required to publish data on their spend on recruitment agents and the number of students recruited through such means to ensure the route is not exploited.

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The report found most people on the graduate route had completed postgraduate courses, with the highest growth in the visa from non-Russell Group universities' postgraduate courses - accounting for 66% of all graduate visas.

Since 2021, the proportion of main applicants aged over 25 has increased by 15 percentage points to 54% in 2023.

It also found graduate visa holders are initially overrepresented in lower-paid work but their job prospects and wages improve over time.

Among the first cohort of graduate visa holders, about half moved to skilled worker visas, primarily into skilled roles.

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May graduate preps for career in psychiatric epidemiology

May 21, 2024  | Erin Bluvas,  [email protected]

Born in Oklahoma, Paige Jones moved around before finding her home in Columbia – by far the largest of the seven places she had lived previously. She chose it to be closer to family, who had relocated here while she was an undergrad at the University of Mississippi, but she soon found it was where she wanted to stay for graduate school.

“I have really enjoyed living in Columbia,” she says. “There’s lots to do without being overwhelmingly large, and the student culture has been really great. It has been easy to make friends and connections within the Arnold School, which was something I was a bit worried about moving to a new city, particularly with the effects of COVID.”

Jones originally thought she’d become a therapist but found herself more interested in the research side of her bachelor’s program in psychology. After moving to Columbia, she worked in a USC research lab where an Arnold School alum introduced her to the field of public health as a career.

She enrolled in the M.S. in Epidemiology program, combining her two areas of interest into psychiatric epidemiology as her focus. Jones built on her research experience as a graduate assistant for epidemiology assistant professor Matthew Lohman and clinical associate professor of neuropsychiatry and behavioral science Eve Fields. She gained additional experience as a statistics and research analyst for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control – exploring the intersection of mental health with maternal and child health.

Jones believes that her coursework and work experiences have prepared her for positions in a research lab, health department or hospital settings. She is also open to pursuing a doctoral degree.

“I think my degree prepared me well for any of these roles,” she says. “I feel very confident in my SAS and overall data analysis skills, which has greatly helped me in my current job with DHEC. I think the opportunity to complete a thesis has further benefitted me in leading a research project and really applying all the data and scientific writing skills from my coursework.”

Every professor I have had or worked with has been great, and they truly want you to do well and provide you the knowledge to do that.

Her Arnold School mentors played a big role in her program, and she found Lohman as well as biostatistics clinical assistant professor Andrew Ortaglia to be particularly impactful.

“Every professor I have had or worked with has been great, and they truly want you to do well and provide you the knowledge to do that,” Jones says. “I am really grateful for all of Dr. Lohman’s guidance and patience during my thesis, as well being a very effective and kind teacher of complicated epidemiologic methods in class. I am also very grateful for Dr. Ortaglia’s biostatistics courses, and his commitment to teaching good statistics while challenging us to really consider the why behind what methods we use. Both have influenced the way I think about things in work and my commitment to doing meaningful research in any area of epidemiology.”

As she prepares to graduate next month, Jones has advice for future students.

“It’s important to get involved as much as possible – taking opportunities to learn new skills and make connections.”

Find Out More

Epidemiologists design and conduct investigations aimed at improving the health of groups of people by combining knowledge from the social sciences, medicine, biology, the environment, and statistics.

Meet Our Class of 2024

The Arnold School is proud of our 2024 graduates, who will go on to change the world locally and globally. Learn about some of the other outstanding individuals who completed one of our 34 programs this year.

Challenge the conventional. Create the exceptional. No Limits.

Chiefs' Harrison Butker blasted for commencement speech encouraging women to be homemakers

Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker has aggravated one of the internet's biggest culture wars by telling a class of college graduates that one of the “most important” titles a woman can hold is homemaker.

During a commencement speech last weekend at Benedictine College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Atchison, Kansas, the NFL player railed against abortion, Pride month and Covid-19 lockdown measures.

Drawing the most viral backlash this week, however, was a section of his speech in which he addressed the female graduates specifically — telling them that it’s women who have had “the most diabolical lies” told to them.

“How many of you are sitting here now, about to cross this stage, and are thinking about all the promotions and titles you are going to get in your career? Some of you may go on to lead successful careers in the world,” Butker said. “But I would venture to guess that the majority of you are most excited about your marriage and the children you will bring into this world.”

The criticisms that followed took aim at Butker as well as the NFL.

"Hey @NFL — If you want to continue to grow your female fan base and any other marginalized group (straight white men are already watching your product), come get your boy," wrote Lisa Guerrero, a former NFL sideline reporter and now an investigative journalist for "Inside Edition."

He went on to tell the graduates that his wife would agree that her life “truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.” It is her embrace of this role, he said, that made his own professional success possible.

Butker’s comments share similarities with some of the more extreme ideas around gender roles that have gained traction in communities that promote “ tradwife ” lifestyles or other relationship dynamics that center on traditional gender roles .

“Listen, there’s nothing wrong with his wife being a homemaker. Homemakers are wonderful, that’s not the point,” filmmaker Michael McWhorter, known by his more than 6 million TikTok followers as TizzyEnt, said in a video response. “The point is he seemed to be acting as if you should be ashamed if you don’t want to be a homemaker, or, ‘I know what you really want to do is just stay home and have babies.’"

The speech was the latest incident to add fuel to the flames of this increasingly vocal cultural battle, much of which is playing out online. While many prominent right-wing men have voiced such beliefs before, they’re usually confined to internet forums, podcasts and other online communities where these ideologies thrive.

A spokesperson for Butker did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Benedictine College and the Kansas City Chiefs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the NFL told People Magazine that Butker "gave a speech in his personal capacity" and his "views are not those of the NFL as an organization."

"The NFL is steadfast in our commitment to inclusion, which only makes our league stronger," a spokesperson told the publication.

Butker, who is teammates with Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, further drew surprise and criticism when he quoted Kelce’s girlfriend, Taylor Swift, whose monumental career success as a global pop star has inspired college courses .

“As my teammate’s girlfriend says, ‘familiarity breeds contempt,’” he said, drawing murmurs from the crowd as he used the “Bejeweled” lyric as an analogy for why Catholic priests should not become “overly familiar” with their parishioners.

In the days since his speech, a Change.org petition for the Chiefs to dismiss Butker for “discriminatory remarks” has garnered nearly 19,000 signatures.

“These comments reinforce harmful stereotypes that threaten social progress,” the petition stated. “They create a toxic environment that hinders our collective efforts towards equality, diversity and inclusion in society. It is unacceptable for such a public figure to use their platform to foster harm rather than unity.”

Those who criticized Butker’s speech online include actor Bradley Whitford as well as DJ and rapper (and self-proclaimed Swiftie ) Flavor Flav .

But his speech was also lauded by some on the religious right, including conservative sports media personalities such as Clay Travis and Jason Whitlock , who defended Butker’s statements toward women.

“Not a word Harrison Butker says here should be remotely controversial. He’s 100% correct,” former NFL wide receiver T.J. Moe posted on X . “Those trying to convince women that being assistant VP of lending & intentionally childless at age 40 is more fulfilling than making a family and home are evil.”

Sports and culture commentator Jon Root also posted that Butker “exposed the lies that the world has been telling women.” Women, he wrote, are wrongly encouraged to climb the corporate ladder, view children as a “burden” and see marriage as “not worth pursuing.”

Still, a deluge of viewers online took issue with his attitude toward women and the LGBTQ community. Many women also rejected the premise that they would be happier staying at home in lieu of paid work, even if they do have a husband and children.

“I am moved. I actually had no idea that my life began when I met my husband,” neurosurgeon Betsy Grunch, known as Ladyspinedoc on TikTok, said sarcastically in a TikTok video . “It did not begin when I graduated magna cum laude from the University of Georgia with honors. It certainly did not begin when I graduated with a 4.0 GPA, Alpha Omega Alpha, from medical school. And I had no idea that it did not begin when I completed my residency in neurosurgery.”

Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.

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Marie Fowler, 83, becomes Howard University's oldest doctoral graduate

Fowler earned her doctoral degree in ministry over the weekend. She already has her bachelors and two masters but wasn't sure at her age she could manage the work. She stayed the course.

Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

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A Look Back at Commencement 2024

Buffalo, NY - The Golden Griffin family grew even greater on Saturday, May 18, when the university conferred degrees upon more than 600 undergraduate and graduate students from the Canisius Class of 2024.   The day marked a cherished milestone for students, culminating four years of hard work and dedication.  It also etched a significant moment in the institution’s history, as the Class of 2024 proudly became the inaugural graduating class of Canisius University.  

“You will forever carry a unique distinction in our Canisius history,” said President Steve K. Stoute in addressing the graduates during commencement ceremonies.  “Know that I am grateful to have accompanied you on the last two years of this journey.” 

Commencement day was divided into two separate ceremonies: The first featured graduates from the College of Arts & Sciences.  The second included graduates from the School of Education and Human Services and the Richard J. Wehle School of Business.  

Leading the procession of graduates for both ceremonies was Professor Sue Margulis, PhD .  An assistant professor of animal behavior, ecology and conservation (ABEC) and biology, Margulis is the 2024 recipient of the Kenneth L. Koessler Distinguished Faculty Award.  Nominated by students and alumni, the award recognizes a Canisius professor for teaching excellence and outstanding contributions to the academic world.  

Those same themes of excellence and outstanding contributions were echoed by former U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins, who delivered the commencement address at both of Saturday’s ceremonies.  Higgins shared anecdotes from his own journey to encourage students to “live a life of courage and leadership” and emphasized “the limitless potential of the human heart.”  Drawing inspiration from Pope Francis, Higgins underscored the importance of unity amidst diversity, reminding the collective audience that “hearts and minds can meet in the love of Jesus.” 

For his long career in Congress and commitment to public service, Canisius conferred an honorary degree upon Brian Higgins.  The university also conferred honorary degrees upon Mary McLean Wilson , a life trustee of the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation, which is committed to improving the quality of life in Western New York and Buffalo Bills’ safety Damar R. Hamlin , who inspired people around the country – and the world – when he suffered cardiac arrest during a Monday Night Football game.  Hamlin not only recovered from his injury and returned to the team, he also leveraged the experience to help others. 

In addition to the conferral of honorary and formal degrees, each ceremony included an address from a student speaker.    

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Looking for more ways to relive commencement? Find some options below: 

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