The Path to PhD — Field Notes on Becoming a Scientist
Patrik ReizingerThe manual I wish I'd had when I started my PhD. On research, failure, and the craft of becoming a scientist.
| Platform |  | Pricing | Only free issues | Publishes | Weekly |
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path2phd.substack.comLatest Issues
Don’t run your projects open-loop
Projects often end without closing the feedback loop, i.e., asking about the process itself. Generally, the outcome is what you are evaluated against, but the process is what matters in the long term and it is your biggest lever to improve...
Two kinds of fast
Some people are boasting about how quickly they get a paper done with AI. Which provoked the obvious retort: “if you write your paper in 3 days, I’ll AI-review it in 20 minutes — why should I give it more attention than you did?”
Speed is...
The P2P Reading List (2026 March)
Research is changing, and how we should address this change occupies my mind to a large extent. This led to some of my picks this month, such as the must-read for every researcher, The Intelligence Trap — but perhaps surprisingly, this is t...
A PhD expectations guide
When I started my PhD, I thought I knew what I was signing up for. I had aced my studies. I knew how to grind. I was eager to prove myself. So I did what had always worked: I put my head down and pushed.
Weeks passed without a single meeti...
The Downside of Expertise
I still remember one of my internships during my undergraduate. I was invited into a meeting with external collaborators, and I was referred to as the expert in X. I was extremely frustrated by that label: if a twentysomething guy who just...
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\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddfa \ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddfa PhD researcher at the University of Tübingen, working on causality and representation learning within the ELLIS and IMPRS-IS programs. First-generation academic. Writing about what it takes to become a good scientist.
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