This time Scientific Bangladesh has interviewed Sheikh Mohammad Atiq. He is pursuing his PhD at the Australian 
National University(ANU). Here are the important messages and insights from him.
1. Scientific Bangladesh: Briefly introduce our readers to yourself, your PhD topic and the University
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: Hi, my name is Atiq. I am a PhD student at the Australian National University(ANU), Australia. Broadly my research topic is human-centered Computing (HCC). Specifically, I am looking at Physiological Data of participants driving a car to predict any early fatalities through machine learning.
2.Scientific Bangladesh: How did you choose your i)Research/PhD topic and ii) Institute?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: I did a master’s by research in computer vision from the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia. It was a two years full-time master by research degree which can be considered as a mini PhD. So, I had a knowledge of research and at times Visited ANU, particularly the HCC lab. I talked to my current supervisor at that time, heard about their research, and explained my previous research experiences. He immediately agreed to supervise me. That’s how I chose my PhD topic and institution. It’s a bit different story than many others. But this is also a direct option to choose a supervisor, topic, and institution.
3.Scientific Bangladesh: What is the minimum qualification in your university to get admission as PhD student, Bachelor, or Master’s degree?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: Minimum qualification for PhD, Bachelor, Masters, and other degrees at ANU keeps changing always. I encourage potential students to keep an eye on the website and email any inquiries to the university directly.
4.Scientific Bangladesh: What has made you have gone for PhD? In other words, why you are doing PhD?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: Well, recently industry and R&D institutions are hiring more PhDs than academia. I am particularly not that much interested in academia still I am doing PhD. There are several reasons, PhD increases an individual’s analytical thinking, there are many R&D, research lab, industry, and start-ups who are looking for PhDs in their organizations. I believe a PhD degree will make me a tech-savvy professional for the future.
5.Scientific Bangladesh: If anyone wants to do PhD in your University/country, what are the steps one has to follow?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: For doing a PhD in Australia in any of the universities, the most effective way is to email a potential supervisor. If they agree to supervise then I found around 70% of works are done. Then every procedure and requirement will be guided by the supervisor. There are other ways of applying directly to the university or apply for a particular scholarship. However, I found emailing the supervisor is one of the effective ways.
6.Scientific Bangladesh: What are mistakes one should avoid when contacting with University or Professor for PhD studentship?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: Not emailing enough is the number one mistake. Giving up early is also a common mistake. Besides, try to focus on the lab and the research topic more than at the university. A good helping supervisor is the most important thing that can happen to you but it is hard to predict from a distance place.
7.Scientific Bangladesh: How will you get PhD, by submitting a thesis or publishing a certain no of publications(journal articles)?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: I will probably write a thesis because in computer science it will hard to publish that many journals as we mostly publish in conferences.
8.Scientific Bangladesh: Did you deliberately choose your Supervisor? What were your criteria for choosing PhD supervisor?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: Fortunately, I deliberately choose my current supervisor as I was a domestic applicant. I meet and talked to him personally and I choose him as my PhD supervisor. As I said before, choosing PhD supervisor is the most important factor that can affect your time during PhD. Try to choose young energetic academic as sometimes they appear to be more helpful than well established senior prof. Nowadays there are many students currently working research students in different universities and they are altruists in nature, you can take recommendations from them for a supervisor. Otherwise, you have to choose blind, in that case, you may choose based on research relevance, the number of recent publications, grant, funding, his involvements, collaboration, and his responses to your emails.
9.Scientific Bangladesh: What is your key to maintaining a good relationship with your supervisor?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: Well, that is a very good and most important question. It would say, Please make the expectations of both parties very clear. Ask your PhD supervisor what do you expect from me during the time of my PhD at the starting of your PhD.
10.Scientific Bangladesh: What principle do you follow to maintain a good relationship with your labmates?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: I consider PhD as a Job and maintain a very professional relationship considering as my colleague.
11.Scientific Bangladesh: Doing PhD is a stressful job? How do you manage or release stress?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: Exercise and involvement in other kinds of stuff like hobbies, interest are few options to release stress. Still, you might face some stress, it’s normal, think that other people also feel the same. So, don’t stress out with stress. 😛
12.Scientific Bangladesh: How many days in a week you go to the lab? Why?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: According to Australian culture we call our workspace an office. I go to the lab when I need to do experiments. But I maintain 9-5 office hours Mon-Fri for other works like data processing, paper writing, etc.
13.Scientific Bangladesh: PhD is considered as training for a career in Research. What 1. technical and 2. Soft skills you are focusing to develop or developed by this time?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: I would say relevant technical and research knowledge is the technical skills that I am developing. In terms of soft skills, I have developed or am developing project management, collaboration, working on time and in pressure, writing skills, communication skills, working in a team, and many more.
14.Scientific Bangladesh: What is your future plan? Want to go back to Bangladesh or not?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: It totally depends on their career. Some careers in Bangladesh might be more promising than here and some of the career here are more promising than in Bangladesh.
15.Scientific Bangladesh: What are your suggestions for prospective PhD students?
Sheikh Mohammad Atiq: If you are passionate about a PhD, then do it. If you are confused, I would say I saw people who came for a PhD after several years in professional life. So, do not worry, follow your present passion.