It's PhD year transfer season, and I am seeing lots of people struggling with planning their research for the next few years. It's very understandable: research is difficult to predict even when labs are open, and no pandemic, so planning can seem impossible. 1/n

I have always struggled with planning at the best of times but I have learned to make good plans and find them very useful. I think of research plans as the structure of a science (fiction) plot, the plot of your research project, your PhD. 2/n

Like a good plot, it should be consistent, logical and plausible. It should have more than one thing going on at any one time. It should have clear stages, marked by milestones. It should have actions, to drive the PhD forward. A good plan outlines actions, not just ideas. 3/n

"But if I make up a plan it's just fiction" - students tell me. "We can't know what will happen, what will work, what will not. So what's the point?" 4/n

The point of a plan is not dictate what will happen. It is set the direction of your research, which in turn helps you do it. A plan helps thinking about the big picture and break down what is a huge project, like a PhD, into smaller chunks, and turn ideas into actions. 5/n

It also makes it possible for others to advise you, point out things you have missed because you don't know about yet, or make suggestions that can save you a lot of time. A good plan shared early could stop you wasting a lot of time during your PhD. 6/n

So instead of thinking of your plan as something else you have to do after having written your report, think of it as one of the best things you can do to make your project less stressful, more efficient and more fun, even if it turns out to be just 'fiction'. n/n