{"id":461,"date":"2025-10-02T12:30:42","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/?p=461"},"modified":"2025-10-02T12:35:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T11:35:04","slug":"beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student’s Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

“The intellectual challenge, the varied nature of the work, and mostly the opportunity to discover new things and contribute to advancements that could one day affect people\u2019s lives are really what drew me into research.”<\/em><\/h2>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Meet Krish Sanghavi, a PhD student and part of the Snelgrove Lab at Imperial\u2019s National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), whose journey into research took a turn from an early ambition to study medicine. Inspired by hands-on lab work during his undergraduate and Master\u2019s projects, Krish discovered a passion for scientific discovery and the intellectual challenge of research. Now immersed in the world of immunology and data analysis, he shares insights into the highs, hurdles, and hopes of life as a PhD student.<\/p>\n

\n

Can you tell us a bit about your background and what led you to pursue a PhD?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I initially didn\u2019t want to do research. I was actually aiming to pursue a career in medicine. However, my experience during my final year undergraduate research project and even more so during my Master\u2019s research project really swayed my experience, and I started to really love being in the lab and doing research. I think the intellectual challenge, the varied nature of the work, and mostly the opportunity to discover new things and contribute to advancements that could one day affect people\u2019s lives are really what drew me into research.<\/p>\n

What has been the most rewarding or exciting part of your research so far?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I think there are several milestones for me that stand out as helping me progress on my journey as a scientist \u2013 whether it\u2019s obtaining an animal license to do mouse work and becoming more independent with the mouse work, being able to run a flow cytometer all by myself, or learning to code R scripts and becoming better at critically analysing my data. Of course, the most rewarding parts I feel are when your experiments support your hypotheses, but even when your result is something different from what you expect, it\u2019s still interesting because you start to question things, think critically, and develop as a scientist.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Have you encountered any challenges during your PhD journey?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Managing the workload can be a big challenge during a PhD \u2013 especially at the beginning and as you start to become more independent. I know many PhD students who initially struggle with this. One thing I do is plan out my week every Friday so that I know exactly what I need to do going into the next week and can try to plan my time accordingly. Inevitably, tasks will come up during the week that you did not anticipate, but you learn how to prioritise as you go on in your PhD.<\/p>\n

What does a typical day (or week) look like for you as a PhD student?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Managing your time as a PhD student can be extremely challenging. It\u2019s easy to forget that, beyond the PhD, you have a million other things going on in your personal life, and it can be really easy to neglect your health. For me, a typical day varies depending on where I am with my project and what experiments I am doing. Some days I may be in as early as 7 am and leave as late as 9pm, and alongside my PhD work, I also tutor. But I do also make sure I spend time with my friends at least twice a week, try and eat healthy, and get plenty of sleep.<\/p>\n

How have your relationships with your supervisor, peers, or the wider academic community influenced your experience?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

You spend a lot of time with other members of the lab, so I think they\u2019re instrumental in shaping your experience during your PhD. I\u2019ve been lucky to have supervisors who continuously challenge me scientifically, helping me to become a better scientist. I\u2019ve also been extremely lucky to be in the NHLI, where everyone \u2013 regardless of academic role \u2013 is ready to help with any questions I may have. The NHLI also has so many experts in different fields with so many opportunities for networking \u2013 if you have a problem, chances are someone within the department has been there, done that, and has the solution. I\u2019m particularly thankful to Rhianna and Megan (our amazing postdocs) and Viola (our talented research technician) who are not only fellow lab members that are always ready to help if I don\u2019t understand something or need help with an experiment, but are also some of the closest friends I\u2019ve made during my PhD who have supported me mentally through my PhD.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

What are your thoughts on what comes next after the PhD?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

I love the science and research that I do. The varied nature of science makes it exciting \u2013 no day is boring. So I\u2019m hopeful to continue a career in research. While I enjoy academia, I am also intrigued by industry, as I have never had the experience of an industry job. I\u2019m not certain what the future holds in terms of career path, but I\u2019m excited to see what happens.<\/p>\n

\n

Find out more about Postgraduate Research at NHLI<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“The intellectual challenge, the varied nature of the work, and mostly the opportunity to discover new things and contribute to advancements that could one day affect people\u2019s lives are really what drew me into research.” Meet Krish Sanghavi, a PhD student and part of the Snelgrove Lab at Imperial\u2019s National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1876,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"yoast_head":"\nBeyond the Bench: A PhD Student's Journey - National Heart and Lung Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student's Journey - National Heart and Lung Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“The intellectual challenge, the varied nature of the work, and mostly the opportunity to discover new things and contribute to advancements that could one day affect people\u2019s lives are really what drew me into research.” Meet Krish Sanghavi, a PhD student and part of the Snelgrove Lab at Imperial\u2019s National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Heart and Lung Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-10-02T11:30:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-10-02T11:35:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/files\/2025\/09\/IMG_6417-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1880\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1754\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lucy Payne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lucy Payne\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lucy Payne\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/08920630c28d067ca8bfba4ba33b5afe\"},\"headline\":\"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student’s Journey\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-02T11:30:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-02T11:35:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":870,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/files\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/IMG_6417-1-1024x955.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/\",\"name\":\"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student's Journey - National Heart and Lung Institute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/files\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/IMG_6417-1-1024x955.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-02T11:30:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-10-02T11:35:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/08920630c28d067ca8bfba4ba33b5afe\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/files\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/IMG_6417-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/files\\\/2025\\\/09\\\/IMG_6417-1.jpg\",\"width\":1880,\"height\":1754},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/2025\\\/10\\\/02\\\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student’s Journey\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/\",\"name\":\"National Heart and Lung Institute\",\"description\":\"Stories from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/08920630c28d067ca8bfba4ba33b5afe\",\"name\":\"Lucy Payne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6b6a72cdd722f14a4fe39f65b4391c3aef050edd9e5f9c2d62e1cb160ad4305f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6b6a72cdd722f14a4fe39f65b4391c3aef050edd9e5f9c2d62e1cb160ad4305f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/6b6a72cdd722f14a4fe39f65b4391c3aef050edd9e5f9c2d62e1cb160ad4305f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Lucy Payne\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\\\/nhli\\\/author\\\/lpayne1\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student's Journey - National Heart and Lung Institute","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student's Journey - National Heart and Lung Institute","og_description":"“The intellectual challenge, the varied nature of the work, and mostly the opportunity to discover new things and contribute to advancements that could one day affect people\u2019s lives are really what drew me into research.” Meet Krish Sanghavi, a PhD student and part of the Snelgrove Lab at Imperial\u2019s National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI), […]","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/","og_site_name":"National Heart and Lung Institute","article_published_time":"2025-10-02T11:30:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-10-02T11:35:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1880,"height":1754,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/files\/2025\/09\/IMG_6417-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Lucy Payne","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Lucy Payne","Estimated reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/"},"author":{"name":"Lucy Payne","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/#\/schema\/person\/08920630c28d067ca8bfba4ba33b5afe"},"headline":"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student’s Journey","datePublished":"2025-10-02T11:30:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-02T11:35:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/"},"wordCount":870,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/files\/2025\/09\/IMG_6417-1-1024x955.jpg","inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/","name":"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student's Journey - National Heart and Lung Institute","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/files\/2025\/09\/IMG_6417-1-1024x955.jpg","datePublished":"2025-10-02T11:30:42+00:00","dateModified":"2025-10-02T11:35:04+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/#\/schema\/person\/08920630c28d067ca8bfba4ba33b5afe"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/files\/2025\/09\/IMG_6417-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/files\/2025\/09\/IMG_6417-1.jpg","width":1880,"height":1754},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/2025\/10\/02\/beyond-the-bench-a-phd-journey\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Beyond the Bench: A PhD Student’s Journey"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/","name":"National Heart and Lung Institute","description":"Stories from the National Heart and Lung Institute at Imperial","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/#\/schema\/person\/08920630c28d067ca8bfba4ba33b5afe","name":"Lucy Payne","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b6a72cdd722f14a4fe39f65b4391c3aef050edd9e5f9c2d62e1cb160ad4305f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b6a72cdd722f14a4fe39f65b4391c3aef050edd9e5f9c2d62e1cb160ad4305f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b6a72cdd722f14a4fe39f65b4391c3aef050edd9e5f9c2d62e1cb160ad4305f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Lucy Payne"},"url":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/author\/lpayne1\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":475,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461\/revisions\/475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.imperial.ac.uk\/nhli\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}