CREATES Interviews: What to Expect

Whilst some people take interviews calmly in their stride, for others, having an idea in advance of the structure of an interview and the types of questions can be extremely beneficial when it comes to preparation and performance. If you have been invited to interview for a CREATES NERC DLA studentship, you might have lots of questions about what the interview will be like. Perhaps you are wondering: Who will be interviewing me? What will the format be? What are they going to ask? What should I prepare? Can I ask I any questions? What happens next?

Here we aim to provide information to help you prepare for your interview, including examples of the types of questions you may expect to encounter from the panel you are interviewed by. We recommend that you read this in consultation with our published DLA Application Assessment Criteria.

Q. Who will be interviewing me?

CREATES DLA interview panels will be made up of 3-4 academics, drawn from across the DLA partner departments (DLA Supervisors) and between them they will have expertise in a breadth of disciplines. They may not be experts in the exact area of the project to which you are applying, however, Departmental representatives and prospective supervisors will be consulted where necessary.

If your prospective lead supervisor is on a DLA panel, they will recuse from the interview.

Q. What is the interview format?

All interviews will be held via Zoom. Each interview will last approximately 25-30 minutes. You will receive all of the details about the scheduling of your interview, as well as the link to join, in your invitation confirmation email.

Q. What are they going to ask?

No two interviews are identical as each applicant and their research interests will be different. Our panels will ask a core set of questions to every candidate, to provide a means of comparison and establish key information about a candidate’s motivations, transferable skills and potential as a PhD student. However, candidates will also be invited to introduce themselves and their interests, and the panels will ask some unique questions in response, to explore a candidate’s depth of understanding and the suitability, or ‘fit’, of each candidate to their proposed field of study.

A typical interview might proceed as follows (although note these are only example questions and may not be the questions that the panel ask you):

1. The Panel Chair will lead introductions and establish the purpose of the interview.

2. Candidates will be invited to introduce themselves and their research interests in a 5 minute verbal presentation

Questions

Example Q1: Expect some in-depth questions in response to your presentation – be prepared to discuss your relevant skills and demonstrate your knowledge relevant to the subject area.

Example Q2: What do you see as some of the open questions in this field of research?

Example Q3: What relevant skills and experience do you have which you feel would help you undertake this research project?

Example Q3: What do you think would make you a good doctoral researcher?

3. You will be invited to ask any questions you may have. These are not assessed, so don’t be shy to ask anything, or feel under any pressure to impress.

4. The Panel Chair will close the interview.

Q. How should I prepare for the interview?

Your interview confirmation email will provide details of anything you need to prepare for the interview. It will be useful to read widely around your proposed research topic, so you are prepared to talk about that in the interview. You should also think about your own transferable skills and how they prepare you for PhD research more generally. Take the time to consider how you would answer the example questions above to showcase your strengths to the best of your ability.

Q. What happens next?

You will hear about the outcome of your application for a DLA studentship by email within a week or two of the interview.