Speaker 1: The best PhDs to get are ones that are not only valued by you and you get a lot out of but is also valued by people outside of academia. I think that great PhDs are ones where there is an industry outside of academia that understands a PhDs place within their workforce. So you have to look at the different kind of areas that are employing PhDs and you know, that's not all of them. Not every single PhD has a place in industry. And secondly, I think that you know, there are places actually, and this surprised me, where there is a shortfall of PhD graduates. I can't believe it and we're going to go through those in this video. The first awesome PhD to get I think is AI. Look, I'm just going to go there right away and that's because AI has entered the mainstream. Probably about two years ago, people sort of saw AI as just kind of this fanciful blue sky research, but now everyone knows about it. And I think that R&D spending is going to increase almost exponentially in that area. If we look at the top industries by global research and development spending, and this is in 2021, we can see that software and internet is already 19.5% of the global research spending. And I think AI is going to contribute an even bigger sort of slice of that pie to that industry. And so getting yourself a PhD in artificial intelligence means that you are going to be in demand. You're going to be in demand by companies that are developing a range of AI tools. You know, you could probably get an AI job without a PhD, but if you are really interested in the cutting-edge, understanding the leading sort of like fringe of research in AI, getting a PhD will not only demonstrate that you know how to develop new AI tools and new ways of thinking, new sort of like applications for AI tools, but also that you know how to manage those projects. And I think going forward, the management component of AI and in research and development in a range of different fields is going to be an incredibly kind of tough industry to break into, but with a PhD, it's going to make you stand out as the person not only knows that leading sort of frontier of the field, but also knows how to manage a complex project with multiple stakeholders. And that is going to be invaluable skills in this industry, I think, in the future. So AI and data science, that's where the first recommendation lies. Staying in like the computery world, I really think that getting a PhD in cyber security is also a fantastic industry to enter. Now looking at the data here, this is a white paper that was put out and there is 3.5 million cyber security positions now available. It's expected that there will be 101 billion dollars in projected spending on service providers. So this is where the money is and is going to be for the near future. And I think that the fact that there are so many positions open means that there is a place for PhD researchers to find a job after their PhD. And of course, you don't need a PhD to get into a cyber security job. But if you are a person that likes that leading edge of research, that sort of like breaking new ground feeling, then getting a PhD is going to be fantastic in the cyber security space. It is a cat-and-mouse game, it will be forever evolving. And I think if you're the sort of person that really enjoys staying one step in front of the hackers, then a PhD in cyber security is going to be not only valued by industry, it's going to be fun to do and it will also sort of mean that you demonstrate the skills to be able to develop new interesting, exciting, novel ways to beat the hackers. And I think that's going to be incredibly valuable and lucrative for you in the future. Remember, this is my own opinion. So God knows what will really happen. But I think based on the data, that's where this is going right now. You hear all the time, don't you? That there is a massive sort of oversupply of PhDs. But what if there was a place where there's an undersupply of PhDs? There is a place and that place is maths education. I found this paper which looks at the career paths of doctorates and the first sentence, the first sentence says this, for more than 20 years there has been a documented shortage of doctorates in mathematics education. Whilst this shortage affects multiple career paths, it is particularly acute for mathematics education faculty positions in higher education. As a result of this shortage, there have been national efforts to increase the number of doctorates. So what does that tell me? That tells me that if you get a doctorate in maths education that you will find a faculty position relatively easy. If you look at the data, look at this, in mathematics education about 60% of doctoral graduates remain in their initial faculty position upon completing their doctorate. That is massive. If you ask me from a science perspective, you know, you are begging people to employ you, looking for all the scunge money. Here, most people finish their PhD and stay on at the faculty that they started in. And why do they leave? Let's have a look at the data. The most frequent reasons for changing jobs. In the sciences and other places, it's like, oh, I run out of money. There was no funding. I didn't get tenure. Here, it was just a new job aligned with my career goals. Greater opportunity for advancement. Salary increase. Those are the top three reasons for leaving their job. Now, in other places, the way you get a PhD, like, you just don't rock the boat. You just stay where you are. You just sort of keep applying for funding because you are going to lose your job at any moment. But with a PhD in maths education, it looks like there's plenty of opportunities. People are moving for the right reasons and there's a 20-year shortage of these graduates. So, I would say a PhD in maths education, if you're that sort of person, is going to be a good place to go. Engineering. Engineering is a place where PhDs are valued. Not only valued in academia, but valued in industry. Let's take a look at the data. I found this and this is from the National Science Foundation and it's statistics from 2017. But if you look at the breakdown of different fields, engineering, most of them, 72% end up in business, in industry. That's huge. That tells me that there is a place for these people in industry. It means that industry knows how to incorporate PhDs into their processes and systems and only 14% stay in higher education and research. So, that tells me that it's a fantastic PhD to do if you really want to apply your stuff outside in industry. The same is true for like earth sciences, mathematics and computer sciences. And where it really kind of starts to break down is life sciences, psychology, social sciences and humanities. And that is just because there's no industry to absorb these people and I would argue that a lot of these people in higher education and research are actually staying on in postdocs that are short-term, aren't super valuable to their careers and it's just like a holding pattern. So, yeah, engineering. I can see that being a fantastic PhD if not only you enjoy sort of like the process of engineering and application, but also if you actually like money and you like to have a job afterwards. The last best PhD to do is one where you are in a country that requires advancement in a particular academic field. Now, what I mean by this is this paper. So, we often hear that there are too many PhDs. We hear it all the time. I've said it probably on this channel. And if you look at the sort of increase in PhDs relative to the number of academic positions, it's like it's completely sort of at odds with each other. There's a huge increase of PhDs and there's very little increase in academic positions, which they are arguably only really trained to enter. So, that is an invalid argument apparently for countries developing their scientific and academic systems. And in this case, it's Portugal, this paper. And this was great to hear, right? It means that countries that want to develop their scientific and academic systems are going to put a higher value on retaining PhDs in their country. That means there's going to be more job opportunities. That means it's going to be highly valued by government that want to retain that knowledge and that information in their countries. And it's a fantastic thing. For example, I know of people who have come from Brazil to Australia, done a physics degree or PhD, gone back to Brazil and have been guaranteed, yes, guaranteed, that word, guaranteed an academic role in a university because they want to bump up the academic capability of Brazil's economy, of their country. And if you look at your country and what it needs, it can be a fantastic opportunity to look at further education as a way to access, you know, higher pay, a permanent job, look at the the benefits, I guess, that certain countries offer. So if your country is in a position where it wants to grow its economic, its scientific, its academic kind of capability, then any PhD on that government's kind of watch list, that government's kind of priority list, means that it is a great PhD to do because it can set you up in these cases for life. So there we have it. There are the best PhDs that you could possibly do right now. Now, no one really knows what the job market is going to do in five years, i.e. if you were to start a PhD now, what will happen? But I think these are areas where there is a good chance that your PhD will be valued, not only by you because you'll be so awesomely sort of like proud of yourself, but also by industry and people outside of academia. So let me know in the comments what ones you would add to that list and also there are more ways of engaging with me. The first way is to sign up to my newsletter. Head over to andrewstapeton.com.au forward slash newsletter. The link is in the description. When you sign up to my newsletter, you'll get five emails over about two weeks, everything from the tools I use, the podcasts I've been on, how to write the perfect abstract, my TEDx talk and more. It's exclusive content, only available for free. So go sign up now and also go check out academiainsider.com. 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