The PhD Journey in Agricultural and Rural Innovations at Makerere University: Seven years of experience

The PhD journey is a systematic process of both academic and personal development for the doctorate student. The PhD journey is systematic process involving a decision on the topic, choosing an appropriate supervisor, managing the challenges of supervision, back and forth methodological planning of your research and writing up the thesis. The doctoral journey is a collaborative process in which networks of support between people and institutions are established to contribute to production and development of the PhD study. The PhD journey is an emotional, spiritual, intellectual and stressful journey. The PhD journey is also a lonely, endless, frustrating and full of rejection from peers and supervisors. The PhD journey is full of competition from fellow PhD students and supervision challenges. The PhD journey is also composed of institutional, faculty and departmental politics. It involves a struggle between academicians and supervisors to increase individual research output or retard completion rate of students of fellow academicians and supervisors within the same department or within the same faculty or within the same University. Therefore, for successful and timely completion of the PhD, there is need for establishing networks of support with fellow PhD students, other academicians, and supervisors, extensive reading, self-learning, self-management, persistence, good communication, diversity management, proper planning, commitment and determination and continuously appreciate your uniqueness.