PhDs and professors

studentphil

So is it true that to have a career as an academic -unless you are really lucky and in the right place at the right time- you must have a PhD?

[Deleted User]

Pretty much phil, a PhD is needed for the standard progression through the academic ladder.

In fact if the people who think Phil is a fictional character created for research purposes are correct it would most likely be arts research into the way people interact over the internet, the identities we create for ourselves and the way we relate to those of others.

I'm not sure this 'Phil' character would pass any ethics committee..

melancholly

studentphil wrote: »

So is it true that to have a career as an academic -unless you are really lucky and in the right place at the right time- you must have a PhD?

why are you asking the same question over and over again after so many people have already answered it?

[Deleted User]

Because he's applying for a job at a uni... but from the sounds of it it's not an academic post anyhoo

studentphil

ringo_24601 wrote: »

Because he's applying for a job at a uni... but from the sounds of it it's not an academic post anyhoo

In fact the fact I am looking into a job at a university has nothing to do with this thread as it was started before I knew this job existed.

Voyager2002

studentphil wrote: »

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/profile19724.html

Do you mean they give you a honorary doctorate or a proper one?

For most purposes an honorary doctorate is a proper one.

Anyway, someone who has published many books/articles could apply for a doctorate on the basis of published research, and that would certainly be an "earned" doctorate and so would be just as 'proper' as a doctorate obtained by submitting a thesis after a period of supervised research.

Voyager2002

studentphil wrote: »

So is it true that to have a career as an academic -unless you are really lucky and in the right place at the right time- you must have a PhD?

Not quite.

For a more recent example than Chris Freeman, google Helen Reece at Birkbeck College, London. She is an expert on family law, and has been promoted from Lecturer to Reader (skipping the grade of Senior Lecturer, which is the usual first promotion). Reader is a kind of lower-grade professor, and the next promotion is to full professor.

Anyway, she does not have a PhD. She once told me that when her first serious book was published she gained the same status and position as if she had done a PhD.

In general, getting a PhD is a lot easier than the other routes to getting that kind of status. Therefore someone who makes it as an academic without a PhD is likely to be even brighter and more hard-working than the other kind, and so perhaps more likely to become a professor.

Need_More_Money_2

Voyager2002 wrote: »

For most purposes an honorary doctorate is a proper one.

Anyway, someone who has published many books/articles could apply for a doctorate on the basis of published research, and that would certainly be an "earned" doctorate and so would be just as 'proper' as a doctorate obtained by submitting a thesis after a period of supervised research.

D.Sc. is earned in this way having shown a significant contribution to your field. Although the only person I know with a D.Sc. has a Ph.D. as well

Voyager2002

Need_More_Money wrote: »

D.Sc. is earned in this way having shown a significant contribution to your field. Although the only person I know with a D.Sc. has a Ph.D. as well

Well, a D.Sc. is an example of what is called a Higher Doctorate. For lesser mortals, who have published research of the standard of a PhD rather than of a DSc, it is possible to get a doctorate on the basis of their publications. This is the route followed by academics who do not have a PhD but find they need one.