PhD advice for first-year PhD students. Starting a PhD and moving from taught classes to research can be lonely and it can be difficult to know what to do. Reflecting on my PhD journey and some of the challenges I have faced in these later stages, I am now sharing 16 things that you should do in the early stages of your PhD to maximise your success for the duration of your PhD. I have also included some things you should not do. I hope this video can be helpful to anyone doing a PhD or interested in doing a PhD. If you have any other tips please leave them in the comments so that we can help others on this journey.