PhD Students Have No Peer Group for ML Research
10 posts across 3 communities in the last 90 days; 50% from r/PhD.
“Hi everyone, I am an undergraduate Computer Engineering student from Syria, currently starting my penultimate year (expected graduation: 2028). Because local universities here lack frontier AI research infrastructure and advisors in modern deep learning, I am seeking guidance on…”
“Hey everyone! I'm applying for Fall 2027 PhD programs in AI/ML and have been looking into CMU. One thing I'm still trying to figure out is the difference between their three PhD programs: Machine Learning (MLD), Language and Information Technologies (LTI), and Computer Science…”
“I am 2nd years PhD student. Normally, I do my work without rely much on LLM, I use it mostly for study, explain stuff and also discuss some ideas. A bit of code since it help me out with some bug, developing some small module and I will check the code by myself. Since I want to…”
Many PhD students are expressing feelings of isolation, particularly those lacking access to mentorship or peer support. They're actively seeking AI tools and LLMs to assist with literature reviews, research critiques, and overall project guidance.
SOURCES (22)
“Hi everyone, I am an undergraduate Computer Engineering student from Syria, currently starting my penultimate year (expected graduation: 2028). Because local universities here lack frontier AI research infrastructure and advisors in modern deep learning, I am seeking guidance on how to navigate my next two…”
“Hey everyone! I'm applying for Fall 2027 PhD programs in AI/ML and have been looking into CMU. One thing I'm still trying to figure out is the difference between their three PhD programs: Machine Learning (MLD), Language and Information Technologies (LTI), and Computer Science (CSD). My research is mostly around foundation models, RL/post-training, efficient fine-tuning, and LLM agents, so I've actually found professors whose work interests me in all three departments. I know the obv”
“I am 2nd years PhD student. Normally, I do my work without rely much on LLM, I use it mostly for study, explain stuff and also discuss some ideas. A bit of code since it help me out with some bug, developing some small module and I will check the code by myself. Since I want to learn and know learning is hard and take time, need to fail and go wrong many time. But 2 months ago during summer until now, with the rush for result, I tried to use the CodeX and give it the permission to my code base a”
“What tools do you find most useful for doing research? Which LLM are you using? General ones like Claude, or ones for research like Elicit and Consensus? What’s the best way to use it, for example with skills in Claude? How do you work with AI for coding? Let it write the code or still do it by hand? Whats the best for educating yourself in a new field or topic? I’m still struggling to find the right stack so I’m excited to see what you guys use. My field is medical information science. su”
“Hey yeah I am in my second year of PhD working with large language models most of the time. I was looking to meet up with some fellow PhD students from any domain to form a group where we could talk about things other than research. I feel as PhD we all can understand each other mental space and can motivate each other to learn and grow in a positive way. I hope I am able to reach out right kind of people I am planning to host a small game night at my flat if I am able to meet some nice people a”
“Hi all, I'm looking for a part-time research opportunity (remote-friendly) in NLP and LLMs. I'd love for it to be paid, even if it's just a minimum/stipend rate — I'm mainly looking for interesting, meaningful work rather than a big paycheck. Background: Research focus: NLP, LLMs, model quantization, and LLM evaluation 1 published paper, 4 currently under review Comfortable working independently and picking up new subareas quickly If you're a lab, startup, or individual resea”
“Hi everyone, I'm current a phd student at an Australia university in ML/AI, and will join a top 10 university in a 3-month phd visiting at a good lab (the sup is big name, but his field is like only 70% matching with my topic, but has some student working in my topic in his groups), after pass their interview (I cold apply). I'm the first student in my group that will have a visiting phd, and I will try to have a paper within 2 months after return from the visiting. Can anyone give me so”
“This is a question specific to the phd candidates in CS or related fields. Does your institute/lab in any way provide AI subscription plans to assist in your research work? Some of my friends who work in corporate have access to the latest anthropic/oai models as the company bears their usage cost. Is a similar situation there for phd candidates as well? submitted by /u/M-E_Ration4004 [link] [comments]”
“I'm exploring Computer Science (In the United States) PhD directions and trying to understand where my interests fit. I'm interested in Agentic AI (LLMs, autonomous agents, tool use, multi-agent systems) and systems (distributed systems, OS, databases, infrastructure, reliability, etc.) I'm especially interested in applied Agentic AI—building scalable, reliable agentic systems for real-world domains (e.g., software engineering, scientific discovery), rather than purely theoretical AI”
“I'm about to end my undergraduate degree. It's BSc(Hons) in AI. I'm looking for some advice on choosing supervisors. How to find a supportive supervisor who can guide me through the phD journey? What are the best practices and the things you learned in the hard way? submitted by /u/Informal-Ad7318 [link] [comments]”
“I'm trying to understand what the workflow looks like in research labs (especially PhD labs and university groups) that work on LLMs, AI agents, or applied AI. I'm planning to study in graduate school in Computer Science. There are now a lot of agent frameworks and tools available, such as: OpenAI Agents SDK LangChain / LangGraph CrewAI Google ADK AutoGen Semantic Kernel MCP PydanticAI Agno Mastra Do research groups actually use these frameworks in their projects, or do they mostly imple”
“Hello everyone. I am currently pursuing research in the field of ML/AI. I have been offered some research topics and they’re biomedical related and machine learning based. Three of these projects are: Biomarker detection for Inflammatory bowel disease Brain disease analysis using few shot learning Walking/gait analysis for bone weakening disease All of these are within my research interests. However, I am confused about which one to choose. My main concerns are, which topic may be more recent wi”
“LLM's seem to make it so much easier to run experiments, write papers, etc. As a result, are we seeing phd students finish their phds sooner than ever before specifically in CS? If not, why not? submitted by /u/Alone_Reality3726 [link] [comments]”
“Hey everyone, I am currently finishing up my MSc in Computer Science with a focus on Knowledge Representation (KR). I really want to move into the Neurosymbolic AI (NeSy) space for my PhD, and I am looking for some solid recommendations on where to look in Europe. Since I want to make sure I adapt easily, research labs in English-speaking friendly countries would be amazing for a PhD position. Does anyone know of strong groups in Europe looking for PhD students in NeSy? I would love to hear abou”
“Hello all, I am planning to apply for phD at Canada and USA. I am interested in AI & HCI ideally centered around health domain. I am looking for some mentorship to guide me in the process. What is the ideal timeline for applications for these sessions? How to network with existing phD student in a lab that I am interested in? Where do u think funding opportunities would be the best? My background: I have a Bachelors in Computer Science and Engineering from a renowned University in Bangladesh”
“Hello, I am close to choosing my PhD supervisor and research direction, but I feel unsure because most of my PhD so far has been focused on coursework rather than independent research. Please give me a detailed, practical framework for how an economics PhD student can move from a broad interest to a strong research question. I want to know how to find research ideas, evaluate whether they are valuable academically and in the job market, narrow an interest into a specific question, identify liter”
“Hi everyone, I have a Bachelor's degree in Software Engineering and I'm interested in gaining research experience, potentially as a stepping stone toward a PhD. Over the past year, I've completed extensive coursework and hands-on projects in: LLM engineering RAG systems Agentic AI Multi-agent systems OpenAI Agents SDK LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen MCP (Model Context Protocol) Fine-tuning (LoRA/QLoRA) Vector databases and embeddings LLM evaluation and benchmarking Tool calling and struct”
“Hey everyone, I'm currently doing my Master's and planning to pursue a PhD in the future. I'm passionate about AI/ML research and love reading papers and keeping up with the latest advancements. I was thinking of creating a Discord community for people interested in AI/ML research. Whether you're working in Computer Vision, LLMs, applications, or any other area, it would be great to have a space where we can discuss papers, share ideas, and learn from each other. Since everyone b”
“Hi everyone, I’m currently working on an independent research project that combines computer science and psychological statistical analysis . Since I am currently fulfilling my mandatory military service in South Korea, I don't have immediate access to a mentor, advisor, or peers to bounce ideas off of. Because of this isolated environment, I’m trying to leverage LLMs as a virtual research assistant to help guide my project. I would love to get some recommendations on LLM tools or AI platfor”
“Hi everyone, I'm looking for advice on preparing for a second round of PhD applications. I recently completed a Master's degree in Computational Communication and applied to PhD programs in North America during the 2026 admission cycle. Unfortunately, the results were disappointing: I applied to 13 programs, received only one interview invitation, and was ultimately rejected. Here is my background: M.A. in Journalism and Communication (Computational Communication) GPA: 3.56/4.3 TOEFL: 98”