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Say someone wants to enroll in two unrelated disciplines: e.g. a Ph.D. in, say, Arabic Literature, and Ph.D. in, say, in Math Education.

I am not going into the capability of the candidate, or whether it is reasonable to seek multiple PhDs.

Is it logistically possible to work on two research projects at the same time?

What difficulties/barriers may come?

henning
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user366312
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    Universities are unlikely to allow you to enrol in a course if you're already enrolled in another. Plus I think it's basically impossible to do two PhDs at once. Where will you find the time?! – astronat supports the strike May 31 '20 at 16:55
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    No, and why would you do such a thing? –  May 31 '20 at 17:03
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    @Titus, one of my friends thinks that he is an "Einstein" type of genius and the only way to let the world know about it is to have multiple PhDs at the same time. – user366312 May 31 '20 at 17:05
  • @astronat: can you state the region for which your statement holds? In my region, for example, everyone could enrol in every program (including phd) with the exeption of medicine and a few others. (However, you would not get paid and would have to find a supervisor.) – user111388 May 31 '20 at 17:22
  • @Titus: could ypu state the region for which your statement holds? – user111388 May 31 '20 at 17:22
  • @user366312: are you interested worldwide or for a certain country? – user111388 May 31 '20 at 17:23
  • @user111388, which region are you from? I am interested in the Western sphere. – user366312 May 31 '20 at 17:23
  • @GoodDeeds, see the OP: I am not going into the capability of the candidate, or whether it is reasonable to seek multiple PhDs. – user366312 May 31 '20 at 17:25
  • @user111388 I do not refer to a region or whether it is allowed, I answer to whether two simultaneous PhDs are logistically possible. As in "humanly feasible". –  May 31 '20 at 17:54
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    If your friend is as smart as Einstein, perhaps he should follow in Einstein’s footsteps and pursue one PhD. Or does he think he is even smarter than Einstein was? – Dan Romik May 31 '20 at 18:43
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    @DanRomik Indeed. If one PhD is enough for Einstein, it should be enough for the friend. In fact, double PhDs actually don't look so good, they look as if the person wants to be an eternal student and do not plan for an academic career beyond the PhD (yes, I know there are exceptions); the more so, if they are simultaneous. – Captain Emacs May 31 '20 at 18:50
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    Closely related: https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/17232/is-doing-two-phds-a-good-path – Anonymous Physicist Jun 01 '20 at 01:13
  • Related Meta: https://academia.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/4623/contesting-a-duplicate-question-non-standard-career-path-and-two-phds/4642#4642 – Anonymous Physicist Jun 01 '20 at 01:16
  • Some people do two unrelated PhD, e.g. in optics and later in philosophy of science.. Doing both at once is foolish – Basile Starynkevitch Jun 01 '20 at 09:47

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Well, anything is possible that isn't impossible. But the obstacles would make it extremely unlikely if they are quite different fields. It would also probably result in work that is less than superior, which the same sort of person might achieve had they focused on one field (at a time). Some obstacles:

A single university would have a hard time accepting it, so you need to deal with that. Two different universities permitting you to pursue degrees simultaneously? Maybe you need to hide each from the other. This could lead to problems if either becomes aware.

A given advisor would be likely to oppose it, thinking that the person isn't giving enough to studies in that field. Do you need, again, to hide what you are doing?

You may need to pay for at least one of the programs as getting TAs or whatever in two fields is both hard and would require too much time in itself. (Varies by country, of course)

You need to do what ever coursework is necessary in both programs to be able to pass two very different sets of comprehensive exams (many/most places).

You need, of course, to do the required research in some narrow area in two non-synergistically aligned fields.

And, if your "friend" just wants to do it as a challenge, sure, why not. Spend six or seven years (more?) chasing a crazy goal just for the hell of it. And possibly fail at both. Seven years older, deeper in debt.

Now, having succeeded, you need to find a job, probably abandoning everything you did in one of the fields. This last is what actually makes it sort of foolish. It would be a difficult (impossible?) quest to get multiple appointments in a single university and many universities wouldn't permit you to hold a regular appointment at another.

Some people do get multiple terminal degrees, though usually more closely aligned. Some people find themselves dissatisfied in the field they first qualify in and move to something else. But even these cases are pretty rare.

Fun as a thought experiment, though.

Buffy
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    Just to point out that the vast majority of European PhDs don't contain any coursework, so the point about having to pass two different sets of exams wouldn't apply there. I agree with everything else! +1 – astronat supports the strike Jun 01 '20 at 08:17
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Harsh perspective? Frankly its not a good look to have two PhDs that are the same kind of qualification - even if they are on two completely different topics.

Professional accreditation is a bit different (I would prefer my doctor to have a medical degree rather than being an expert on Heidegger's later works (The Question Concerning Technology notwithstanding)).

And sure you could collect 10 PhDs at the same time if you really wanted to (I hear mail-order degrees are great for that ;-)).

Rightly or wrongly PhDs are regarded as opening a door to advanced work in a particular discipline.

The harsh take on that would be to wonder why they kept opening doors and not walking through them (i.e. building their career in the relevant discipline(s)).

However - fundamentally education is about opportunity. If the student needs the opportunities they will have access to through doing a second PhD then I'm all for it. I would never recommend it. I don't think an applicant should be rejected because they already have the same qualification (although this may be an issue in some countries regarding entitlement to tuition subsidy).

Most institutions have provisions in their terms of candidature that specify some kind of commitment in terms of workload and availability. So technically in that respect two part-time degrees might work.

Consider also that in each case there will (or at least should) be a panel of at least three academics. That means six academics signing forms for two projects. If the idea is to enrol concurrently, surely there could be one sensible project proposal which bridges both fields of research and gets the candidate where they want to go?

Collega
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    . I know a high school teachers who does in her free time phd degrees (she is now at the forth) in different disciplines. She enjoys researching but of course cannot work as a postdoc (as that would mean giving up her school work which she enjoys even more). Studying is not for everyone about "what looks good on my CV and what is good for my career". – user111388 Jun 01 '20 at 09:18
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Is is logistically possible? Probably, but as Buffy pointed out, most universities are unlikely to allow it because it's infeasible. Even assuming that your friend was intellectually capable of handling two Ph.D's, can he afford to fund both of them, including all the travel for research/conferences etc.? (I doubt he'd get funding for two programs.)

At the very least, completing two Ph.D.'s simultaneously sounds insanely stressful.

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    There are phd programs (mostly in the Humanities) which are treated like "a long Master thesis": you have no office, are nit expected to produce papers, be at conferences, don't get paid. All you have to do is produce a worthy phd thesis (of course wirh original research). Definitely bad if you want to have a career in your field, but if you are resarching for fun (see my comment about the highschool teacher), ideal. – user111388 Jun 04 '20 at 07:26