Q: Is it a good idea to present a chapter from my PhD dissertation at an international conference and develop it into a full-length journal article?

You have provided a detailed outline of your situation, posing your query toward the end. However, on going through your description in equal detail, we understand that while your overt query is about ‘What recent PhDs do,’ what you seem to need more help with is deciding whether or not you should go ahead with the presentation. So, we shall first respond to that.

Going ahead with the conference

You have already been accepted for speaking at the conference, and it's an international conference. Plus, you are eager to quickly gain presentation experience (in addition to publishing experience). So, you should not forego this opportunity and indeed go ahead. There are many reasons for this. Turning back now may sour things a bit with the conference organizers. As academic circles are sometimes tightly knit, word of this may filter out to other organizers, possibly impacting your credentials right when you are starting out. While that is a reason from the cautionary side, from the positive side, conferences provide a lot of exposure to both your research and you. They are a great avenue for connecting with researchers from across the world and various fields, laying the ground for future collaborations. They also boost your ability to communicate your research to a live, involved audience. In short, you should really go ahead. For more benefits of attending conferences, you may refer to this piece: Making connections at international conferences

Coming up with material for the journal article

Now, you are concerned that in presenting your study at the conference, you may not have much new material to build into a journal article. So, two points here. One, you may end up getting a lot of new ideas at the conference that may lay the ground for not just this article but many other articles. Two, if you indeed don’t get any information after this, that’s okay too. You will get other ideas from other sources, which you can build into many new articles later.

The (new) PhD Life

To answer your actual question, yes, many new PhDs are eager to begin building their credentials, via publications, presentations, or both. Which is again why we suggest that you not let go of the opportunity you have right now.

However, if you wish to know what other PhDs would do in such a situation, you may consider sharing your query in Researcher Voice, a group on Facebook that brings together researchers and academics from across the world, talking about their work, inspirations, challenges, and motivations, in the process, providing valuable insights and inputs to each other.

If you’d like to know more about what other PhDs have done or are doing, shared through personal accounts, you may like to check out the PhD Life section of our Researchers and Their Stories section. You could share your own story here, such as on how the conference went, whether live or virtual (in the times of COVID-19).

We’ll leave you with some helpful resources, and of course, wishes for the conference or whatever you eventually decide. All the best!

Relevant resources:

• What are the basic rules for submitting the same research to a conference and a journal?
• 8 Tips for presenting a paper at an academic conference
• The basics of converting your PhD thesis into journal articles