I can understand your reasons for wanting to do another PhD but I'm not sure it's a good idea as it's unusual for people to do a second PhD! Most people have had enough after doing their first one and then want to move on with their lives. A PhD opens doors to other opportunities you may not have had or previously thought about! What about doing a RA post - there is less pressure there to publish and you would probably get flexible hours as long as you check with your supervisor as academia is very flexible!

However, in current situation there are definitely more PhDs going than anything else so you might as well give it a go! I've seen some really interesting PhDs that I think would make great postdocs but that's not to be especially as it's so much cheaper to get PhDs in to do the work! You need to be prepared for questions as to why you want to do another PhD? Can you get experience in Education by other means e.g. RA, work experience etc...?

It's great you are enjoying your PhD so much which makes a change from the stories here. :p

I will survive ... applies to PhDs!

I agree with Dunni - it was done as an excercise to cover staffs' backs if they haven't been doing their job. We had to submit minutes from our supervisory meetings which could include any contact with supervisor, not just formal meetings which was a bit of a joke. No-one asked for them at the viva but if you wanted to complain about lack of support you have to lodge it in advance of viva so you couldn't say you didn't get support if you didn't paa your viva! It was just to tick some boxes to say you had adequate supervision!!!!!

Pros:
Doing more research (i.e. 2nd piece of major research if you haven't done research before PhD)
Become more knowledgeable/specialised in your research area (some suggest postdoc should be in a different area to PhD but can be within same field or you can switch to a related field if you can apply your knowledge/techniques)
Good research training for academia leading to more publications
Raises your research profile - lets you become more established. Most do a postdoc(s) before getting a lectureship (in sciences anyway, it's possible to go to a lectureship from PhD in social science)

Cons:
Short-term position
Very hard to get funding
If you don't want to go to academia it is a lot of hassle trying to get one - e.g. you can apply for advertised positions or approach a potential supervisor who will co-write a proposal with you to apply for funding.

Most people only pursue the postdoc route if they like research and want to stay in academia. It's not the easiest position to find especially in current economic situation! The funding often seems like a lottery as only a small percentage of proposals get funded by research councils, other funding bodies and charities in comparison to the number of proposals received. Research councils often have themes they promote so a lot of the funding will go to those projects.

But if you have to make multiple copies of such a long thesis it's going to cost a fortune especially if you use colour. I did a rough estimate on how much it'd cost me and got a shock as to print it out would cost as much to bind it!

I'm thinking of printing it off in the dept and then only paying for the binding at the uni! I might splash out on nicer paper! ;-)

It just goes to show that your supervisor's crazy and Sharkbait's point is proven!

But I agree with you on the confidence thing - I think that's half the battle! I think you've hit the nail on the head!

:p (up)

Know your thesis thoroughly which you of course will.
Know your weaknesses and how you can address them with suggestions for improvement as that may form a large part of the discussion. 
Be aware of the larger reading surrounding your topic so if you get asked if you could do this again what would you do differently or if you can/apply do your research elsewhere you can answer that.
Know where your work fits in into wider subject
Know what is original about it
Know the aims/objectives of what your are trying to achieve

You seem to have everything covered so I would not worry about it too much as it'll be fresh in your mind so the answers will come easily though easily said than done! Remember to take a deep breath, time to think and get a good sleep the night before so your are fresh the next day and not tired! 

You could revise what you think they'll ask but this is quite hard as they always ask stuff you don't expect and may go on a tangent depending on the interests of the examiners. You could do chapter summaries so this should help you breakdown the key themes in your thesis.

If you don't know something don't blag as I was told by my supervisors as they can see through that!

The structure of my viva was to start off with the "easy" more general stuff before going into more detail about my results and analyses!  Funnily enough they didn't really ask what I thought they would really go into detail about as I had spent ages swotting up on them and less so on the stuff they did ask so you never can tell. They did sort start to go off on a tangent into an area I was less familiar with as it was loosely connected with my project but what one of my examiners is into so I told them the general answer and said I didn't know more detail as it wasn't the focus of my research.

I hope this helps.  You'll be fine as you know it all having been studying it for the past few years. Think of it more like a long chat (probably the longest one you'll have on your research ever!) where you can show them what you know especially as you are the expert!  Remember to have confidence to say what you think and get your point across! It's something I wished I had more of as I can think of things now that I wished I had said or answered differently!
Good luck  (up)8-):p

I totally agree - it's really tough out there at the mo!  It's probably to do with the competition which seems to have upped the stakes so a lot of people (some probably who are over qualified) are applying for fewer positions so what you didn't need much experience except a PhD previously now requires X amount of experience, X no of papers and a PhD! Unfortunately this seems to be happening to postdocs and even temporary teaching positions which don't require a finished PhD but the people getting them have done at least 1 postdoc or taught modules/got papers published etc...  It really is demoralising and I hope they increase the spending soon so we can all get jobs!!! It's a pain to go through all the effort of a PhD and not to be able to get a job you want!  At least you are getting interviews so that is really good! Confidence is also a big thing which has already been pointed out - it's also how you project yourself which helps you blag the job!  You may not be the best suited candidate but if you can sell yourself they maybe willing to train you in the skills they need!!!

Good luck (up)

I think it helps break up the text as a good diagram is easier to read than a block of text so I'd agree with the others! You know the old cliche that a diagram is worth a 1000 words so I have often wondered if I could just fill my thesis with pics instead! ;-)

Good luck for the last part - you've made it this far in tough circumstances which sound familiar so you can do it!  It's really tough not having the support network you need as it's hard enough to do a PhD without having supervisor problems!  

As for the dept that seems to be a common practice of brushing problems with difficult supervisors under the carpet so everybody knows about it but nobody does anything about it! That's one of the unfortunate problems with academia in that it protects its own so unless you make a formal complaint nothing is done!  It's really a catch 22 situation as it depends on how much clout and influence they have as if they are a big fish in a small pond (dept) you are in trouble! It depends on their reputation as well as they may make trouble for you if you stay on in academia.  But if they are a small/medium fish in a large pond they'll have less influence and won't be able to get away with such behaviour so easily!

As for your supervisor belittling you I think it show his sense of insecurity that he takes it out on others especially students who are an easy target as a lot of PhD students are just overwhelmed by it all and have their own insecurities to deal with! Doing a PhD is a very emotional experience like being on a rollercoaster and constantly under pressure to perform, keep up with all the work, get results, deal with problems often with data collection or analysis!  At least you know that you're not alone not that this really helps but it is somewhat comforting to know that it's not through anything you've done!  He just has an impossible personality and a lack of social skills to get along and work with!

Just think how satisfying it'll all be when you finish and show him that you managed to get it all on your own! Not so "stupid!"  And then if he doesn't help don't put his name on the publications as I suspect that is what he really cares about which will be a real thorny issue!  

I am glad you've made the decision to leave - it'll be so much easier if you don't have to be around him and his negativity which is enough to wear even the most confident and optimistic person down! Remember you are a survivor and have the battle scars to show for it! It becomes less painful as time wears on and to put a positive spin on it - nothing will be as hard again and you'll know how to deal with such people in the future!  I think as PhD students you feel less able to deal with such issues particularly as your future is wrapped up in the PhD so we often don't want to jeopardise it!

Good luck - you can do it and I hope you get the support you need to finish it!  Good luck with your move to the UK. It'll be a good change of scenery and away from the source of the pressure which has been making you miserable! (up)
:p

Supervisors don't get paid but it's part of the job although some take this more seriously than others! It depends on the dept and uni as Ady has said but I have heard of it when a supervisors get time off teaching (e.g. half a module) as they are supposed to spend that time with their student instead!  Of course this is all theoretical and only works if you have a decent supervisor who is actually willing to help! Some supervisors take the line ... it's your research so go and do it!

As for presents that is totally up to you!  I don't think they expect presents but it's nice to give Christmas cards. Sometimes people give a nice thank you (gift) at the end but you don't have to of course.  It depends how you have got on with your supervisors but it is a nice way to show your appreciation. ;-)

I think it's ok to put general ideas out there so people can read and get to know your work especially if someone reads it before the conference it would give you something to talk to them about. It's good to have a presence and be known for your work so a blog is a good idea to publicise yourself which is the key to getting on in academia. I wouldn't put your full results out there as you need to be careful incase someone runs off with your work as you never know before you publish it so no you're not being paranoid.

It's natural to be protective of your work. I used to take my laptop everywhere when I carried it with me as I didn't want to risk losing it especially as it had my whole thesis on it!

hehe that would've been interesting! I've typed food instead of wood in my thesis so I must've been hungry! Good luck with the deadline and hope you don't have any delays. (up)

I don't know much about the uni but it's a lovely country. It's very clean and pristine with a lovely landscape that you can explore with lots of activities to do. You get a discount to the Blue Lagoon (an outdoor heated swimming pool which is a damned lagoon heated by the excess heat from the geothermal power station behind) with your Icelandic uni student card which is a bonus as that's a lovely place. Eating out is expensive but a lot better once you avoid the tourist places. Most of the population lives in Reykjavik which is quite small but then again the country doesn't have a large population.

That's great news - who knows what it might lead to? I'll keep fingers crossed. 8-)