The proposed timetable does sound like a good idea. You can start out by just discussing the issue and then bring out the timetable when you need to prove your point. Sounds like she is gonna be pissed anyway, but you need to do what's right for you, and she'll get over it. What she's expecting you to do isn't possible in the timeframe and you have to protect your goal of finishing in three and a half years. Best of luck Keenbean, be brave! (up)

Spag bol :-)

======= Date Modified 05 Apr 2010 15:11:34 =======
Hey, a bit more information would be helpful. A few questions... Firstly what's your background? (Neuroscience, psychology, maths, computing etc).

Secondly, is it fMRI you're interested in?

If that's your field, there's a couple of ways to approach it. In places with a greater focus on neuroscience (and more so in Europe) you'd be looking for a project that comes with funding. If you're more into psychology/cognitive science (and looking for a studentship in the UK) you'd probably be looking at choosing a supervisor, designing a project together, then applying for funding.

But that really depends on what you want to do... e.g. do you want to use neuroimaging to find out something about the brain? do you want to work on how to process brain signals? do you want to work with humans or animals?

I think there are some more neuroscience people here, if you give us some more info we can point you in the right direction. :-)

Trebuchet MS. Won't use anything else. :-)

That's an interesting question, one I've been thinking about lately but don't have any answers to.

Right now I'm at an early stage in my PhD and one of my supervisor's other students (in the final year of his PhD) has been helping me with a lot of stuff e.g. learning data collection and analysis techniques. This is stuff that he had to work out for himself in the earlier years so obviously I have the advantage in having someone to help me. He's also the first PhD student my supervisor ever had. For my own project, my supervisor has a much better idea about the timescale - what would be achievable and when we have to reach certain milestones in the project. But I know that he didn't plan very well for the other student and as a result their PhD will take a year longer than expected and will not give great results.

So sometimes I think it's a little unfair because I have way more support and he's a more experienced supervisor now. There's always a disadvantage in being the first person to try something I guess is my point.

For your specific situation, I'd say that unless you're working together and will publish together, you should put up a bit of a boundary. After all, if she gets a nice result, she's not gonna put your name on her publication, is she? Intellectual advancement is a two way street. ;-)

Don't worry about it, what you did sounds absolutely fine. I'd mention to your supervisor that you contacted him just to keep him up to date with what you're doing. It's not unusual to tell everyone you know that you're looking for a post-doc and to solicit advice from anyone who has experience with the job market :)

======= Date Modified 10 Mar 2010 16:35:11 =======
Edit: never mind, this thread is nearly a year old...

Hey, cognitive neuroscience is my field. I guess you are a UK student? Though I'm a bit confused about the undergrad distinction thing.

Generally in psychology/cognitive neuroscience doing a masters is the norm. But you'd be a very good candidate for funding so I'd suggest to do the masters as part of a 1+3 studentship. As an RA, did you ever work on any neuroscience research? If not, the masters year would give you a chance to pick up a lot of the skills you need - programming experiments, training in MRI data acquisition, data analysis etc. Knowing this stuff can save you a lot of time during the PhD.

Psychology (cognitive neuroscience) :-)

Good lab always beats good uni (IMO).

Slightly off-topic, but did anyone not have to do an interview for a PhD place? I'm referring only to people who didn't apply for an advertised position with the topic already specified. In my department, we just don't seem to do them!

Keenbean, it's funny how much variation there is even within a field. I am also in psychology, and authorship on most papers I've read puts the PhD/postdoc who the project primarily belongs to first, the supervisor or lab head last, then everyone else in the middle in order of greatest contribution.

Think you guys are right about the bias toward science - I am a scientist and got 35% 8-)

Yes, I'm a geek. ;-) I almost think you have to be to do a PhD, it's our job to be obsessed by one question for years...

Hey Satchi,

it's 'the majority of girls do'.