I have circulated my draft paper to my co-authors and having given them over a month to come back with comments, the deadline has passed and I have not heard back from some. I have sent a few reminders, but how long is it reasonable to wait for comments? I really want to submit this paper asap, but obviously I also want all the co-authors to be happy with what's being submitted.
What are your experiences, any good tips on how to get people to respond? What to do if they dont?

I know what you mean. I started with something and realised after some time that I would never achieve certain aims within the 3 years of PhD research. In fact some aspect of my work is bit of a dead end (but that is not to say that no science has come of it). Luckily I am also involved in other aspects of research, so I focussed much more on them. I think that whilst your project might not be doable as it was invisaged at the beginning, there might be still some good/PhD worthy research in it. I know that sometimes it is immensly frustrating working on something that does not yield results, so I suppose you have to develop the skill of asking the question that you can answer. As the previous poster said, looking for an aspect that no one else has checked before could be a good starting point. It is important to remember that there needs to be something original in your work, so developing a new approach/methodology/procedure/analysis tool will be good, especially if your overall results are not "amazing".
You are right in flagging this issue of "undoable" project, and I think it is important to keep your sup aware of it (all the time), because it can happen that come end of Year 3 and no results have come out of the project ( I have seen it and swore to myself that I would not be in that situation)... so, yes, stay flexible, maybe you need to change your approach/project focus at some point, and when you do, don't hesitate to do it, i.e. decide with your supervisor that you need to change tack otherwise you won't get a PhD.... Giving yourself (and sup) a deadline for achieving certain things, otherwise you "move" on to another aspect could be useful..
Best of luck.

It is sad to say, but yes, staff can be very unprofessional, e.g. bad-mouthing their students, gossiping etc. Although I understand that I am a student and thus my standing/position within the university is different, in the end, I want to be seen as a peer by fellow students and by the members of staff. For some people (esp. staff) it is not possible to see how one has progressed from UG to PhD and finally Dr/postdoc and they will always treat one slightly like a student. Because some cannot move/upgrade others in their perception from one pigeonhole to another (lets say PhD student to postdoc), I believe it is important to move institutions, to be able to completely reposition yourself and make a new impression. Having said that, I think, it can be useful to treat others as oneself wants to be treated, i.e. my sup is actually "just" a peer, meaning he/she will have an opinion on my work, but one should not overrate his/her opinion over one's own. Subtle sometimes does it. Do you guys know what I mean?

Apart from not using Excel for figures, what you can do to shrink your file size is this:
when pasting into Word, use Paste Special and choose "Picture" (or similar) and in that way it should be a smaller. But then your method is actually better because you will also have the figures as separate files... (I always find that useful).

Anu, just in case the "spear" thing is all still a mystery...

spear
noun [C]
1 a weapon consisting of a pole with a sharp, usually metal, point at one end, which is either thrown or held in the hand

2 a thin pointed stem or leaf:
asparagus spears

spear
verb [T]
1 to push or throw a spear into an animal:
They catch the fish by spearing them.

2 to catch something on the end of a pointed tool or object:
He speared a meatball with his fork.

AND
this meaning of "spare"

spare (EXTRA)
adjective
1 If something is spare, it is available to use because it is extra:
a spare key/tyre
spare sheets and blankets
Have you got a spare pen?
We've got a spare room if you want to stay overnight with us.
Could I have a word with you when you've got a spare moment/minute?
UK INFORMAL "Do you want this cake?" "Yes, if it's going spare (= if no one else wants it)."

2 spare time time when you are not working:
I like to do a bit of gardening in my spare time.

spare
noun [C]
1 an extra thing which is not being used and which can be used instead of a part which is broken, lost, etc.

2 a spare (part)

(from Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

Online dictionaries can be handy: http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

:-)

This is a good post and I am sure many of us have contemplated the timing issue. My partner and I figured that the "best" time for pregnancy during the PhD would be in the third year. This is based on having done most of the lab work by then (if all goes well) and coming to the writing up stage where you would be more flexible in where/when you could do the work, and not needing to come into the lab every day. I think it is very hard to do your PhD on full power and also plan for a pregancy and then young child, but no doubt it can be done (not that I have done it, but there are several people on this forum who have attested to this). As Pamplemousse pointed out, it all depends on your social network, support from your husband etc.

Mm, sometimes it is hard to pull oneself out of the dumps, but it seems you are doing okay and working at your situation. You should be happy with your 20 pages that you have read today (up) , and although sometimes it seems that progress is so slow/absent, the process of thinking about a topic is essential even if you dont have hard results at the end (you appreciate what you still dont know, where gaps are, where input from sup might be useful etc). Be compassionate with yourself and appreciate what you have achieved! Keep it up and self-praise in small chunks is definitely required..:-)

I dont know how strict ESRC is in terms of having to stick to the exact topic that you have proposed, but my experience is (from another research council) that once you get the PhD studentship funding, you can still change topics to some degree. Many people find that their original idea of what they would do for the three years of research changes and the research follows different avenues and paths as you go along. Surely the outcome from your Masters research will inform your PhD work, so my advice is to take it one step at a time. Do the Masters work first, find out whether you really do not want to work on that kind of topic/in that general field any more. And if you dont, (and you get the ESRC funding), speak to your supervisor about your changed perspective. If you still want work with her, suggest possible different angles, i.e. how you could revamp the current PhD proposal.
In the meantime I suppose it might be worth checking out how the research council views the funding for the PhD - do you get the money (i.e. you could go to another university and another supervisor) or is the studentship linked to your supervisor and specific proposal (in that case it's use it or lose it).
I hope it all works out.
Good luck...

I have read some of your posts, pamw, and this one sounds all good and positive. WOHEY! Ups and downs of life, and endless opportunities for change. Life is great, right?!

We all have days/phases like that.
Sometimes it can help to ask yourself why you feel like this - I mean why you feel the resistance to do the work that you know needs doing? If you are genuinely tired, not well, then dont beat yourself up about it, but decide to take the day off, and allow yourself not to think of work or that you "should be doing work". But if you are well, but feel this inner resistance ( I certainly know that I do at times), I find useful to ask myself why. Why do I feel like that? I have often found that either when something gets tedious or something is really hard/tricky that I feel like not tackling the problem. Then the best thing is to remind yourself that the only way is to do the work to get through it. Giving yourself a treat once you have achieved something can help as an incentive. You say you are behind with work - why not write yourself a schedule, breaking up bits of work into daily portions and then at the end of the day ticking things off, highlighting the achievements of the day! Do you know Joan Bolker's book "Writing your dissertation in 15min"? Lots of people on this forum found it useful, so maybe give it a go .. and reading that is easier than doing work;-)

If you know what university you want to go, or what subject area, check the departments website.

I can only emphasise what has been said before - create a papertrail yourself, and know what was decided when and when amendments were made. I can understand your siutation completely - you are in your first year and as well as guidance regarding the work, some general encouragement and some positive feedback would be nice, and good supervisors do give that, but alas, not all. I think doing a PhD is very much about developing a strength in yourself, and becoming more self-reliant. It is important to take on your supervisors comments and approaches (e.g re your methodology), but also follow your own thinking and "intuition". From what you describe, I think it will be key that you take a "professional" approach to meetings with your supervisor (that is not to say it has to be formal), but basically: be prepared (i.e. you have done your analysis) and have something to say and know how to defend yourself. So, if you have not thought about the First Year Review presentation yet, just say "Yes" anyway and highlight that you have been working on something else and that you will move onto the presentation at Date X. This way you give the impression that you are in control and aware of what is on the "to do" list. I don't think we need to be best friends with our supervisors to be comfortable with them and the best bet in dealing with supervisors is trying to always be ahead one step of them and their criticisms... Good luck with your alien:p

It might be worthwhile checking whether the universities (the ones you applied to) themselves offer scholarships. Sometimes there are a few (!) scholarships available for students from the Commonwealth, or more generally for international students. The lecturers/professors might not know about these necessarily, so check the universities websites, contact the international students office, alumni office etc. Sometimes this kind of information is not easy to find, so don't give up too quickly. Also, there might be other opportunities, e.g. British Council or maybe companies relavant to your studies provide some money.
As the previous posters pointed out - sometimes deadlines for these scholarship/funding applications are very early on, but that is not always the case. And yes, use the search (findaphd.com) and it is often clear whether there is funding associated with a project, and who is eligible for the funding. Good luck.

I cant say much about engineering and/or management, but I suppose there some key questions which you need to consider before making a decision on which topic to go for.
If you have read around the forum a bit, you will appreciate how hard it can be to do a PhD. Many of us were really good at UG level, and might even have excelled in a Masters, but remember, a PhD is a different beast. It takes 3-4 years (maybe longer) with constant challenges, you focus on a specific topic for extended periods of time(!), so therefore you really need to be motivated to do it. Different people get their motivation from different things: some love their topic, some want to really learn something new (e.g. your management side of things?), some enjoy labwork, fieldwork, literature work, some are motivated by what they are going to do with the qualification and the extra money that can bring. So ultimately you have to decide what it is that "motivator" is for you.
Also, is it maybe possible to do research that includes both engineering (with all the things you like about it) and management elements? Are there any PhD students in the department where you are doing your Masters who do just that? Maybe have a chat with them, what kind of topics they do, how things are combined...
Good luck.

First of all - the obvious: Don't panic.

Now, assuming your friend wants to submit asap and not rework whole sections of the thesis and take another 6 months to do that or so, I would say the following:

*Submit the thesis as is, or with an added section/paragraph highlighting some of the weaknesses of the methodology, but also explaining why it was used (e.g. the best one currently available, the one most suited for this kind of approach/problem, it is the "standard" one...)
*When it comes to the viva - know what the criticism of the methodology is, yes, where maybe errors were made, but also prepare for exactly these questions and defend the work.

Of course it is important to use the right tools, not make obvious errors, BUT it is also sometimes a question of being able to see one's own work in a critical light as well as defending the core outcomes/results/findings.

Hope that helps?!