he he! it's good to see some good humour on this forum.

There are quite a few posts on this topic, try searching the archive for them. Other than that, what you are feeling is perfectly normal. You are right, you don't know all that much about your topic because you haven't spent 20-odd years studying it...yet! No-one can blame you for that.

I got asked some awful questions in my interview, but i could tell the interviewers KNEW they were awful questions, so I wasn't judged too harshly for giving crappy answers. Good luck for Tuesday, let us know how it goes.

jouri, asking for help IS a sign of intelligence. And surely talking to other PhD students (in other words: posting on this forum) is a way of finding out about conferences, tantamount to extensive Google searching.

cmcowen, you might find something on: http://evol.mcmaster.ca/brian/evoldir.html

Click on conferences. It's a bit more academic population genetics orientated, but I recall seeing things about conservation genetics on there before.

My plan is to win the lottery some time soon. Now that's a good plan, how can i fail?

Don't think there is an answer to this conundrum. knowing that we are not alone is plenty help. It's comforting. Feel a bit less isolated now...a bit.

I feel the same at the moment. I have a report that is now 2 months overdue; there's a backlog of data on my computer I need to anaylse; I SHOULD be doing lots of lab work at the moment; plus a million other things. And I know the next few months are only going to get worse.

I am finding the main thing that is holding me back is me! Even though I have so much to do, I am so demotivated lately. I find it very difficult to drag myself out of bed in the mornings and get stuck into it. I'm really underperforming at the moment. How on earth did I manage to get to PhD level with such a lazy attitude to work?

This is ridiculous, so much drama. It's like a fictitious soap! I am intrigued to see how this will turn out, though.

howdy

Pretty sure 5* is the highest, any department that tells you they are 6* are dirty rotten liars!

5* is the highest. Don't know how it is calculated, proabably something to do with number of publications, amount of funding coming into the department etc. it is probably calculated in a confusing and very boring way, which is why they have the 1 - 5* ranking system to make it appear simpler. the hero website should have details on how they do the calculations (www.hero.ac.uk)

I really don't feel like i deserve a break. Having said that, i'm going back home tomorrow for a couple of days to see friends and family, then back to uni on Saturday to do some work. Formula one is on this weekend so i'll probably end up watching that. Havent decided what i am going to do after that: i'll probably feel so guilty by the end of the weekend i'll end up working on Monday!

You'll be fine chris. No one knows more about your research topic than you. you'll be able to handle any question they throw your way with ease, you'll see. Good luck!

I know how you feel, xeno. The aims of the project (i.e. getting LOADS of data and ultimately publishing) often conflict with your own personal aims (i.e. trying to achieve a good work-life balance; broadening horizons; being happy, healthy etc). Supervisors have a nasty habit of writing PhD projects with the intention of hiring a ROBOT to do them.

You are not a robot (are you? ) so you cannot be expected to put in the ridiculous hours you supervisor is suggesting. I am sure if you carry on working the way you are, it will come together in the end

When i am at my desk, i get very easily distracted by the internet (hence my appearence on this forum ) I've started to get into the habit of unplugging my internet connection when i want to sit down and do some work. It works for about an hour or so, then i start to get paranoid that i am missing emails!

I am sure they would not have penalized you for nervousness. They understand that an interview-type situation is a stressful experience. If they were as positive as you say, that means that you must have made a good impression, i am sure it will be alright