I really like Girls Aloud 'Biology', in fact (blushing) I have their album on my MP3 player (it's good for the gym, nice lively tunes for the treadmill!)

I'm here

You too! Hope it works out

If I were you, I'd say great thank you to the UK paper presentation and also say that if it's all right with them, can the abstract not be published (other than in the meeting literature) because you are hoping to also present the data at an international meeting.

BTW, I'm not suggesting that you do need to be worried! I'm guessing that it's the smaller conference that may not publish the results anyway? In which case I doubt there'll be a problem if you ask them not to.

Re: agreements

Was there any 'small print' when you submitted the work? Anything about not having presented or published the data prior to the meeting? TBH, this is usually implied anyway if not deliberately spelled out. If you are worried, talk to your supervisors. If you are really worried, there is always the option of withdrawing your abstract from one of the meetings.

It depends...if one is a large national or international meeting, you may find that they put together the abstract book (which may be a supplement to a journal) ahead of the conference in which case you'd need to act now. On the other hand, if it's a small meeting, you may be asked at the meeting if you would like your abstract to be published at a later date. Your best bet is to ask someone (your supervisors?) who is familiar with how your meetings work or else to contact the meeting organisers.

Here's the BMJ teaspoon study

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/331/7531/1498?ehom

You can ask one of them (i.e. the least prestigious of the two!) not to publish your abstract.

I agree with Sylvester

hehe, yes, I especially liked the 'cold milk...' one
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/510044.stm

Don't you think Dr Fisher looks a wee bit like John Major?!

I expect he'd be delighted that you were interested in his work, especially if he ends up joining your supervisory team. I'd recommend chatting to your current supervisors about perhaps asking this lecturer to join your supervisory team before you e-mail to ask him, I think it would be the polite thing to do, you don't want to annoy your current supervisors! No harm in asking him whether you can borrown a copy of his dissertation straight away though (IMO).

Glad you are feeling a bit better - these sudden PhD moments of horror can real unsettle a person but most things can be overcome and may even turn out to your advantage in the end.

Have you/can you get a copy of the undergrad thesis? I bet that when you read it, you'll see lots of areas that have been only superficially addressed, after all this is an undergrad dissertation and even if it is excellent, the student will not have had the time (or the maturity or research skills) to address the topic in the way that a postgrad student can. I absolutely cringe when I look at my undergrad dissertation, even though I got a very respectable grade for it at the time!

Could this not be a blessing in disguise? Could you perhaps (having discussed it with your current supervisors) try to enlist the lecturer as a third supervisor? It sounds like you could do with a bit more enthusiastic input and I bet that lecturer would be full of ideas about how the work could be developed.

Does your work build on the work done previously in anyway i.e. larger sample size? You say the methodology is similar - how does your methodolody differ, can you build a case based on your more robust approach perhaps?

I think if I were you I would try to meet with your supervisors and explain that you have to make this project worthy of a PhD and ask them for advice on how you can develop it further. They have a duty to support you and help you achieve your goals. If you feel you are not getting the support you need, you should perhaps consider talking to someone higher up (chair of research degrees committee, head of graduate school?).