My stipend is funded directly by a RG University and 3-6 month extensions due to COVID-19 are unfunded. UKRI funded students are getting funded extensions as far as I am aware.

Try not to get disheartened. When I mention postdocs I don't get encouragement, industry jobs are instead mentioned and actively promoted to PhD students. Partly this is due to there being far more PhDs than postdocs. I haven't been supported as much as I would have liked, my references come from co-supervisors.

Getting your research published is important if you want to do a postdoc, so your supervisor may have a point about the writing.

I also had to provide an academic CV and 1 page statement of interest, which from research online is a bit different to a cover letter. All in all seems the bar was set high at the application stage for this one.

For this particular university it was the only Postdoc advertised that required papers to be submitted as part of the application, others just required that the CV contained a list of publications. I have only been looking for a few months but I have not seen this on any other advert I have looked at. This was listed as a compulsory requirement for the application process for this particular post. This post is directly relevant to my PhD research and the first I have seen which has been.

Hi,

I am aiming to have my thesis submitted by the end of this September. I started looking into postdocs recently and came across one that suited my skills and interests very well. As part of the application process 3 papers were required to be submitted. I emailed about this beforehand as to meet that requirement one paper would be at draft stage, I was advised that would be okay. The deadline for submission was 10 days ago and I haven't heard anything. As this is the first postdoc application I don't know what to expect. For those who have had experiences of applying for and securing these roles what have you encountered in respect of timescales?

I will also add that due to having encountered bullying in the first year of my PhD, and the University I am at not resolving issues or supporting me in any way, I have had to work very independently on my PhD with a little external support.

Sounds positive. I recall having to get in contact to arrange my first meeting, with the supervisory team. This was quite formal and uncomfortable. I recall asking questions, trying to anyway, and finding things were not as I had expected in any way. I don't think my experience was normal though, it sounds like you don't have anything to worry about.
Your meeting sounds like it will be quite relaxed and its just to help you to get settled. Maybe ask about how the supervision will be organised, frequency of meetings etc.

Congrats. How far are you from completing your PhD? I have been thinking about when the best time to start applying for postdocs will be (also in science). I probably wouldn't be able to start a position until next Jan.

You had a lack of support in your RA role and were dealing with a complex situation you should not have been left alone to deal with like it sounds you were. This put you under a lot of stress. It clearly still affects you how things were left with your Department so I would advise getting in contact as I think this would help you. I would disagree with putting statements like 'I do not expect a reply' however. Personally I would start with saying what you are doing know, hopefully you are getting on well with the PhD and could mention that. Try to keep the message positive and not too long. Then mention your previous RA role and briefly the issues you were dealing with without naming the student concerned and impact this had on you, and then apologise for what you had said. I'm pretty sure they will understand. I emphasise keeping this brief as they are more likely to then read and reply to the message.

Some places I applied to informed me that with an undergrad masters like you have I was at a disadvantage compared to those with an MSc, and I had a 2:1 from a RG university. Your chances are very low I'm afraid. I think you would likely need to complete an MSc or MRes and get a good result to have a chance of getting accepted onto a fully funded PhD anywhere. There were PhDs which I could not be considered for at RG Universities as they specified that a 1st is required, generally its at least a high 2:1 and I speak from experience of applying for science PhDs at RG Universities. While you may be capable of doing a PhD requirements can be set by the funder in respect of the degree result you must have achieved and generally its so competitive to get a fully funded place that with a 2:2 you just wouldn't make the shortlist.

I've experienced some pretty horrendous bullying since starting my PhD. I have persevered and I am now nearing the end of my second year. I have presented work at two conferences through which I've published and a workshop, I won grants/ awards to attend all of these. I have first authored all of my publications, a collaborator looked through these and made comments and was named as second supervisor but its mostly my own work. My project is part of a £5M grant yet all requests for funding from this have been denied or just ignored, the PI is only giving funding to the students he supervises it seems where I am based. Hence why I've had to apply for external funding to present my work. I'm the only one he doesn't supervise. There are other Universities who are part of this project and the PhD students at those all get funding from the grant to attend conferences and support their research. I subsidise my lab work with personal funds. Recently 18 researchers were sent to one international conference (mostly staff). They still however include my deliverables in reporting for this grant. This doesn't seem right but I've not been able to do anything about this, any advice?

Find out the timescales regarding the University's complaint process, these should be online, if you can't find this information the Students Union should be able to provide this. If the University do not respond within the time they state a response should be given I advise contacting the OIAHE, you won't be able to send your case to the OIAHE if you choose to until you have a completion of procedures letter, but the OIAHE can get in contact with the University if they fail to respond to the student in a timely manner during the internal complaints process.
Although you have finished the PhD you may still encounter issues, should you need an academic reference reference or if you intend to publish papers on your PhD work.
It is not always possible to address issues directly with individuals concerned, this can depend on the personalities of those you are dealing with, culture within that area, management etc. You have a right to make a complaint.
You are welcome to contact me directly. I'm a student who has encountered supervision related difficulties.

Just apply for the PhD, you could also apply for an MRes/ MSc as a backup. I know a few students who got 1st class batchelors degrees who went straight from BSc to PhD. You will find there are 1+3 programmes also, integrating an MSc and PhD.

If you have only heard bad things about the new PI, who has interviewed you four times!, then my advice is to stay well clear of that one. You would likely be going from one bad situation to another, I've read other cases on this forum of that happening when people are desperate to get out of a bad situation. I've not heard of anyone being interviewed four times before. I don't think staying on where you are and getting one extension after another is a good situation at all. The PI will just get more annoyed and you are not likely to get development opportunities if they know you are leaving. Ideally you should have found a new position then given notice. Given the bad blood etc. my advice would be just to leave your current position and do something else for a while, preserve your health.

In my experience of applying for PhDs a few years ago, if you haven't been shortlisted typically you won't hear anything from the University again, not even to say you have not been shortlisted. Its not a good sign that the head of the course hasn't responded, admissions seemingly won't get involved and the person you spoke to on the phone didn't call back when they said they would. What you describe would put me off that particular University. I would strongly advise applying elsewhere.

Hi Tudor, the US University have offered to support me as a visiting researcher if i am not successful with Fulbright. It might just be a bit more of a battle to get my current University to accept the arrangement without it being part of Fulbright.