Hey Timefortea, I'm still here getting the post viva minor corrections done! I think to be honest there is no ideal way of doing your PhD studies with children aswell unless you can guarantee child-free time! There will always be times when things are very mad and the studies take a back seat, but then things become more stable and lots of work gets done.  I always found that I was emotionally up and down with the guilt of spending enough time with my babies or spending time on my PhD. The compromise was always in favour of the children as it would be if you were employed in a job.

Hiccup - I think there are a few issues for you right now, your daughters health concerns and the events that you have been through with her.  You need some space to deal with these issues and they will be the forefront of your mind over your studies. This will affect your motivation to work on your PhD. I would suggest talking to your supervisor about the situation you are dealing with in order to see what options are available, as you clearly have extenuating circumstances. I am not suggesting you give this up for a moment, just maybe see if you can have a little breathing space - a few weeks out or p/t as an alternative.  You are obviously doing well so don't lose faith in your abilities to accomplish this.

I went with Dell and have been happy with it so far.  Hubby has a Dell and when he had an issue with the connectivity the helpdesk was excellent in fixing his problem over the phone. I would highly recommend an external hard-drive for backing up and storage to release the storage capacity of your laptop. Incidentally, when I got my laptop the uni had a discount scheme with Dell so I got some money off the purchase price, maybe worth checking if your uni has any such schemes running.

My sups have been really good and I think we have got on well throughout my part-time PhD.  Hopefully this will remain so while I get my final corrections done!

The idea of a supervisor rating system is great in an ideal world but I cannot see it working in reality. In the UK, a poor reference cannot be made for an employee and likewise I would think that a negative reference of a student or supervisor is not acceptable either.  Based on this, the ratings could only include positive attributes rather than negative due to litigation, deformation of character etc. Similarly, a student should not give bad feedback to a prospective student, rather decline to comment. There would be many ways of affecting the system via false students making fabulous reference or those with a grudge skewing the system.  In my clinical profession, the only way to make a informed decision on a clinician is to look at the stats, ie types of cases, mortality versus risk etc. Similarly, a system could be worked for supervisors on PhD student numbers, pass rate with minors, pass rate with majors, fails, length of study duration, funding £ etc.

Well done slowmo! It is such a relief to get your thesis submitted, isn't it? I would have some celebratory drinks and then take some time out from your thesis. I had a two week holiday with no books in sight! When you get back into it again I would read through your thesis with fresh eyes, noting errors, adding explanatory notes if needed and post it notes for the viva. Some viva prep planning is a good idea too. Hopefully, you won't have long to wait at least get a viva date to work towards.

So go and have some fun tonight :p(up)

Hi KB, I would take that time with your family for you to have some TLC and a break from this awful situation. Your sups behaviour was completely unacceptable. Focus on your PhD submission and viva. In a way it may be a blessing that everything was moved forward, knowing that in a short time your sup will no longer be able to control or belittle you anymore. It is a shame about the fellowship application but you need to do what workload is acceptable for you. There is little point making yourself ill over this extra workload. Have a chat with your family about it all, they know you best!

Congratulations Dr Blue, just goes to show that supervisors can only advise and the viva outcome is subject to the examiners opinion and your defence. Well done for defending well and having faith in your work (gift)

Well done Dr Blue, fantastic news!
I too found confidence a problem and wondered if I would be able to attend my viva let alone discuss my thesis, but was amazingly calm on the day (if a little like a rabbit in the headlights lol). Take a little time to reflect on the viva (I was buzzing for a while) and relax (up)

The biggest thing I found to help me was to draft out and outline of the chapter headings ie like a contents page.  Once each chapter title was done, I progressed to subheadings and then put notes in for each area of what to include. I got my rough outline of the thesis structure agreed by my supervisor aswell. This gave me a little control of what needed to be written and roughly where it was going to fit in with the larger picture of the overall thesis.  It was then a case of writing the smaller subsections within a chapter which ultimately gave me a draft chapter for my thesis. Once all the chapters are written you will have a draft thesis.  The order of which chapter to write first is up to you, although I did write mine in chronological order. You could pick the one that interests you the most to start with.  The outline of the thesis structure will also help you to define your lit review section more.

For mine, the results chapters took the longest as I was re-checking the stats and figures as I went along. I did have all data files already constructed, analysed with graphical presentation. On a part-time basis it probably took me 2-3 months for four results chapters, although the methodology and structure was similar so really the first one took the longest. I had each chapter sent to my sups for comments once it was in draft so that when the whole draft thesis was sent to them, there were no major issues. So I had the first draft of each chapter, the comments were addressed and went out as the first draft thesis, then another set of comments necessitated the second draft thesis which pretty much became the final submitted copy.

I started by part-time PhD 6 years ago and have kept the same university supervisor and two specialised supervisors. The uni sup had some interest and expertise in the field but one of my specialised sups was highly regarded in the field. My spec sup was agreed by the uni as an external sup but obviously does not work for the uni. He was considering retirement a couple of years ago (about yr 4 of studies) but said that he would happily continue my supervision. We had tutorials at his establishment or via skype. I think that you need to have faith in the supervisory team that a supervisor would like to keep their students despite their moves/retirement, and that the uni has a contract with you to provide a supervisor. You can have several supervisors which helps provide stability and different views of your research. Only one sup has to be from the chosen institution for your PhD.

'Modelling lung and tissue gas transfer using a membrane oxygenator circuit' . Viva passed with minor corrections on 6th July 2011. It was an intensive two hour viva concentrating mostly on lung diffusion versus the membrane oxygenator rather than the following 'published' experimental work using the circuit. I have much gratitude for the support I have received from the forum members - outstanding!

Delta, you can request where the sup sits in your viva, ie in a corner behind you so that you are not seeing their nodding, expressions etc. Additionally if you find them distracting during the viva you can request that they be asked to leave!

In my viva last week I had my uni sup in the viva with me.  He was sat away from the table and well out of my view so to be honest I didn't notice him (or the chair person) in the viva as the conversation was firmly between me and the examiners. I have got on very well with my uni sup throughout and had no hesitation in having him there. The benefits for me was having a friendly face on the day and for him to take notes of the conversations.  This was particularly useful when we were asked to leave for deliberations to take place as he could debrief me. I felt mine was ok, I defended some things better than others. He felt it went really well, so there is obviously different perspectives between being the candidate and the observer!  I have a small list of minor corrections for which I shall clarify with my sup about how to approach one aspect and as he was there too, he could offer some further insight/clarification for me.

Now post viva, I would like to complete my corrections asap (but need the formal paperwork through the post for this) with a little inspiration which I am lacking as the tiredness of the last few months has just hit me!!

I would have loved to have gone out for the evening for celebrations after 6 long years but reality dictates the quietness of my celebrations. I am hoping to make the graduation a special event with a little bit of prior planning :p

Part of being a PhD student is having the ability to convey your research to others.  It is possible that the reviewer has not fully understood your research but this is your opportunity to clarify the situation. I find that sometimes graphical presentation may be more helpful than descriptive, if it is possible to achieve for your research? Alternatively, keeping the presentation in simple terms to describe the complexities of your research which may be an alternative approach.  Don't worry about the comments, there will be time post presentation for a discussion of these issues where you can clarify your area. Continue with your presentation in relation to your research but take into account the comments made.  My presentation included an overview of the gap in literature, what methods I had used, what results I had, what these preliminary findings suggested and what my tentative conclusions would be and what implications this had in the wider field, followed lastly by what my next step was going to be. For mine I had no idea of the reviewers comments prior to defence, so at least you have that in hand!!