MRC (and probably most research councils) pay it quarterly in advance i.e. if you start on 1st Oct, you should get 3 months' worth of stipend on that date.

That is, of course, dependent on how well organised your departmental admin/university finance people are! I have known people stipdendless for several weeks while unknown processes were going on behind the scenes. :-(

Really sorry to hear that things haven't worked out. I echo the comments that you will need to finish this before doing a Masters.

Have you spoken to any of your tutors about why this didn't work out? It would be good to get their feedback before starting your final year again - it might help you identify what aspects you need to focus your attention on. It may also help you to strengthen your approach to a subsequent Masters course.

If you feel that re-doing your final year at your current institution wouldn't be ideal (e.g. was there a problem with the course itself?) or you feel you would make more progress if you had a change of scenery, would you consider transferring somewhere else if it were possible? If it is feasible, maybe you could even transfer into a 4 year programme that leads to an MSc rather than BSc?

Good luck - I hope it all works out for you.

======= Date Modified 12 Jun 2009 14:39:37 =======
I don't think the OP was so much the problem. It was the fact that despite a number of people giving sensible solutions (Open office, printing things out, pdf converters) the OPer persisted with the view that this was a distressing issue, rather than an irritation which is how a lot of people would have experienced it.

References to being on the verge of tears, experiencing 'shock' and having to resign oneself to change only occurring if your supervisor dies are melodrama in my book. Explaining that your distress stems from the contrast of this issue to 'everything else [being] wonderful' is not likely to endear yourself to a bunch of grad students with far bigger research/personal problems than software disagreements.

Nobody has criticised the OPer's personal preference for using LaTeX - the issue under debate is one of teamwork, and I don't think the comments have been inappropriate. As others have said, I would be really really pleased if this was the only kind of difficulty that had affected my PhD. I, too, think the comment aimed at Sleepyhead was unfair.

I'm with Sleepyhead.

LaTeX is superior in many ways, but it isn't hassle free and there are arguments in favour of all mainstream options. That's not really the point though. The point is that you have to accept that in any working environment, sometimes there will be the need to compromise. In this case it may be just that for collaborative work you have to go with the majority. If you don't turn this into a big drama then it may be easier over time to find a mutually agreeable way of working. But for now, you may just have to go with the flow.

At the point at which you hit 'submit' you will probably have assented to some kind of copyright agreement. Two different journals cannot both hold the copyright of your article, so that is a practical reason why it's not permissible.

But, as others have said, the process of reviewing a manuscript for publication is not trivial, and if anyone involved discovered that their efforts could be rendered pointless because another journal published your work first, you wouldn't end up with many friends in publishing/in your field.

I agree with the strategy of aim for the highest feasible journal and work your way down. But do be honest with yourself about what is feasible - otherwise you'll have to go through multiple rejections. Always good to get guidance from your elders on this one.

Sorry to hear about your difficulties. It's definitely worth talking to uni finance as sometimes they have emergency contingency funds for circumstances like this. Also, search online for other sources of postgraduate funding as there are small charitable trusts that can give hardship grants, although these may not be accessible quickly. If you have any kind of personal tutor/supervisor at the uni, also talk to them as they may be able to point you to something. At the very least it helps to keep people informed.

Regarding future applications, I would just mention in a covering letter of any application how finances have contributed to the delay in completion. It will become an increasingly common phenomenon and I don't see why it should be held against you. Alternatively, it might be worth asking a referee to mention it in their reference, as this might sound better, particularly if coupled with comments in support of your academic potential.

Try http://www.theses.com/

I'm not sure that's the best way to identify possible research overlaps though. I think a thorough lit review would give you a better idea. 'Current' research may be 2-3 years away from being recorded on a thesis database

Well done for taking the step. It does require guts, no matter how strong your desire to leave was, so I hope there is some sense of satisfaction for you in having made a definite decision.

Good luck for whatever your next move is.(up)

Hazy

Yes, Lara, I think I am who you think I am!

(Which is why I'm not surprised you've been frustrated in your attempts to get a viva date. Glad somebody's finally answering you!)

Also, don't be harsh on yourself about not knowing enough of the literature. You cannot know everything - the only reason senior academics appear to is (i) they have had more years on the planet to take it all in and (ii) they are probably more adept at bluffing/thinking on their feet!

If you have a mountain of papers, all of which seems to relate to your work, try prioritising them e.g. read the most cited/ones with the biggest names in your field. It's not a foolproof strategy and that's not to say there isn't value in the less cited/less known author papers, but if you need to find a way of whittling it down, that might be it.

It's a good idea (if not mandatory in most places) to have a secondary supervisor. Could you find one who maybe had some expertise in your topic and maybe had some supervision experience? That way you would build a good team to support you and it would be a good way of getting to know other people in the field. The secondary supervisor can even be from a different institution.

Rjb, I think the idea is that Pseudonym would leave in a YEAR and 3 months, which in my view is a rather different proposition. Am happy to be corrected if I've misunderstood the timescale.

Speaking as a PhD drop out, I can't quite fathom why you'd be willing to work on this for another 15 months if you know that you'd never write a thesis. I can understand a strong desire to leave, but not maintaining a façade for so long. I found it extremely stressful just pretending everything was normal for a few weeks while I was waiting for an opportune moment to raise the topic with my supervisor.

If I were you, I'd think of quitting soonish and either trying to get some work that is relevant to your teaching career, or seeing if your industrial employer has any paid jobs you could do. This isn't just about money - you have to consider how this will affect your career. If you are planning to get a reference from your current supervisors, you might be best not to do anything that could be construed as deceitful. (Or have you got a guaranteed teaching place - I wasn't quite clear from your post?)

Obviously the job market is not such that you can casually throw in the towel, but if I were you I would have serious questions about spending a year doing something that wasn't really going to benefit my career in any way, and could inconvenience other people.

======= Date Modified 02 Jun 2009 13:49:52 =======
I really hope you get a viva date soon, Lara. Must be very frustrating not knowing.

I'm no expert on vivas having never got that far, so perhaps you might want to disregard what I'm about to say. But I notice that you seem to be putting a lot of emphasis on reading papers. It's very important to know the literature well, but I'd be inclined to suggest maybe you should spend a little more time reading your thesis. It's your thesis that you will be defending, not the wider literature, so you need to be intimately acquainted with its key points, as well as its weaknesses (not in an 'I'm not worthy' kind of way, but in a 'this is how my work could be strengthened if I had the opportunity to do further experiments' kind of way.)

My boss says one of his favourite questions to ask when he is examining is to find a data table somewhere in the thesis, point to a number and say 'Tell me how you got to this number' i.e. what was the research process that got you to this point? Being comfortable with the wider literature is essential, but confidently presenting and navigating your own research is crucial.

It's really good to hear that you're working through a list of potential questions you might be asked. One other thing I would suggest is getting other people to suggest potential questions to you e.g. friends who have also read your thesis, or your supervisor(s) if you can get any support from them. Everyone looks at things differently, and they might come up with something that you hadn't thought of.

It doesn't matter whether or not you're a student - it's your income threshold. So if your stipend is less than £15K you won't pay anything back. Some PhD students in London will actually be over that e.g. those funded by Wellcome or some very generous charities.

I doubt they would collect back payments. I think it's just routine for them to chase up your employment status about 9 months after your graduate.

More info here:
http://www.studentloanrepayment.co.uk/portal/page?_pageid=93,3867326&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

Can't help you with the topic, but just to say that if you're interested in drainage issues, when the time comes for looking for funding you might want to investogate the Chadwick Trust who support work in public health engineering.