There are only two problems I can foresee; the first is if you gave the publishing company the rights to your paper. I'm not sure if there are any limits on using published work in your phd (usually if the publishing company has the rights they say that it cannot be made publicly available in any other form e.g. posting it on your own website, re-publishing as a book chapter etc) but if you subsequently want to publish your phd there might be an issue.

The second is that it was co-authored so I think you will need to be able to prove to the examiners that the part you have included in the thesis is all your own work. I vaguely remember something like that from our degree regulations because you have to sign a declaration when you submit to say that it's all your own work.

Fabulous! Remember to write down what the positives were for future encouragement!

Sorry - just read your original post again - have you thought about applying for an ESRC postdoc? They are geared towards getting publications out (you're not allowed to do new research) and they have quite a high success rate, about 30% of applications are successful I think.

Hi Hannah,

I can see both sides of the argument too. I'm in my third year and have 4 publications - 3 of them co-authored with my supervisor and one single authored. Sounds impressive BUT the first of these was written while I was still doing my masters degree and while doing my phd I have basically proved everything I argued in this early article to be completely wrong! Believe me, mentioning your own work in a literature review of "how not to do policy analysis" is not something you want to do :$

Now I don't know whether to put it on my CV or not - I'm quite embarrassed by it. So the moral of the story is - don't publish for the sake of it. Wait until your ideas are really developed. It can be a lot more trouble than it's worth!

(Incidentally, I was named on one of the publications even though I only did the literature review, so it might be worth asking your supervisor if there is any possibility of collaboration so you can get experience of publishing without having so much time away from your thesis)

Not much to add really, except be enthusiastic (confidence rubs off on others) and be open to suggestions rather than defensive, even if they criticise something you've done. They're not your supervisors so you don't have to actually listen to their suggestions if you (and your supervisors) don't want to.

But I'd agree with missspacey - they might not have read your report very thoroughly in which case, don't be disappointed - it's just a formality to some people, it doesn't mean they're not interested to hear what you're doing.

Don't forget to let us know how it goes :-)

I think your best bet is to identify potential supervisors at one or all of the universities you are interested in and make some informal inquiries. You will need to decide if you have your own rough idea for a topic worked out (if you have no idea at all they will probably see you as a bit of a timewaster) or whether you would prefer to do a phd which is already defined (i.e. it's part of a bigger project, or involves an industrial/private sector partner, or has been devised by a research council). If you see a pre-defined phd topic it should specify the entry requirements.

As far as masters degrees are concerned, there is a huge variation between courses and universities. If you want to apply for ESRC funding you will need an ESRC-approved masters degree (I believe it is possible to get your work experience accredited but no one I know has been able to do this and has been forced to do a masters degree before taking up their funding). If you get in touch with potential supervisors you should also ask about funding possibilities because some departments fund scholarships each year and there are also a small number of other opportunities e.g. learned societies, government-funded scholarships etc.

If you can pay your own tuition fees they'll be biting your hand off to accept you.

As an aside, a friend of mine is doing a marketing phd funded by the Food Standards Agency, she doesn't have a masters degree and worked for an investment bank for 2 years between bachelors degree and phd.

Good luck!

I think it varies a lot depending on the size of the conference - I've been to a couple of international 3-dayers where there was a dinner but it wasn't actually that formal - I think I wore the same outfit I presented in, a skirt and shirt. The others have been smaller conferences and it's been very casual. I'd second Pamw - nobody will notice what you're wearing so the most important thing is to be comfortable. And hopefullly no one is shallow enough to base their opinion of you on what you're wearing!

Ignore what the other PhD student in your department says about the amount of work they do. It's so destructive - I do it all the time myself. There are three of us in 3rd year in my office and I am consumed by jealousy when they have a good day of writing or finish a chapter even though I know we are all roughly at the same stage in our work. Accept that you have a particular way of working and try to make the most of it. I'm terribly lazy and really bad at 'putting my mind' to something. So my supervisors and I have agreed that they will set me a deadline for a chapter but if, halfway through writing, I have an idea for another chapter or feel an urge to go and revise a previous chapter, I do that instead. If I miss the deadline as a result, it doesn't matter because the whole thesis needs writing eventually, so what difference does it make what you are working on at any specific moment in time. I do realise that it's wonderful to be dedicated and have sticking power when working on a task but, on the other hand, writing a thesis is like no other task you will ever do in your life - anyone who can determinedly work away in a consistent and productive manner for 3 years solid is superhuman, in my opinion!

Good luck with your thesis - and hold on to the moments of enthusiasm/inspiration. And don't assume you have disappointed your supervisor - has she ever actually said this to you?

I don't have much to add other than that I'm really sorry to hear that you've had this terrible experience. I would second the others' suggestions about keeping a record of everything that you have experienced with names, dates, witnesses etc. There seem to be several different issues here: discrimination by your supervisor (it seems this is what you're suggesting); lack of sufficient supervision; and misconduct at your defence (is this correct - i.e. do you feel you were actually treated unfairly by the examiners or is it more the case that because of your lack of supervision your work was not of the right standard?). I think you need to raise these issues separately when you meet the Deans of Engineering/Grad School.

Try to find support from other student groups as well e.g. the students' union and postgraduate studies committees if they exist. I think on the 'PhD failure' thread there is something about students unions being able to help with appeals.

Good luck.

Hi Pamplemousse,

I think you should write to the head of faculty. Yes, you might have forgotten about it in 20 years time, but at the moment it is obviously causing you a lot of annoyance and distress. Plus you will be helping students in the future if you raise the issue now. It might be simply that the university administration has never had a case like yours before and has not considered the fact that people with problems at the end of the course are disadvantaged by the current system. It might be that they have a poor understanding of mental health problems and need more awareness of your condition. IMHO if you write the letter you might bring about a change for the better and you won't spend the next few years thinking "what if".

Sorry that should say 'lift going down' not 'life going down'! Freudian slip I think...

Hi Tsipat,

I did some back in the good old days with a cassette recorder, and more recently with a digital recorder. Although nobody uses tapes anymore, I actually really liked it because there was a transcribing machine you could put them in with foot pedals to control the play/rewind functions when you were typing - don't know of anything like that for digital recorders unfortunately. Both pieces of equipment were kept in our department office for general staff use, perhaps you can ask the secretaries in your department office if they know of anything?

I found them all fine, but as with any recording pay special attention to background noise when you decide where to conduct the interview. I've had people emptying a box of cutlery into a plastic tray (!), planes flying past open windows and all sorts spoiling my recordings. Even when I found a quiet office, when I played the recording back it had picked up the sound of the lift at the end of the corridor so every few minutes you could hear "doors closing! life going down!" booming out!

Sorry - really messed up that quote!

I'm marking extremely tedious essays at the moment (for someone else's module - not even my subject area) so I keep looking at the forum to stave off boredom, but then feeling too guilty to take even more time replying to posts!

[quote]Quote From pamw:

Is it an end of year thing that people are putting extra hours in so they might possibly have time off during the festive season? [quote]

I have to say I'm really bad at keeping track of how many days holiday I've had - I tend to feel guilty no matter if I've had 2 days off or 2 weeks. I keep tagging extra days onto conference trips so they feel a bit like working holidays - although some locations have been a bit more exciting than others (New York...Manchester :-( )

Good luck with the data analysis - you've got ages before January :-)

Hi Laura,

Someone told me that if you have butterflies in your stomach, clenching your bum makes them go away - not sure if it's true though, strangely it never crosses my mind at the time!

What helps me is to memorise and rehearse my opening sentence, even if I don't have a full text presentation to read from (in fact, especially if I don't have a text to read from). Being able to envisage starting the presentation, knowing exactly what you are going to say, does make it easier i think. Obviously having at least one practice so you know it will last roughly the right amount of time and that there are no parts to the presentation which you are unclear about is vital.

I think anticipating the questions you might be asked and having some answers prepared can make you feel a lot better too - try to think of the most awkward, evil questions possible, like those which challenge the very foundations of your research - that way the questions you *do* get, which will undoubtedly be boring questions about tiny details or further reading, will seem like a breeze in comparison!