I think I know what you mean, PamW: I worry about forgetting to attend the research training days and so forth. The person who arranges these (the Postgraduate Secretary) is the one who reminds you if you haven't attended something, or are in danger of missing a deadline. The supervisors (in my case) are there to advise on practical research rather than the administrative stuff.

But to add to what others have said, I decided (on advice from other postgrads) to voluntarily produce a monthly progress report (together with short presentation), and send this to all my supervisors/advisors. I've had good feedback on work this way, and I hope that the record of progress will help me write up.

It does make a difference to your tuiton fees, if you pay them. If you are from outside the EU, but married to an EU citizen, then I think your fees are calcuated as those of an EU citizen (i.e. much lower).

LOL 404!

I saw him on Newsnight. That photo of the baby with the skull...to me that's the sort of adolescent attempt at profundity that you see on the cover of heavy metal CDs. This bloke is supposed to be one of our greatest artists

It's the 50 million quid diamond skull that Damien Hirst made. Well, I'm not arty, but it seems to me completely lacking in originality. Can't see the fuss about it (mind you, suppose I'm adding to the fuss by posting this).

http://towleroad.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/01/hirst_skull.jpg

"What a Bag of Sh**e", more like.

Hey Jojo, that annoying USB thing happened again with my PC, but this time the friendly IT people told me a quick way to get round it:

Open Internet Explorer
Type F:/ into the address bar (assuming F is the drive for your USB; it may be G)
Away you go!

It works, I just tried it.

Maybe that's the logic behind their reasoning. In this case I don't think the faculty is at fault, since most students get through on time. They are very good at reminding students of their responsibilites and offering support where needed.

I know someone who's just had the same. Everyone's suprised cos he really had a lot of data. I don't know the details, but you're not the only one.

That does sound a bit dodgy, Kronkodile. How were they supposed to do a full-time PhD and a full-time job (with the financial benefits of both, lucky sods)?

Off-topic a little bit, but there are a few people I know of who have not completed, and the rumour is that their funding bodies will not offer further grants to a faculty that has had non-completing students. Seems a bit harsh to me, if it's true.

Probably doing what they're being paid to do; unlike me

I think tiredness is often a psychological thing rather than physical. You're never tired at the same time as you're excited . You're probably just bored: understandably.

Having to pay for tuition fees does sound a bit harsh. But conferences: you have to be quite lucky to get your department to pay for these, as most cases I know of people have paid their own way.

Congratulations on getting the place. Are you interested in general advice on the UK (housing, for example?) or PhD-specific information?

What kind of assay is it? I've had endless reproducibility probelms with HPLC; sometimes it's the most silly little thing that affects your results.