Hey Sarahlouise! It's really hard to network at these things if you're a 'mere' PhD student! I went to a huge 5-day conference in the states last year, and I really really enjoyed myself (not just down to the conference- but it was in a really cool place with loads to see!) and am going back again this year. However, last year I went with 4 colleagues (all senior to me) and to be honest it was really just the professors rubbing noses and sharing/collaborating on research ideas and possible joint grants etc. The rest of us pretty much just did our own thing- the prof did introduce us to all these other profs, but they were only really interested in our prof.

One thing that is slightly less awkward is to chat to people doing poster presentations- that way you have something to talk about and it's less awkward because there's no audience etc. There might also be special interest groups or a special student group, so have a good look at your programme.

The thing that I have so far found best for networking is organising a symposium for this year's conference. It's not really the done thing for a student to put a symposium together at such a large event but my supervisor disappeared abroad somewhere about 3 days before the deadline and told me I'd have to sort it out if I wanted a symposium. It was very stressful (mostly because we'd left it so last minute) but it did involve a lot of personal communications with top academics in the field, so it does get your name round a bit (although I had to name-drop my sup heavily to get them interested!). Although some of them aren't attending this year and others were too overloaded to accept the invitation, we did exchange information about what we were doing and about the possibility of meeting up while we're there. And after a lot of perseverence I managed to get 4 other academics in on the symposium (my sup plus three professors from the states) so have got to know them and their work, and obviously we will be seeing each other at the conference. I am hoping that that might be beneficial in some way....but it might turn out not to be!

I would just prioritise the presentations you are interested in, and make the most out of it that way. If you feel confident and really enjoy a presentation then go up and have a chat to them afterwards, or you could always just sit next to someone who's sitting on their own and satrike up a conversation, although I have to admit, when someone does this to me I can't always be bothered with it! Above all, avoid conference dinners! I can never wait to get away from those things!

Good luck- just enjoy yourself! KB

That's like mine, sneaks- my first review is a methods and evidence one (9600 words) and the second is a theoretical framework/methodological review (7600 words). And god, I never want to read that second one ever again! KB

Hey Slowmo, I think it's fine! It might have been difficult if it happened whilst you were tutoring her, but now you're not and you're not likely to be in that position again, so I don't see any reason it should be an issue. Basically you've just started dating a friend, and there's nothing wrong with that. There was a guy in our year who started dating one of his research participants and he did into trouble over that, but that's very very different! Good luck with it! KB

Mine was originally around 20,000, but I ended up splitting it into two chapters so I could publish it. So now I have one at 9,600 words and one at 7,600 words. KB

Hey, I guess we're all different! I go through phases with my sleep- for a year I only got between 4-6 consecutive hours of sleep per night, and couldn't figure out what was wrong (I felt rubbish and kept falling asleep over my desk) then I got back from holiday about 6 or 8 weeks ago and am now enjoying a good 7-8 hours all of a sudden! I feel better for it, but if I lie in at the weekends I feel pretty shoddy. Ah well, we all have different needs, I am concentrating on being understanding with my boyf! KB

Hey Natasha! I think it's possible- I know people with 2.2 degrees and a pass at MSc level who are on fully funded PhDs in different subjects. It will depend on your subject, and the competition, obviously, and also where you are hoping to get your funding from. Are you planning to apply for full funding? KB

======= Date Modified 28 Mar 2011 12:17:50 =======
Ah yes, us living in Welshland had the special honour of revealing whether we can read/write/speak Welsh. We also had the honour of receiving the census in both English and Welsh- what a colossal waste of paper! I dread to think how many tress suffered for the sake of that! KB

======= Date Modified 26 Mar 2011 22:39:30 =======
Hey! I think it depends on the kind of conference you're at and who's going to be there. I did a couple of presentations at a massive conference in the states last year and am doing another couple over there this year, but I have always been presenting results. I did go to a few presentations over there where people basically talked a bit about their ideas and then asked the audience for feedback, but this approach didn't seem to go down that well, and I got the feeling that these presenters didn't really go home with the feedback or the answers they were after. But then this was a huge conference where the emphasis was on disseminating results from different disciplines, and that was what most people went to the presentations expecting. If I'm honest, I was a bit disappointed when I sat through a couple of talks from which I didn't learn anything, where the presenters were there mainly for their own benefit, and most of the audience didn't respond that well. Having said that- they were not necessarily the best presenters anyway. If you're going with that approach I think that's fine, but I would keep part of your presentation for that, and spend another part of it presenting something a bit more solid so that people will take something away from it. But it does depend on who's there as well and what type of conference it is- my audience were quite a formal bunch of academics and practioners so I would have felt uncomfortable delivering anything that went against the general flow of the conference, but if your audience are more informal then that might work! Good luck with it anyway! KB

Hey Eska! Sorry to hear you're stressed over your feedback. I know how hard it is to teach, especially with a class size of 90, although I never got student feedback specifically for my contributions to teaching. To be honest, I wouldn't worry about it too much- my sup is a fab lecturer and she always gets loads of whinging and whining on those feedback forms (usually saying that she expects them to do far too much reading and they think she's a stingy marker- she does have high standards, but she's fair). Some students these days (but not all!) just want to be spoonfed and get hacked off and resentful when they are required to work hard to get good grades, and it usually seems to be disappointment with grades that causes the most dissatisfaction amongst our students. Most of the emails I have received whilst teaching are to do with arguments over grades on coursework and exams- had they had all of their results at the time of giving feedback? It's good that you have managed to find some constructive comments amongst it all, but I bet a lot of the bad feedback is just from people who were hacked off that they didn't get the grades they wanted, or were asked to do more reading than they wanted to or something. Some undergrads seem to think that if they turn up to the lectures they should automatically be awarded a top grade. Just pick out the useful bits, take it on board, and ignore the stuff that's just sour grapes. Chin up! Best, KB

Thanks Elsie- we did have a talk about this last night and I think we've sorted things out. We both hate bad feeling so we don't tend to sulk and let things drag on. I feel under a lot of pressure at the moment as I am nearing the end my PhD and need to find a job afterwards to support us both, so we can move in together locally (neither of us want to move- especially him, and there is only one university here) and save to get married, and so that we can both live off my income whilst he does his teacher training. I am bending over backwards to try and make this happen, however hard it is going to be, whilst also making sacrifices (like sleep and work!) to ensure we also get to spend time together. I just feel like maybe he doesn't realise how hard I am trying and get frustrated when he doesn't always seem to have the same priorities, but in his own way, I know he is doing his best. But in my book, we need to spend time together to have a relationship- he says as long as we love each other (which we do!) then that shouldn't matter. We'll be okay anyway, I think we're both having a stressful and anxious time at the moment and I'm probably a bit hyper-sensitive over things. Thanks for your advice. Best, KB

Hey- I wish Wal, but his house doesn't have TV or internet, so he literally does just go to sleep at that time! I guess I shall just do my best to be patient and work around it. Anyway, he has quit his new job to go back to care work now after all that. I am getting frustrated at the moment because I seem to be the one making all the sacrifices in the relationship to make sure that we see each other enough- just today he was asked to do a shift at work so cancelled our meal out tonight. He phoned and I said that was fine and not to worry about it, and he promised that he'd keep Sunday free even if he was offered a shift so we could go on our planned day out (we just got new mountain bikes!). Then another phone call just now to say that he'd taken a shift on on Sunday so we can't have our day out. Now he wants to go bike riding Saturday morning since he is working in the afternoon which means that I have to completely rearrange my weekend and we'll also have to do a much shorter ride because he'll have to get to work. I'm just frustrated- I know he has good intentions and is just trying to save up money for us to do the things we want to by taking on extra shifts but I'm also working damn hard to get finished on time, get as many publications and conference presentations as I can so I can hopefully get a job after my PhD, and I arrange my hours around him and his shifts to make sure we see each other. Surely there has to be give and take both ways? Sorry- just on a rant! Grrrr! KB

Thanks for your replies! Well I have to admit, I'd love 8-9 hours a night, but then my day would just not long enough to fit everything in! I don't mind that he needs more sleep, it just bugs me that he never took into account the fact that I was always tired out from driving back and to, getting home late and sacrificing my sleep to see him and suddenly the rules seem to be different! I would stay over but he lives with his mum and only has a single bed, so that's pretty awkward. I should add that his mum very recently walked in on us in his bedroom when we were not quite naked (but getting there), so as much as I like her, I'm always on hyper-alert when she's around now! Also, by the time I've finished work and been to the gym it's 8.30 by the time I get there and he wants to be sleeping from 9.30 onwards so it's a lot of mither for not much time together :( I don't know if he really needs 10 hours sleep per night or if that's what he's used to because he hasn't been working and has had time for that, but it doesn't half limit things a bit! Best, KB

Hey all! My fiance has been doing bits and bobs of jobs as he hasn't been able to get anything decent for a while. Now he's got a 9-5 job about half an hour from where he lives. He doesn't drive, so when we meet up in the week I normally drive to his house (about 30 mins drive) then drive back later that night. Usually he always encourages me to stay quite late and I end up driving back and getting to bed around 1am (okay, I know it's not that late but I'm getting middle aged!). Now he's got a job, all of a sudden he's announced that he will need to be going to bed at around 9.30-10pm every night, but that he'll 'make a special exception for when I visit'. I feel a bit annoyed- he's happy to keep me up til 1am in the week when I have to get up and do a full day's work every day, yet as soon as he's got a job he suddenly is insisting that he needs 9-10 hours of sleep every night and him staying up is 'a special effort'. It's almost as if he doesn't treat my PhD as a 'real job' yet he knows I work really hard and often long hours.

But my question really was- how much sleep do you need? I seem to be fine on about 7 hours but he insists he needs 10! I know everyone's different, but 10 seems like quite a lot and it's having an impact on when we can see each other!

Thanks, KB

======= Date Modified 23 Mar 2011 21:12:06 =======
I think it depends- there have been PhD students in this team that haven't shown any interest in staying on, and thus the supervisor has shown little interest in what they go on to do as long as they finish their PhD. I've made it clear from the outset that I want to stay on so my sup's been very supportive and is trying her best to get funding for me to stay on, although that's pretty tough at the moment and there are no guarantees at all. If you want to stay on then I would make it known to them and express your enthusiasm (if you can manage to drum some up!)- I'm sure they'd rather keep on someone they know and are happy with than risk taking on someone new! Best, KB

Hey Delta! What stage of your PhD are you at? My primary supervisor does, but then that's because I've made it clear that I want to stay on at this university and within the same research team after my PhD. Luckily she is keen to keep me on (although every time I hand a piece of work in I worry that she will change her mind!) so we have been dreaming up new research proposals and have a few funding applications in. To be honest, about half the team are due to finish at about the same time as me (including the most senior members of the team) so I think she is keen to hang on to as many of us as possible or else her team will literally be halved! What do you want to do in the future? Best, KB