Personally I think it's a great idea! It's really important to get experience presenting at conferences if you want to stay in academia, and looks good on a CV. I think so long as you already have your data, by the time you publish it it's unlikely that anyone will have copied your work and written it up before you. The only thing I might be wary about doing is presenting ideas about work that I was hoping to do in the future, just in case someone takes a shine to your ideas and beats you to it. I have written a paper about my fairly novel way of approaching the subject I am doing, but have deliberately left it until I am two thirds of the way through my PhD to submit it for publication because by the time it's published I will be ready to publish my data and no-one would have time to beat me to it (supposing for one minute that anyone would actually steal a little PhD-ers tiny ideas about a big subject!!). So I'd say go for it! Best, KB

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Have just had a sort-of-friendly debate with her about the whole email in the evening issue. She said she hoped her email hadn't upset me, but apparently she just wanted to finish her emails and unwind. So I pointed out that I wasn't expecting her to reply the same evening, I just happened to be dealing with my emails at that point and she could have left it to the next day. She said that she couldn't have left it to the next day and that I should have saved it as a draft and sent it to her in the morning. To which I pointed out that I was out testing participants the whole of the following day so wouldn't have access to my computer to send it to her, not to mention the fact that I have a memory impairment and might forget the next day. Then she said that I should leave a note for myself to remind me. To which I said it really would be easier to send it right away and for her to leave it until the next day. She disagreed with me but said that 'some' emails were acceptable at that time of night, but not others. I didn't even get into the debate of what was acceptable and what wasn't, I just couldn't face it! It wasn't a heated argument, more just banter, but she was actually serious! I think I actually have a mad supervisor, I hope I don't end up like this if I work with her much longer, it could be catching!!!! Best, KB

She doesn't even have a blackberry lol! KB

Thanks for your reassurance guys- I did think she was being a little unreasonable but I'm so used to her having these 'moments' that I begin to wonder if I'm the one being unreasonable! Good plan Teek- I should definitely put that one into action! I did email her back apologising if I had been sending her emails at 'the wrong time of day', not because I actually thought I should apologise, I was just hoping she would see how ridiculous she was being! KB

Hey all! Less than 24 hours after giving my sup a lovely write-up on the 'in praise of supervisors' thread, I have crossed her yet again. My crime? I emailed her at about 10.30pm last night to ask her a question relating to our MSc students. Just to receive a narky email asking if it couldn't have waited until morning. I wasn't actually expecting a reply last night, I just sent it then because that was when I was checking my emails and responding to them! I've had emails from her at all times of the night, I'm sure she doesn't actually expect replies at 2am! (Then again, this is my sup, maybe she does!) It is really that awful to send an email late evening? It hasn't bothered her before. At the end of the day, if you don't want to check emails in the evening then don't look at your inbox!

Have I really committed such a heinous crime by doing this?

Cheers, KB

Haha, that made me laugh Teek! You are right, she does like to assume that I am super-human, but I also have a lot of praise for her. She has so much to juggle, a whole big team of us, no end of grant applications, projects, important conferences etc, but she always finds time for us PhDers. When I want to talk about ideas for research she listens attentively and takes my ideas seriously, she returns all written work within several days of receiving it, and often the next day, and she will back us up to the hilt if needed. If we have any problems with anything or anyone, she is onto it right away. And she is also very kind. She has just found £1500 to fund a trip to a conference in the states for me, since my funding pot is already overdrawn, and she has also forked out over £1000 from some other project fund for a fellow PhDer's childcare over summer so that she can concentrate on writing up. She has been incredibly understanding about my bipolar issues and is always full of support and praise for the work I do, albeit covered in 'constructive criticism' as well! On top of that she actually has a good sense of humour and is good to have a laugh with, although she disguises it well and no-one else ever believes us! And of course I admire her work and millions of publications etc, and appreciate all her guidance. Sometimes when I read about the supervisor horror stories on here I thank my lucky stars I have my supervisor. Well, about 95% of the time anyway
8-) Best wishes all, KB

Hey again! Personally I think you have plenty of time to get it finished to a good standard, but then we all work at different rates! I know when I was doing my MSc, once I had done my data analysis and most of the reading I knew pretty much what I wanted to say and it took me less than a month to complete the write-up. It was a little shorter than yours (10,000 words) but I did it in about 3 weeks and managed to get a distinction for it, so I think you've got enough time to do a really good job of it providing you feel well enough to get on with it! Good luck! KB

Hey! Well since the depression has been a genuine problem for you then I think it's a good idea to make the relevant people aware of it. Perhaps you can go see your tutor about getting an extension- I think they can usually suss out the genuine people from the ones who are milking it! I have bipolar disorder myself so I know how disruptive the depression can be. I have always been open with the university about my condition and they have been nothing but supportive, so I would advise you go speak to someone about it. Hopefully you'll be able to get an extension and that will take the pressure off a bit. Take good care of yourself too! Best, KB

Hey Button! I would tend to be a bit cautious with how much you take on really. I have taught on one undergrad module for each year of my PhD and it really can be quite time consuming even if it's only a single 1 or 2 hour class each week. If you're just preparing one and delivering it to several groups then that's not too bad, but I would be wary of taking on more than one module at a time and having to prepare more than one seminar for each week. Also keep in mind that the marking is very time consuming! Having said all that, I have found teaching to be mostly a positive experience and of course very advantageous for the CV! Good luck with it! KB

Hey Sneaks! I'm doing my PhD by publication and have 3 papers completed to date which are published/under review and am working on my 4th (two lit reviews and a methodology/conceptual paper, which will form the first 3 chapters of my thesis, and my first results paper). Even though I don't have all of my results yet I have been asking my sup how it would work. She basically said that the papers could just go in as they were published/submitted, although I could put more detail in if I needed to. But apparently some people just hand their thesis in literally with an intro, a discussion, and 3 or 4 published papers in the middle just as they are. I had the whole 'which way round' conversation with her and we kind of agreed that since we are aiming to publish all of the results and I enjoy writing papers then it makes more sense to write them as papers and then turn them into chapters by adding more info as required, than writing them as chapters and finishing the PhD with no publications etc and having to do it later to be in with a chance of a post-doc. But then my sup is very quick at marking things and getting them back to me- if it is unlikely that the papers will ever be sent away then it seems a little pointless writing them as papers! I suppose just getting stuff written down is a good thing, whichever way round you do it, so as long as you are making progress in that direction then perhaps try not to get too stressed about which way round to do it. Either way, you are on your own for a while now so work the way you prefer! Best, KB

Eeeek, that's awkward! I get on really well with my sup but I sure wouldn't want her to have access to my facebook and see photos of all the dodgy drunken nights I go on etc. I like to pretend I am grown up and civilised lol! Not to mention the fact that my pals (including some of her undergrad and MSc students) are fb friends with me and leave messages referring to her by her nickname on my wall! I am facebook friends with everyone else on my team but not the sup, no-one is fb friends with her even though she is on facebook! I think I would just ignore it and hope it doesn't get mentioned lol...KB

Yeah, I've got one too! Awww I don't feel so special now I know other people have got one ;-) KB

It is irritating when people see a PhD as being 'inferior' to a medical degree in some way- they are entirely different things, but most people don't really understand what a PhD is. And it takes longer to get to the end of your PhD (for most people 3-4 years undergrad, possibly a masters, and then another 3-4 years doing a PhD) that it does to get a medical degree given that most medical degrees only last 5 years. I think the other thing that occurs to me is that I have spent about 7 years basically studying the brain- how on earth do they get through the whole body in 5 years?!! I guess they are training and specialising for years after they get their degree though. Anyway, I wouldn't let it worry you- they're either a bit ignorant or maybe even a bit jealous because you are managing to balance a PhD and a child! Best, KB

Wow, looks like it's different for everyone then, like most things! I never really went along with the love at first sight thing, but looks like it really happened like that for some of you :) I know what it's like when you're just starting a relationship with someone and it's all nice and exciting, but this feels different even from that....ah well, we'll see! Thanks guys, all replies appreciated! Best, KB

Hey all! Completely off-topic post! It's been ages since I was seeing anyone, but I met someone just 3 weeks ago and it feels different to anything I have ever felt before. I don't think I've ever actually been in love....but I think I might be this time. Is this ridiculous after just 3 weeks to feel as though I've found 'the one'? To those of you who have found 'the one', did you know straight away? Arrrgh, I am rubbish at this sort of thing, any input appreciated!!! Best, KB