No I think that's totally out of order for them to ask you to speak to her! You should go back and explain exactly what you've posted, there is no way you should be expected to speak to her yourself! Stick by your guns - tell them you're not prepared to speak to her yourself as the relationship has deteriorated beyond that, and that you do not want her to be your supervisor any more. Tell them they have to find you someone else! Their job is to look after you and do what is in your best interest. Don't leave - carry on but make them sort this out. She should not be supervising students. They need to know this otherwise someone else is just going to end up with her and potentially quitting!

Ah Batfink, glad to hear you're ok! I now have to physically connect with a wire all the time but luckily I was able to re-route a wire from the box downstairs to the office which is upstairs, otherwise I'd never get anything done!

Today I have been mostly planning for the next couple of weeks and doing some background reading which isn't much fun, but as they say, to fail to plan is to plan to fail! I hope you're having a good day! (up)

Would love to see the results of this as it's something I often wonder about!

I agree with you, I wish things were easier and more structured so we had options if things start to go wrong. Equally I wish we were assessed more on our practical skills as researchers!

Sorry to hear you're having a rough time, if it's any consolation I know how you feel, as do many others on this forum! You can get it done, you just have to be pragmatic about how you write up. Not most academic's favourite word I'm afraid, but it can be done. You might want to check out the three month thesis website (some guy wrote his up in 3 months and passed!) for some tips.

I think someone once said on this forum that PhD stands for permanent head damage... I think that sums it up really...!

Good luck Skig! Will be thinking of you, fingers crossed it all goes ok and will be looking forward to hearing all about it after (up)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obTNwPJvOI8

This made me laugh out loud! Happy Friday everyone 8-)

Hurray, I've finished the section I wanted to get done and I've made some amendments to the rest of the chapter too. I'm now going to set it aside for a couple of days so I can come back to it fresh in a week or two. I have plenty to be getting on with in the mean time!

Hope everyone's had a good day and you're all going to have lovely weekends! (up)

Hmm well it doesn't sound good to me. The deadline thing I can definitely sympathise with, my sups don't seem to understand that I cannot go beyond the funding despite me having discussed it with them several times. You might need to consider taking this higher. I was reading through someone else's thread on this forum and this website was recommended (I can't remember who it was off the top of my head so apologies to the person who originally posted):

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/teaching-learning/training-development/phd-supervisor-development/phd_diaries

Look under "difficult students" and then at Georgina, it describes the process for complaint. If he's the one saying he needs to comment on your work before you submit, he should be giving you some feedback! I would be suspicious that he's trying to delay you for some reason.

p.s. I'm sorry if my original post sounded a bit patronising, it's just I didn't realise you had tried a few avenues already!

Hi,

Do you have supervision with him? Can you mention it then? Do you have a team of supervisors? Can you ask them? Are there any guidelines at your university for how long supervisors should take to review your work?

To me, 3 months is more than adequate to review chapters. I would send a very polite email asking if he had a chance to review your chapters yet and whether he had any feedback that he could give you. I would also remind him that you are working to a deadline and you would appreciate his input. I'd also include a bit about "appreciate you are very busy but really value your input on this" blah blah blah!

Haha that made me laugh, I love going to IKEA for things that we "need", mainly I love the food there! I can't wait for them to build one near us (within walking distance which may be dangerous!)

You've worked really hard Button so you deserve some time, I love that you're going to the gym and the dog is going to be groomed, bless!

I'm not doing that well today, I keep getting distracted but I am going to settle down and work for a bit now!

Morning,

Hope you had a good day yesterday Button, also I wonder where Batfink is as she hasn't been around for a few days now... I hope it's cos she's moving and not being poorly or something!

Today I would dearly love to get the amendments to section 1 completed. I am fast losing interest on working on this chapter so I would like to start next week working on something new. That way I can have a break from this piece of work and come back to it with fresh eyes.

So I'm going to see how much I can get done in one day! Wish me luck!

p.s. I just wanted to add that even if your sup doesn't want to supervise you any more, I know someone who was without a main sup for over a year and she didn't get asked to leave. So don't worry! You won't get sacked. It makes them look bad if they have students that either leave or don't complete.

Hi Epic,

It sounds like you've had a rough ride over the last 19 months - I would definitely complain to someone. Either, like Lullaby said, your second supervisor, or the student counselling service. Is there a pastoral person for your department that you can speak to? At my uni, we have an independent member of staff whom we can contact with any queries about supervision. Failing that, do you have a postgraduate centre or a research unit? You need to get away from this person - but DON'T quit! It's not your fault, your sup is entirely to blame. They must be able to find you someone else. Or perhaps you have someone in mind you could approach? Either way, this person shouldn't be a PhD supervisor.

Sorry for the jumbled reply - I'm writing up at the moment and I'm finding it hard to think straight!

Thanks for posting this thread PhDJane, I've found it useful too (up)

p.s. that's not to say that being an academic isn't meaningful :$