I get the impression that it's to be expected to have to wait a while after graduating before getting anywhere. I have a friend who walked straight out of her PhD into a 3-year fellowship, but she's probably the only person I know in my field (humanities/literature) who has been lucky. I'm handing in my thesis next week and have only this week already received two rejections (which hasn't put me in the best frame of mind for finishing my thesis corrections!). I have another fellowship application pending but I'm not expecting a good outcome from that either.

There are definitely too many PhD graduates for the relevant positions available. Somebody like me who has got loads of teaching experience but only one publication (despite lots of conference presentations) might as well give up going for a research fellowship at least until I can get my thesis published as a book and have some papers put out. But by then I'll probably no longer qualify for the 'early career' positions anyway!

Biomaterials, have you considered signing up with an agency? I think that's what I'm going to do post-submission, as I have some decent admin skills (and a little professional experience) so I should at least get interviews. A PhD certainly offers transferable skills in terms of showing that you are determined and hard-working, and obviously you will have decent computer skills too. Agency work can be good in the short-term and in the long-term it might even give you some ideas of where you can go if you can't find an academic opening.

Hi Simon,

Thanks again. Unfortunately I heard back today that I was unsuccessful. I have asked for feedback so I'm hoping that will help me prepare better for the next opportunity.

I'm not feeling too disheartened about it, but at least I can now give my thesis my full attention (which is what I should be doing anyway!)

Another owl here - as the username would suggest!

I really relate to others here. Until a couple of years ago I managed to both stay up very late and get up reasonably early, but I can't seem to get away with that any more. Left to my own natural devices (pretty much how it's been for the past year as I've just been writing up at home with only occasional visits to uni and no teaching commitments) I wake up around 9-9:30 and stay awake until 1 or 2 am, usually working until quite late - although I find it important to have some "down time" after stopping work, even if only half an hour, otherwise I can't switch off when I go to bed.

Needless to say, that doesn't work if I have an appointment or meeting at 9! The problem is that while I'm used to staying up very late, I now can't also get up early and expect to be able to function. If I am to get up earlier, I need to have a decent amount of sleep, which means going to bed before midnight - and I am almost never tired before midnight, so I find it hard to get to sleep, etc.

I've heard that contact with screens (computers, TVs, tablets, mobiles etc.) should be avoided for at least a couple of hours before bed. Easier said than done for a PhD though!

Hi Simon,

Just wanted to thank you for your good wishes and your response - it was very helpful, and especially good to hear from someone else who has been in the same situation!

I had my interview this morning. The presentation actually went really well and I think I was able to articulate clearly my enthusiasm for the subject - although ironically I don't feel I performed as well on the questions themselves as I could have done due to focusing all my efforts on the presentation. So somewhat annoyingly, I suspect I might have lost out on the part that I actually have plenty of experience in dealing with!

Still, I haven't heard back yet, so hope remains. I'll post the outcome...

Hi all,

I've just been offered an interview for a teaching fellowship, and they've asked me to give a 10-minute presentation on how I would teach (especially lecture) on an event of my choice (the post is related to European contemporary politics). I have taught the topic before, but only as a seminar leader - it's really quite different from the area I specialise in as a researcher. I have never given a lecture or attended a teaching fellowship interview before. To be honest I was quite surprised to be offered the interview!

Worse is the fact that the interview will be one week before my thesis submission deadline, which is pretty frightening! I knew this before applying, but really didn't think I'd get offered an interview so didn't give it much thought. Fortunately I'm nearly finished, but the time I will have to take out to devote to the presentation does mean the last week will be a little more frantic than I'd like.

I know this forum is mostly about research rather than teaching, but if any of you have ever given a presentation on teaching methodology before, especially for a fellowship, I'd really appreciate some tips, as right now I have no real idea of how I should go about this!

Thanks in advance!

Hi Charlene,

My PhD is in literature. Contact time with the supervisor has varied quite a lot over the years: in my first year I probably saw her no more than once a month (sometimes less often) because she had a broken leg and couldn't travel to uni (we used to have supervisions in her living room!). The past couple of years, because I'm close to submitting, we've met around once a fortnight on average - sometimes more often in an informal capacity.

Although I have a great relationship with my supervisor, I would hesitate to say that this amount of contact time is how it's 'supposed' to be. My project was a scholarship (itself part of a big AHRC-funded project) and the basic conception of it was designed by my supervisor - although I think I ended up taking it in a different direction from what she originally intended - which means that she's naturally been very interested in my PhD, because the last significant piece of work on this topic was her own thesis. I also only had one supervisor until halfway through my third year due to an administrative screw-up at my uni (PhDs here are meant to have two supervisors) so for three years she was carrying out the role of two people.

All this said, however, I don't think you're overreacting. It does sound like your supervisor could (and frankly, should) take more of an interest, and be more supportive. Not having any contact at all with him for two months is shocking - while your research may be your responsibility, it is his to make sure that things are OK at your end and that you are on course.

I would definitely follow the advice of other posters and try to get this sorted out. If you have any colleagues who are current or former PhD students of his, have they had similar experiences with him?

Best of luck and I really hope things get better soon.

Hi Smiler!

I'm posting in this thread partly for selfish reasons as I'm finishing up too - my submission date is in two weeks! - so it would be good to hear what other people have to say on the matter.

One piece of advice I can share, though, is to make a plan: work out exactly how much you have left to do and how long you need to do it. I did mine just before Christmas and it's been really helpful as I've found the process of being able to tick something off the list really satisfying. I really think it helps to have some way of monitoring your progress; not just for organisational but also for motivational purposes.

Other than that, the other thing I've found helpful is trying to make sure I have at least a little time off every day - even if it's just an hour to catch up on TV. I'm still managing to treat it as a 9-5 job (just about!) so I stop in the evening when my boyfriend gets home from work, which means that I still get some downtime.

Hope this helps - and that others have some good suggestions!

I saw this as well and will also be keeping an eye on it, as I am in a similar position (submitting in 2 weeks!)

I'm also applying for research fellowships at the moment and have already been rejected by one; the fact that I only have one small publication (a book review) to my name thus far probably doesn't help. So it will be interesting in particular to see how Mel gets on as our situation seems rather similar (humanities, limited publication record, etc.)

I certainly hope taking more than 3 years is OK - by the time I submit it will be 4 years and 3 months! (I was supposed to finish within 3 years, but was granted an extension due to a bereavement in the middle of my thesis). Everything that I've been told so far is that the quality of the finished thesis is more important than how long it takes you, so if you need 4 years to write the best thesis you can, you should make the most of it.

One friend of mine, another member of my research team, submitted her thesis within 3 years and couldn't find a postdoc - she is now working in another industry, but is happy there. Another good friend finished last year after six years (full-time - she had to suspend several times for various personal reasons) and walked straight into a post-doc, and is getting her thesis published. Take from that what you will :)

Hi happyclappy,

I agree with wowzers - even if your job is making you depressed, the stress of combining that with your PhD work (especially when you are close to finishing) won't be helping. I don't believe you are obliged to reveal the nature of your illness to your supervisor if you don't want to, but I think I would make them aware that you've been experiencing some health issues if they are affecting your ability to do your PhD work. Of course, a lot of it also depends on your relationship with your supervisor - I have a very good one with mine, and when I went through a period of depression a few years ago I told her about it and she was very understanding.

Either way, I would definitely consider wowzers' advice to be kind to yourself. Does your university provide any kind of bursary or stipend for PhD students who are writing up?

Long-time lurker, first-time poster... I am doing a PhD in languages, submitting just after Christmas I hope :)