Overview of PhoenixFortune on PostgraduateForum.com

P

Signup date: 31 Oct 2019 at 1:55pm

Last login: 12 Feb 2022 at 4:13pm

Post count: 92

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From Hopeful75:
Hi, I really hope that someone can help me understand the examination results. Today I received my results from my examination (I am based in Australia), and I have been told that I have major revisions to make to my thesis. The university has given me six months to get these amendments done.

What I am confused about is that my supervisory panel has written to me, congratulating me on a good outcome and that I have not long to go now. I thought that a" good outcome" would be either no amendments necessary or minor revisions. How exactly are major revisions a good outcome? And does a six-month deadline for the changes to be made indicate how bad my thesis was? My stomach has been hurting since I read the email.

You still passed your viva (or final examination, whatever you call it in Australia), so it's a very positive outcome. You should be very proud of that achievement, and the revisions are only to make the final submission the best it can possibly be.
As for the 6 month deadline, I believe that's relatively standard for anyone who needs to do minor or major revisions, but I'm not 100% sure.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Everyone NEEDS constructive feedback, even if it's not necessarily something you WANT to hear. I always try to only look feedback when I'm not tired and in a reasonably pleasant mood, that way I am more able to appreciate what is being said and why. I also think that you need the mindset of: would I have noticed the need for these changes if my supervisor hadn't pointed them out? Maybe not, as we are all guilty of being 'too close' to our project/writing, and an unfamiliar reader can help with that.

Comparison is the thief of happiness, so you won't make yourself more productive/generally better by doing that. Also, everyone's PhD structure/trajectory/process is different, even those in the same discipline, so there is literally no point in comparing yourself to where others are and how they are doing.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From hamster101:
My viva is yesterday and one night before that i was told my viva is cancelled due to examiner sick

I have been prepared so long for this, I feel very annoyed, i wonder what i can do here

i crying for whole days, it has been four month since i submit and they told me i have to wait at least three weeks for the person to recover
is there way to regulate the sudden sickness of the assessor which bring huge damage to your life and life plan

You can't do anything apart from wait. Many people have to wait longer than 4 months for their viva, so you aren't the only one to be in this position. You sound a bit arrogant and dramatic - your life isn't ruined because your viva has been postponed for ~3 more weeks.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From Jojoarmo:
Hi, Thanks for this. I'm 44 with kids etc so a mature student lol with own home etc. I think I'll have to accept their offer and apply for loads of grants etc which is going to be a lot of extra work as I'm finishing my MA dissertation at the mo. I may postpone my start date them as you suggest. Thanks for your time. Ps. The loan is not given if you get other financial awards so I can't combine unfortunately.

Maybe double check with Student Finance - I know if you have RC funding you can't get the loan as well, but if it's just a grant you might be able to get it. The fee waiver might be a spanner in the works though. Is the grant from your university or another source?

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From Jojoarmo:
Hi, apologies. I'm a home student. I start my phd in Jan 2021. At Huddersfield uni as that's my home town. Ive been offered a fee free course and a 3k maintainance grant. Thanks,

Will you be living at home or will you need to rent somewhere? If I were you, I would keep searching for relevant grants, but also think about getting the doctoral loan. If you want to delay your start date, maybe you could apply for research council funding (i.e. AHRC) for September 2021?

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From Jojoarmo:
Hi all,
Please can you advise?
I've been offered the above but I can't live on this amount - even though I'm grateful to be recognised.
I'm panicking that unless I can obtain further funding then I won't be able to continue with my Phd studies in Linguistics.
Has anyone got any advice as to the best places to source etc funding as I'm feeling pretty overwhelmed and stressed at the mo. Thanks in advance.

Firstly, are you a home, EU, or international student? Have you already started your PhD, or are you still at the application stage? Where are you studying, in the UK or elsewhere?

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From littlejayg:
Is anyone else finding it really difficult to be motivated to get work done at home? I'm a lab based researcher and the work I am doing from home isn't directly helping me progress my project further so it's making it hard to want to do it. I'm feeling quite lost to be honest and feel like I'm in a constant cycle of not doing much and then feeling guilty about it and so on.

How is everyone else getting on? Does anyone have any tips to help encourage productivity or to not feel so guilty about not getting so much done?

Have you spoken to your supervisor about how you're feeling? Does your university have only guidance on what to do in your lab-less situation?

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From datadroid8:

I'm stuck in a position where I feel the expertise I do have in web development can't be applied to a PhD topic and common areas of research in computing (such as Data Science, Artificial Intelligence etc) are far beyond my capabilities.

I'm not one that normally finds situations overwhelming but this is becoming a major strain on my mental wellbeing. I feel as though I'm spending hours and hours reading journals trying to find something I feel is within my range of knowledge (or at least something I can learn within any reasonable period of time).

Does anyone have any experience of being in a similar situation? Any advice?

I've had some topic ideas. However they don't really tickle the taste buds of my supervisors who continue to push me towards topics that feel out of my depth. Some of the ideas I have are being reached heavily so there has also been originality concerns raised by my supervisors.

Would it be possible for you to do a distance-learning MSc to help fill your knowledge gaps? Or are you committed to doing a PhD right now?

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

I don't understand how you don't know what your topic is; just to clarify, did you apply to a pre-proposed project or did you propose you of your own?

As your supervisor is new to the position, I'd say that you can't be backward about coming forward - make sure he knows what you want from him and then ask for his expectations too, then you can negotiate if they don't align. If I were you, I'd also strongly request a second supervisor.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

I have the opportunity to apply for a small grant (probably under £300) to spend on any costs associated with my PhD. I am otherwise self-funded - I receive no research council or university funding. One of the conditions of applying for the grant is that, if I am awarded it, I must acknowledge the awarding body in all papers I write during my PhD, and in my thesis. I was wondering if this is a typical request?

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From masterdisappear:
Hi, I am a first year Master Student. I found it really hard to communicate with my advisor. Since I am only first year student and everything is new to me. When I came to present my work to him, I give Powerpoint but he yelled at me and told me to give Word Document. In the next meeting, I give him Word Document, but he yelled at me and told me to give Powerpoint. I asked Senior Student but they told me that I was right to gave him powerpoint. I expect to get input when I met my advisor but he never gave me any input or feedback to what I did. My advisor never replied any progress that I sent to him, but when I met him, he yelled at me and he claimed that I never sent him any report. I already told him that I always send weekly report but he resisted. It seems that it became personal that when I met him on the street. He yelled at me for something that is not my fault. If you guys ever faced the typical problem as I did, please share.. Thanks

That doesn't sound like acceptable behaviour from your supervisor, especially if he is literally yelling at you over everything. Make sure if you send him anything by email that you tick the box that requests the receiver to send a reading receipt. If you have a personal tutor or second supervisor, speak to them about the situation. Someone at your student union might also be able to help.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From m_2795:
Thank you for your answer. What would be the criteria in this case then?

To achieve a 'pass with no corrections' is quite self-explanatory. You need to be able to defend your thesis well and be confident about the justifications for every decision you've made. Your write-up needs to have no grammatical/spelling/logic errors. After this, you should have no corrections to do and can finalise your thesis. Depending on your field, passing with no corrections may be very common or extremely rare (and obviously depends on how hard-working you've been regarding your thesis).
However, your 'classification' (i.e. whether you had corrections, resubmitted etc.) does not appear on your certificate as PhDs are ungraded, so you wouldn't put this on your CV.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From DanL133:
Dear all,

I am collaborating with a group of Italians PhD students that would like to spend part of their doctoral training abroad (particularly but not only in UK). I would like to know if there are grants/scholarships that may finance this kind of experience and may help PhD students in that sense.

Thank you everyone for the help and the assistance!

If your university is affiliated with Santander, they offer a Mobility Award to do work abroad (if you can demonstrate that it would further your knowledge/research). Your university/research council may also have a funding pot specifically for research conducted abroad, although this will depend on whether you can prove how valuable it would be to your specific project/how long you want to spend abroad.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From m_2795:
Hello,

I`d love to know what are the criteria that should exist in a PhD to be granted a "pass with distinction". Maybe those who have had it, or those who know about can help.

Thanks a lot.

That classification doesn't exist in the UK, at least not in the majority of awarding universities. The closest would be to 'pass with no corrections'.

A 'pass with distinction' or just 'distinction' is much more common in master's degrees.

P

PhoenixFortune 92 posts
4 years ago

Quote From stc954:
Hi guys, I am in my first year - second semester. I have been doing a lot of reading around my area (big data visualisation) however, I slowly came to realise at the near end of semster 1 that no coherent ideas are forming. Depsite all my tries and reading.
So I played this smartly, I started looking at a different branch (big data security). I found great ideas are forming, objectives etc. And I found a coherent gap.
Is this type of shift of subtopic, though still under the same branch a good move? Does it show you're learning about the subject area? My supervisor is ill and I haven't been in contact with for a while. Hoping next week. He is however interested in both visualisation and security.
I found myself in a endless loop with visualisation.

Are you in receipt of funding from a research council or similar? If so, you will probably need their approval to change your RQs or shift topic. Your supervisor should be able to advise you on this when they return.

Overview of PhoenixFortune

Recent Posts

Confusion about major revisions

How do you deal with comments on your work?

I have been cring whole days about why this happen

Offered a phd but only 3k bursary - stressed!

Offered a phd but only 3k bursary - stressed!

Offered a phd but only 3k bursary - stressed!

Difficulty working from home

Going around in circles and feel pretty lost

Recently started my PhD and completely lost

Grant mention in thesis/paper acknowledgements?

Tempramental Advisor

Pass with "distinction"

Looking for grants for visiting fellowships

Pass with "distinction"

Is it good for a phd topic change on first year