Hi aktuphd,

I am sorry no one has replied earlier, posts over the weekend are a bit funny for new members.

That sounds unfair and unjustified. What they are asking of you at this stage is uncalled for and not the basis for termination. If your projects was good enough at the 3 year review why is it suddenly not enough now? However, I am going to be honest appeals can be difficult if you do not have some academic support. What do your current and former supervisors think or any other members of faculty? You need to talk with them about your universities internal appeal system and they should give you advice. You can also talk with the students union or an independent member of faculty for advice. I would generally say that you need to get as much evidence saying the panel was wrong (politely "did not fully consider") and present it to the right person.

Hopefully other people can give you better advice

Hi Moilee,

You passed and are now Dr Moilee! That is an achievement in itself. If you feel disadvantaged because you have no publications remember that a PhD is more than just a publications list. You learnt multiple invaluable skills that you can apply in any situation and finishing a PhD is no small feat. Publications are just a metric but cannot define the entire progress by one statistic. You are a Dr now and nothing can take that away from you.

If you want to write up your work in a publication, just do it. Write an awful paper based exclusively on data in your thesis and tell your supervisor you want to publish a first name paper. Tell him that you do not want your data (that was in your thesis and you can prove is yours) in any other papers until you get a first name journal. It is a childish manoeuvre but he cannot fight you if the data is in your thesis, as he probably signed a form saying all the work was done exclusively by you. At that point he can either shun you forever or he could help you write the publication, your choice. Also, why I say write an awful paper is that if he reacts badly, you need to submit the paper ASAP so that you submitted first. As if they submit the paper significantly earlier than you the journal might have an issue you with duplicating data. So even if it is an awful paper in an awful journal and it gets rejected you will have a receipt saying that you tried to publish your data first. Therefore any of their submissions afterwards would be copying your data without your permission and they will be doing the duplication. I believe what they are doing with your data is unethical and if the journals found out they would side with you.

Hi everyone,

Quick question, can you duplicate the same figure multiple times in your thesis? I made an original flowchart that summaries a certain process and want to include in several sections. Should I modify them ever so slightly so they are unique individual figures or is it okay to simply duplicate?

I think my supervisors would kill me if I didn't include their names on my papers. Most supervisors assume they will be coauthour but you should force them to commit to do something. Their feedback will be invaluable in writing your first paper and you should get them to at least read one draft in detail, preferably more.

The labs at my university are reopening for general research in late July (we have a date) but the details have not been clarified. There is a going to be a rota system but we have not been told how it will work.

Allegedly, my university wants to force lab technicians who should be shielding to come in. We have a lot of lab technicians compared with other unis and to be polite they are not the healthiest of people (cough: diabetes cough:). So my university is being extremely careful and the buildings in general are not suitable for social distancing. We are supposed to be getting socially distanced fire escape plans, because when you are escaping a burning building you still need to maintain that 2m.

PS: I am not in Wales

Congrats on the PhD!

I am an engineering PhD student, so not law. Your supervisors will help guide you on these issues but if you want to get involved there usually are plenty of opportunities. I would highly recommend joining the organising committees for PhD conferences (the internal ones), being a student rep (if you have them) and doing at least some teaching. Blog posts are great and universities love them but writing them explicitly for another university might be an issue. Conferences are complicated and it depends on your field. Usually you will want to go to a mixture of local and international conferences to maximise networking. Though the large international conferences usually have long submission deadlines several months in advance and it is good to have a plan of where you want to want submit/when (assuming conferences still happen after the lock down).

University formatting rules are an utter pain but are necessary. I understand that it feels overwhelming now but once you get the formatting setup correctly you won't have to worry about it much. Content is king and the formatting is really a one time issue that can be done whenever.

I would recommend a reference manager such as EndNote or Mendely to organise references, bookmarks and links. They automate the process and significantly reduces stress.

I would say it is unusual to go back to a postdoc after a permanent lectureship. I think it would be rather awkward to go from full lecturer back down to postdoc but a temporary lecturer job might be less awkward. I have seen lecturers become research fellows, take research sabbaticals or get grant money to pay off their teaching time. So if you do get a lectureship you have more research options other than doing a postdoc

Have you been offered a lecturer job?

I completely agree with pm133 but would like to add that you can ask someone to look at one chapter specific to their expertise. An academic would be more willing to read one chapter on their expertise and a bit of flattery always helps.

We are not even allowed in the labs yet :(

I can understand half a day is not enough for a lot of experiments but coming in every other day is still draconian. As one of my experiments requires me to come in every day (including weekends) to do 1 hour of measurements and working every other day would kill it. There should be some flexibility as everyone's experiments are different and not a one size fits all.

Both examiners are important and either one can be influenced by the other. Traditionally the internal is less critical and more supportive than the external but that is not always the case. I think is rather inappropriate for your supervisor to choose without asking you but I would ask your supervisor why she was chosen. While you may consider this internal rigid and with high standards they could have a very different reputation during examination. The fact you consider her fair is a very good sign as she might be more receptive during your viva.

On a cynical note, you can try to find a conflict between you and this proposed internal. Have you worked together, have you or your supervisor published with the internal or have you had any major issues with the person? It won't make you any friends but the easiest way to remove an examiner is by finding a conflict.

It sounds very promising and I wish you all the luck. However you won't know until they tell you and it it is still very early. Many HR policies must be considered when hiring and the job cannot be given until all the interviews are conducted. Also when applicants are being considered for multiple vacancies it makes decisions take even longer. While sounds like you aced the interview it would be unlikely to hear back this soon.