Monster,
I, more than most people understand your frustration. I remember thinking the same as yourself. yes, we as PhD students are expected to work independantly but I remember thinking that my supervisor must of been taking the piss, given how little contact I had with him from the start. Without ever really dicussing my PhD project in any great length with my supervisor, I was left to completely manage my research project. I dropped out after getting mauled in first year review. my advice is:

1) regardless of how little support you get from your supervisor. be proactive. make best of the resources around you, ask postdocs in your group about what ever querries you may have, they should be able to direct you to books, journals papers, help explian theory and experimental methods that are relevent to your project or they should at least be able to point you in the right direction

sorry manda, i think i misread your tread. forget about my last tread

manda. that’s a very ignorant comment for a supposedly educated person. What kind of animal are you, a baboon? On what basis are you saying that it is foreigners who seem to be one ones having all the trouble? I am from the EU, English is my first language and I had major problems with my supervisor. It has nothing to do with the fact that im not British

It seems to me there is a little bit of British superiority creeping into your tread. I thought that kind of shite died with the British empire ;)

i think the really burning question is how do they get the figs in to the fig rolls?

I suppose you might as well be asking how long is a peice of string. the two reasons I can see for doing any PhD is that you enjoy the subject and/or doing a PhD will in some way enhance your career prospects. ask your self these questions honestly and you should get your answer

Arnt you guys talking about these onlnie degree factories. They have special offers on PhDs this time of year: usually I think it's about £19.99 for a PhD, but thats not all, apply know and get you very own set of kitchen knives!!!

Funny story to that effect. There was a bit of bother a few years a go when it was found out that the chief science advisor for the Irish government had got his PhD from an online university! he had also held positions in the EU also.

i might as well be thrown off this website if thats the case ;)

What you need to do is in the presence of another member of staff (say your advisor ), discuss you issues and then trash out reasonable work plan for your first year, including major milestones and timelines, the frequency and nature of support you should be getting from your supervisor and so forth. Get it all down on paper, in case the shit hits the fan at first year review..

Trust me when I say, id still be a PhD student if I had followed this advice

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I was funded by the EPSRC and they recommend 40 hour working week and up to 8 weeks holiday a year. I went to one of the Oxbridge universities and I didn’t know anyone who worked 60 hour week for their PhD ( in their first year) and I knew a lot of people from different fields doing PhDs. It sounds to me like this guys has a lot of pressure to deliver on this project

Take this as good advice from someone who has gone through a first year of a PhD and fallen flat on his arse (i dropped out). Your supervisor has no right to threaten you like that. I got the same kind of comments from my supervisor but i was 4-5 months in. you’ve only got your foot in the door, this is ridiculous!!! Your certainly well within your rights to complain to the department about this

I don’t agree with this put up or shut up mentality, as a student you have rights so find out what they are and exercise them.
If you feel you are been overworked and not getting enough support you need to do something about it now. There should be a graduate studies handbook or document which outlines the roles of responsibility of both the student and supervisor.

I feel sorry for anyone who has had to go through the kind of BS people are outlining in this thread. It's this kind of behaviour which cost me my place at one of the worlds best universities. if anything it makes me ever more determined to get a PhD and have a successful academic career. i qoute an irish slogan: 'tiocfaidh ar la'( we will have our day)

these are completely normal feelings. i think a lot of poeple feel out of their depth for most of their PhD. Remember becoming an expert in a field does not happen over night. if you are feeling particulalry stresses out at this stage, it does help if you are doing some kind of extra curricular to help take your mind of your work

woody, I dont take it too much to heart. If you were staying in the same field as your supervisor he can certainly make things difficult for you by passing remarks and comments about you to his buddies at conferences and so forth. However if you are in a different field I seriously doubt he can destroy your career. As your a postdoc now, your ex supervisor is inconsequential. Ultimately you will be judged on your publication record not on what your supervisor says about you.best of luck

ive gone down the same route as you. i dont think its a case that you should need an Mphil to get another PhD studenthsip. i have already been offered a studentship at another university even though i didnt make it past first year of my PhD.

i do agree that if you want to work in the same field and your supervisor carries a lot of weight, you will need to proceed carefully. From what ive seen, academic fields tend to be very incestuous in that a lot fo the researchers in that feild might be well known to each other which can make applications for studentships awkard.

ask your supervisor. its their job to give you this kind of advice.

The last few posts have given some really good advice, especially about setting mini deadlines. I think givng a presentation to your supervisor about your literature review after about three months can be extremely benefical. In fact I think it should be compulsary, it probably could of saved my PhD.

It gives your supervisor a chance to test your understanding of the feild in general, gaps in the feild, rational for undertaking the project, experimental methodology, research plan. its basiclly an opportunity for your supervisor to put the boot into you at an early stage rather than waiting till your first year review. that way if you are having any serious problems, you a given a chance to iron them out at an early stage.