Whilst obviously very annoyed to start with I'm not too bothered now. I reckon I can still publish a lot of the work especially because it's been done by a company who haven't published full details of what they did. It is however a little annoying that it's not entirely new...

I found out today that someone else (at a global company in my field) has basically already done the work I have been doing for the past 9-12 months. I can probably still get something out of what I've done due to minor differences/level of detail etc, but it's really frustrating that I have gone from having done work that is entirely new and revolutionary to doing something someone else has pretty much already done and trying to find some differences to make what I've done new.

Either way, aside from my obvious chance to have a grumble I thought I'd ask: Have you ever been caught out like this? What happened and what did you do. I'm not really looking for advice, I'd just be interested to hear what stories other users might have!

Good advice from Pjlu there. I don't see how he is allowed to get away with it. The rest of the university need to grow some balls and actually stand up for their students and themselves. Even if what he claims is true was true his behaviour is unacceptable. Who is his line manager? Why is he not facing disciplinary proceedings? Definitely go talk to someone impartial at the university about it. Are you in the UK? If so this is relevant http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Employment/ResolvingWorkplaceDisputes/DiscriminationAtWork/DG_10026670 if not then it's still slightly relevant.

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Complain to your 2nd supervisor and to the head of department. Email your supervisor and explain that you find his behaviour unacceptable. Cause a fuss and make an official complaint. People not doing so in the past appears to have led to this. If what you say is true he should be sacked.

Stop thinking that verbal and physical abuse is acceptable from someone who in fact has a duty of care toward you. If you've worked with someone he didn't want you to then that's his look out, he shouldn't throw all his toys out the pram and act like a spoilt child.

Thanks Bilbo for your contributions, you'll be missed. Well done again on the PhD though and all the best for the future!

Well if he physically assaults you then you go to the police!

Sounds like he is very much in the wrong. If you have a 2nd supervisor go and talk to them about it. Be frank and honest. After that you might want to talk to the head of department. Obviously you need to be careful so make sure that the people you talk to understand that you are talking to them in confidence and that they should not tell anyone else. They should be able to give you good advice. You may be able to change supervisor for example.

Nice to see my thread has resurfaced! I stand by my original thoughts, i.e. all jobs have frustrations. It does seem that the stress at the end of the PhD is the most common cencern however. I'm only a year in and am trying to write a couple of papers, and whilst it can be frustrating, I've actually found it less stressful than "real jobs".

Inferiority complex is massively common in PhDs, try not to develop one now. The guys in their thirties will be looking at you thinking "Balls, that guy/gal is young, their going to have so much more energy and commitment than me, everyone will just think I'm an old fogie trying to do a PhD at this age".

Never, EVER, compare your PhD or your situation to anyone else's. For a start you won't know exactly what their situation is and secondly it doesn't matter a jot. Just focus on your work (which you still have 3+ years to do!), try to enjoy it and remember you wouldn't have been selected to do it if you couldn't manage it.

I really wouldn't worry if I were you, the first few weeks tend to be filled with tedious admin anyway and you have plenty of time to get into your subject matter. You will have better access to resources when you start and the whole "background reading" thing will be easier. I came to my RA position (in engineering) from industry and did next to no background reading. I've found academia to move so slowly that it didn't really matter anyway.

Once you've started you will have a better idea of what is relevant anyway. As long as you generally understand the fundamentals of engineering (that you learnt at undergrad) you will be fine.

http://xkcd.com/955/

I bet you £200 it doesn't pan out...

Where I live, to buy the house I live in now would cost approaching £300,000, maybe £265,000 if we were really lucky. The rent is £850 per month. The INTEREST payments for the mortgage would be around the same if not slightly more, PLUS once you buy you have to pay for: Building's insurance, Boiler/Heating repairs, other household repairs and you are tied to living there until you can sell it, at which point you need the property value to have gone up by more than the two lots of agents fees of a few thousand pounds (when you bought it and when you sold it) plus inflation (very high at the moment!) to make money on it in a market where the price is not going up steadily and may actually decrease.

Why spend all that money and take such a big risk? We could buy a smaller house, but why live somewhere less nice? People say renters are "burning money" but if the interest only repayments are near enough the same as the rent would be then actually you are probably "burning" less money than someone with a mortgage, plus you can put all those savings you would've spent on the deposit into high interest savings accounts and make money off them.

We have an obsession in this country with buying - and sometimes it's a good choice, there are a few benefits - but loads of people feel an obligation to buy when it really makes no sense.