This sounds like an horrific display of supervision from your so called supervisor. Unfortunately I can't see how you would be able to get a PhD from what you've stated here. To gain a PhD you need to essentially find out/come up with something new, even just a small advance. I'm not sure that you can claim to have done that, maybe someone with more knowledge of biology than I will be able to give a happier prognosis.

As it is it sounds like you have a real case to take forward with your university regarding your supervisor. Not letting you publish and refusing to change track when everyone else in the team says it's the wrong method sounds incredibly pig headed and ignorant - not the kind of open minded approach required for science. If he has been blocking staff from publishing then he is not only hurting their careers but also bringing down the research reputation of the university (which is measured on publications) which will in turn lead to less money for the uni. His department head should be outraged.

Obviously you need to be very careful if you do make a complaint. Supervisors obviously wield more power than post grads, perhaps someone else on here who may have been in a similar situation can give advice on this count?

Basically, assuming that all you have said is true I'm not sure that you can make a PhD thesis out of your work and you may have to have serious words with your university.

I hope I'm wrong.

Also completed.

Less of the gender stereotypes people! :-)

Anywho, the one massive problem I'd have with this from your perspective is that if you do as your bf says and live there you're clearly not going to be near uni (£300 travelling!) and most importantly it would seem to be taking advantage of his mum's kindness.

Has he ever lived away from home? If not then perhaps that's what's causing him to want to stay.

I see no reason to put her out (which it will I'm sure) when you don't have to. Many of your other points are also valid. Plus, what do you do in a year? Probably not move because it's stressful and you've stayed there for a year and it's not been too bad etc etc. Cut his umbilical cord and get a place together.

Sorry that this may seem harsh. My GF has brothers who still live at home without good reason and it annoys me - perhaps others are far more understanding!

If you don't get the funding then it is a very kind offer that you should probably take her up on, but move out ASAP in my opinion. That way you can be near uni in a home of your own where you can feel comfortable.

What ever you decide, make sure it's what you want.

You want "kick up the back side" tough love. Right then.

1. You are (probably) being paid public money to do your research, so you need to get it done or you are wasting it much like the MPs everyone complains about.

2. When you get to the end of your PhD and you are saying "I need more time to write up" you will think of all the time you wasted now.

3. If you don't get it in soon you're supervisor may quickly change from a laid back easy going type to an absolute monster.

Just to reiterate, you wanted a kick up the arse so I tried to think of some nastier things to motivate you. I'm not actually a b*st*rd I promise.

What Mackem said is pretty much spot on. Just to add a little to it - some colleagues of mine ended up tutoring classes they were not that familiar with (i.e. they hadn't done it for a long time) and had to do loads of revision to get up to scratch. They still were fine, it just took a while. Others managed to find stuff that was at a very low level technically and they had loads of experience in. I reckon you can probably guess who had the better time of it. My point is, if you can, make sure when you do the tutoring or whatever that you teach something you're comfortable with from the off.

5 days a week. In at between 8 and 9, gone at between 5 and 6. I have my own desk in an open plan office, which is happily a very quiet office. Because others seem to not be too bothered about coming in I'm often on my own or with just one other at the end of the room till about 10 or so.

Having said all this, I'm an RA doing a PhD at the same time so I kind of have to be in. To be honest I'd be in this much (and these hours) anyway. When I go home there is no work there and no way to get sucked into it. I think this comes from having worked in industry before (where it was impossible to work at home) and I think it really helps maintain a decent work/life balance.

Hi,

I wouldn't take the experiences on this forum as being the average. Most people post on here when they have difficulties, that's what the forum is for really. You're rarely going to get someone posting: "today I completed one of the tasks I had in mind for the day and my neat solution gave me a real buzz and a feeling that I am really getting somewhere". As it happens that happened to me yesterday, but I wouldn't normally post it as I don't need advice and don't need people to virtually pat me on the back.

Hence, most posts are about fairly horrible sounding events and the only nice ones are when people complete or get a paper accepted and are basically thanking everyone for helping when it was tough.

I've only been going six months but I haven't felt at all depressed about my work and I'm not working ridiculous hours - I felt more stressed when I was working a "proper job".

Hope this post provides some balance to your deliberations.

I did a short Spanish course for the last few months and found that fun and easy to fit in around my PhD, and my girlfriend completed a GCSE in Spanish whilst doing her doctorate so in terms of "will I have time" then I'd say that yes you would.

Having had a quick look at the web site describing the course and as an outsider to the university I would say that you should do it solely if it is something you're interested in. As a qualification I doubt it will be seen as much use by anyone who is not an alumni of the university, or unless you're subject area is closely linked. Therefore I would see it as an 'extra curricular' thing, similar to say doing a basic language course or taking a cookery or short basic history course. That is, if you enjoy it or think it would be interesting then do it, but if you're looking for a qualification that's worthwhile, perhaps do something else with your spare time.

As I say, this is just an outsiders view (though I guess most employers will be outsiders too), perhaps a view point from someone who's done it would be worth considering too if you can find someone.

Sorry to say it, but your question is unanswerable. It depends on who is looking at your achievements. Some people will look at the uni, some the topic, some what you learnt, some will disregard it as completely irrelevant. It will differ between academia and business too. Some people will look not at the quality of the institution per se, but at the quality and renown of your supervisor and/or research team, some people will be solely interested in how your skills translate and couldn't care less where you did the qualification.

You can help guide people to see what you want. Obviously if you do a PhD at Oxford or Cambridge or Harvard etc, put it in big letters on your CV cos that will impress some employers. You will also want to highlight the skills you gained. Maybe you led a team during the PhD, showing leadership skills. Most PhDs show a level of self motivation. It's up to you to sell this to your potential employer.

So basically, do something you enjoy because 1/You will not hate the next 3-4 years as much and 2/ The name of the uni may not mean anything to your employer in the future anyway.

Sorry for the slightly muddled answer, but as I said, the question is pretty much unanswerable.

Also zero. She didn't know she was my 2nd and I didn't know she was either until I'd been here for a few months. We have never met for a meeting to do with my work and there are no plans to do so.

I don't work outside my PhD because I will be gaining my PhD from the work I am doing as an RA. In a way I guess I work 5 days a week whilst doing my PhD, but as my paid employment pretty much IS my PhD I don't think this counts!

If I was doing a PhD the regular way then I wouldn't work more than two days a week and I'd be loathe to work at another job at all. I suppose if I didn't have enough money I would have to, but I would first question WHY I didn't have enough money and perhaps cut down expenditure. A full time PhD is at least the same hours as a job in my eyes, and doing more than 40 hours a week consistently isn't healthy, as I'm sure many people on here who have done that just on their PhD will attest!

I feel I should defend some of the inspectors out there, perhaps the following true story of my brother's journey a few years back will help restore some balance.

He jumped on the train to go from Grantham to Hull via 3 different trains but had arrived at the station late so he hadn't bought a ticket. He sat down in one of the front carriages of the first train to find the ticket inspector sitting down next to him. They chatted for a while until the inspector said "I've got to go check tickets now, you've got yours I assume?". My brother told him the above story and the guy said "never mind, just make sure you get a ticket for your connection" and let him off.

That train ran late and so he again had to sprint across the platform to get his connection. Again he sat down only to have exactly the same thing happen, with the inspector letting him off without having to buy a ticket.

He got to the third train, this time without it running late and in no rush, but figured he'd push his luck on the last one. This time he actively sort out the ticket collector and took a seat next to him before striking up a conversation. Apparently this guy wasn't quite so lenient and asked him (quite rightly really!) to pay the fare. At this point my brother told him the whole story and said the guy should let him off because it would "make a better story". Amazingly this worked and so his entire journey was free! Goes to show that there are occasionally a few good ones out there too.

Another (slightly separate) point that is worth considering is that pay is not everything. Obviously you want to be reimbursed fairly for the time and expertise you offer but there are other factors. Some companies offer various things such as shares in the company, a bonus scheme, pension schemes, discounts on memberships to gyms etc or even free cooked lunch (my old place offered this - I saved a small fortune in the long run!). As well as these monetary gains there is also a bonus in being in a job that you enjoy doing with people you like in a part of the country you like.

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One factor however Delta that you are not taking into account is the recession. Many companies either had to cut back previously (leaving a lot of quality engineers with experience unemployed and after jobs) or they may even still be cutting back. This means that people may have to take slightly less than what you're saying.

I stand by what both Delta and I said earlier about not taking anything graduate level - that would be truly preposterous in my view, you could have saved yourself 4 years. Instead I would focus your CV and covering letter on the fact that you are chartered or are about to become chartered (obviously sort this out as well as saying it!) and approach companies for roles that at the least require "3-4 years experience". There are a good few of these around that offer over 35k. Alright this is not 42k but your salary should go up fairly quickly anyway.

One thing to bear in mind is that you will need to work in a similar area of engineering to your EngD (I realise this may sound obvious). Before my PhD I was looking to move into the renewables sector after working in the military sector. ALL employers wanted experience in the renewable industry, leading to the catch 22 of "do you have experience in renewables? No? Then you can't work for us and get experience in renewables."

So long as you are fairly flexible on location then you shouldn't have too many problems finding a 35k relevant job that you should be ideally suited for. Take that and you will probably be on 40k within a year or 2 max, especially if the company is smaller with a less rigid promotion system. What ever you do DO NOT GO ON A GRADUATE SCHEME. (up)

Edited for spelling

Don't be going for a graduate scheme thing, you could have done that 3 or 4 years ago. Search for a company that will value your qualification. You *should* start on more money and in a slightly higher position than a graduate. Obviously you will probably be behind people who went straight into industry from undergrad though.

Try and find smaller companies. Larger ones will just try and shove you through the graduate scheme. Many companies either don't rate a doctorate or don't understand it (or both) so they will basically lob you in with everyone else. Your best bet is to furiously network with people and get in through contacts at various firms.

Most of my friends who went on graduate schemes were not fans. Most who worked for smaller companies did a lot better for themselves in terms of pay and experience (myself included). Obviously that was before the bust though and during the boom, so it was a little bit easier to get a job...