Who is funding you?

Yes, best to do as tutor says and find something else first, but do remember the grass isn't always greener.

Hi, yes you can start a postdoc without having had your viva. I did this and so did several other people I know.

Tudor, I don't know why they say this, because in reality once you get a post doc they want you to start asap and if you are nowhere near finishing your thesis they will probably give the post to someone who is. For most positions you just need a CV and a cover letter, and it's a standard month until deadline and then month wait to hear back for interview date within a month. This is for biology though - it's obviously different in other fields.

I think when you start applying depends on your financial situation. Ideally, I would have started in between submission and viva and be writing up my papers at the same time. It wasn't fun having to start a postdoc because I needed the cash when I had just finished (not even submitted) my thesis. It then took me a year to write 3 papers in evenings and weekends after work (which to be fair, is still quicker that most).

If you're paying for it, I'm sure you will be accepted into UK MBAs. You already have a masters, which will help mitigate your lower undergraduate score.

She has to use your name, that shouldn't be in question. You contributed to the work.

I see, yes maybe if it's affecting all students they might do something. Actually, thinking about it, something similar did happen in my department and all students who had their research affected were offered extra time and extra money. Even I got some extra funding (even though I wasn't really affected), but no extra time as I didn't really need it. So, maybe push for this in yours?

I think Bristol's pretty good for this, at least, I know someone who was doing cardiovascular research there.

Yeah, I honestly don't know how I would have coped without using a reference manager!

How long do you have left? What do your supervisors think of your progress?

I wouldn't worry too much about being behind in the literature, I definitely got to grips with this as I was writing up, and only read what I needed to shape my research in other years.

Seems pretty normal, just longer than usual.

Look up typical viva questions on here - it's going to be similar to that. Do you know the background, what methods did you do and why, the significance of your results and where your research will go next.

Maybe you should be writing the paper from your dissertation rather than your supervisor? If not, I think it's ok as long as you are first author on the paper, or on there somewhere if you are part of a larger project.

You should think of yours as a 4 year PhD really - most PhD students I know with a set up like yours don't get extra funding beyond 4 years and aren't allowed to overrun. They have to submit at the end of 4 years, so I'm surprised if your supervisor is suggesting that you go beyond this.

At my uni, students on these DTPs start thinking about their projects during their masters year, preparing what they need and writing literature reviews so they can hit the ground running in the first year of their PhD. They all complete within 4 years total (1 year MSc plus 3 years PhD) so there's no reason why students in your department can't do the same I would think?

Thank you for posting.

Your supervisor can't expect you to overrun without paying you. Tell him that you need funding in order to beyond the end of your funding period. Look at your student handbook - mine says that you should submit your thesis 3 months before the end of your funding period.

Are you funded for 3 or 4 years?

For my 4th year I wasn't funded, so I survived on £800 per month - £400 was savings and £400 was from money I earned from my department (demonstrating, teaching, tutoring etc).

I tried to apply for extra funding for my 4th year from various charities but I didn't get any. You can try this link: https://www.postgraduate-funding.com/ and also check out your university hardship fund.
It's actually easier to get funding for situations like yours (equipment problems) than it would be for people just generally overrunning.

But really I would tap up your supervisor because A) I bet he could pay you if he really wanted to and B) he shouldn't be asking you to do it anyway.

I just try not to think about it. Sometimes when I can't stop myself from thinking about something, I tell myself it's ridiculous but let myself do it for a day and then stop the next day.

Like now, I'm anxious about a presentation I have to give to students tomorrow, because I don't know how long it is - e.g. is it 1 minute or 10 minutes? Why people think it's ok to leave it til the last minute to tell people this information I don't know! But I've told myself I'm not going to think about it until tonight, because I don't have time to do anything about it until then anyway, as I have other stuff to do today.

Get someone else on the proof reading now, and/or get someone else to do your bibliography, and you write the conclusion.

No one (except a crazy few like me) cares about the commas. Just do the basics. You can correct it later.

You will miss some references, it doesn't matter, the examiners may not notice and even if they do they will just give it as a correction.