Cheers Rewt... :) I think that two things were going on here... one - it was my first conference presentation and I wasn't sure about how things work... and so two - I freaked out that my results had changed and that I'd shared the slides with my conclusions on them - which were presented in a very convincing way...

But it turns out that as you said, it's just part of the process and OK for things to change. I didn't really know this and I was having some sort of paranoid thing... In reality the results hardly change - and we have decided to stick with doing it the original way as it made sense anyway. Oh my goodness... is this what doing a PhD does to some people :-/ :-o

OK, I think I was catastrophising a bit - things seem OK today. It isn't SUCH a major thing - just a modification that can be made based on the discussion at the conference. It will alter the results I expect - but at least they'll be more accurate for the actual publication. And I will be more careful to think before answering questions and answer more cautiously. Thanks folks.

Hi everyone,

Recently gave talk at conference. It went well and several people were interested and one even requested the slides. But there was one question which I now would answer differently... and basically, that question has now led me to look more closely at a particular aspect of the data... which has led me to re-analyse the data and get different (and presumably more accurate) results...

I dread telling my mentor/collaborator who was also present in the talk and heard me answer the question in a way that might now seem disingenuous (it wasn't disingenuous - actually I thought I was answering the question accurately - but now I realise I hadn't dug deep enough to spot this issue before - which feels equally or more damning).

It's good that the issue came up and now can be better dealt with in the actual paper that we are currently revising for publication in a journal. But I feel pretty rotten about a) the results changing from what I presented at the conference, and b) potentially losing face with my mentor/collaborator and others (ie those at the talk).

Any advice / tips would be appreciated from experienced others...

Thanks
Tudor

Ps. Having written this, I am not sure that the title of my thread is the main issue... it is an issue but it's the second one (b - above) that is bothering me the most now I've reflected on it all. Any advice appreciated.

I'll search elsewhere but just thought I'd ask on here too...

Thanks

This is helpful! Thank you! I normally put my logo on the first slide (uni logo, not my personal logo - ha!) and the funding logo on the last slide with thank you for listening. But this is the first time I am presenting a project where my co author is from another university. So I was struggling with what to do with the logos on the title page for that reason. They just look odd! Maybe I will remove them and just state our affiliations in text instead. Thanks again!

Tudor

Hi YorkFuller

I have a friend who about 6 months in left her PhD and started a new one elsewhere. Because she had a relatively good relationship with her supervisors, and was open and honest about her situation, they supported her in terms of references. The rest is history. She is so much happier in her new PhD and it was the best thing she could have done.

I really do think that honesty and open-ness is needed in a situation like this. Just be honest with your supervisors about why you are thinking of leaving and applying elsewhere (honest with tact of course - even if there have been other issues, focus the conversation solely on the match between project and your interests). They will actually be able to "recycle" your funding, so it actually isn't such a loss for them. Having a student who doesn't really want to be there and isn't being as productive as they could be is a bigger loss.

Of course there is the issue that you might not want them to know you are applying in case you don't get it. In which case presumably you'd want to stay where you are? Well, I still think honesty is the best option here. You could talk about changing your project if it came to that... and maybe inviting one of the other PhD supervisors as a co-supervisor.

If all the above is just horrifying then I'd suggest asking your undergrad people (academic advisor etc). After all, the new uni will not know that you have actually started a PhD elsewhere and there is no need to tell them unless you want to. Six months is very early in.

Tudor

Hello,

When presenting a joint project at a conference in a talk, do you normally put your names and affiliations AND logos on the title slide? Or logos on a slide at the end? Maybe there isn't a certain rule here. What do folks normally do?

Thanks!
Tudor

Sounds like a plan! Be interested to hear their reasoning!

Hi Liah

Sorry to hear about this – these things are blows that can knock us down a bit.

When I had a rejection to study my undergrad degree I contacted the university to find out why. It is useful to know if they felt you did not meet the criteria as well as some other candidates or perhaps if the course was over-subscribed. Or maybe the personal statement needs work. Maybe you could try this? They may or may not be helpful.

It's tough but don’t be too discouraged by this. Can you apply for multiple universities rather than just the one?

All the best,
Tudor

Totally agree with your last message. Is it possible to check out the reasoning behind the question though - e.g., email the admin team responsible? It just may be the more things you have tried, the more likely you are to get funding, as they consider that you are more deserving of their particular pot of money as you've tried all else. I'm pretty sure that was the case in my university conference funding. Be good to check if you can - listing more may go in your favour!

Hmm, this sounds like some conference funding I recently applied for. They asked for the same information. The pot of money was from my university, and they asked for this information because they wanted to be able to see that I had tried other sources first / was also trying other sources. So I think it's important to list them if they're asking for them. Also understand your reservations. Could you maybe put one there (if you've applied for multiple) just to show you've applied for one? On my form, I put in brackets that it was unsuccessful because I wasn't eligible anymore because my research council studentship had ended. Maybe you could put some reason like that, which doesn't reflect on your project at all.

I don't understand the question!

He may be bitter or having a bad day! Good luck with everything!

Hi Nesrine! What are your thoughts about his main comments? Do you think they have good grounding? I think I'd be feeling inclined to just forget about it and publish the paper really.

I don't know if this helps but I submitted a paper to a good journal a few years ago and it was rejected. It had two really good sets of comments (not that constructive but good - and they sounded like they would recommend small changes and then it could be published) but the third reviewer ripped it utterly to shreds! And the editor rejected it (I think on the basis of the third reviewer's comments).

There's two things about that. One - in your case the editor saw that reviewer's feedback and still decided that your paper was worthy of publication. Two - in my case my supervisors promptly told me to submit my paper for publication in a different journal. They weren't at all concerned by the extremely critical comments of the third reviewer - they told me to ignore all but a few of them! Personally, I welcomed the feedback - even though it was really harsh. I just stored it for future work.

Hope that helps! :)

I don't know if you know your potential secondary supervisors who you are considering but I think that in addition to the things you are thinking of a secondary supervisor is a good back up for if things ever go awry with the main supervisor. So if possible, choose one who you know you get on with or have had some positive interactions with. Also this gives you an idea of how much input they might give. It's nice to have someone who is really invested - even if they are only a secondary supervisor. If your main one is not good at something (e.g., helping you with networking), the secondary one can help with that. That sort of thing. Those are additional thoughts - I think the things you are thinking about are important - methodology expertise etc. Internal can be easier, as rewt says. Good luck! :-)