That is a good way of looking at it! I guess you need to ask yourself: do I have anything to lose here by asserting my rights?

OK. Will you be publishing papers from your thesis? You could offer the first supervisor co-authorship on any outputs from the thesis, and acknowledgement in the thesis. This would seem a fair suggestion given that she has been your supervisor all this time. But your day to day dealings would be with the new advisor. Could this work?

Could you a) go to the old supervisor and ask her to continue to supervise (despite all that has happened), or b) as this potential cosupervisor if she would be your main supervisor for the final bit?

Is there any other academic who knows your work and could support you through this final bit?

Hi statictraveller,

It's definitely normal given your stressful circumstances. Stress can have really strange effects on people. It can mimic all sorts of conditions. I would speak to a counsellor if you feel that will help - do you a service at your uni? Just because it is normal doesn't mean that a counsellor wouldn't be helpful. You could also look up some websites on coping with stress, breathing exercises, cognitive behavioural therapy etc. Those can be really helpful.

I would defo speak to your advisor - or whoever is there specifically in your uni for this sort of issue. It might
be the postraduate lead for your department or faculty. Talking to them should bring some calm - as they should hold some answers. Making them aware of the difficulties/issues (and the impact it is having) will mean that they can help.

I don't know of any UK wide platform for this. But within universities (and across doctoral training colleges), there may be events for showcasing your research among other postgraduates. For instance, in my uni we have a yearly showcase event for postgraduate work across the faculty. Then we have a few more specific ones within the faculty - for instance on mental health research or on research involving children.

Those are really good ideas! It's worth saying/doing something like Chickpea suggests just in case that expectation is there. I know some of my PhD student peers who do have situations like this - and if they are not in the office people want to know why. Good luck and enjoy some leisure time (even if it is in the guise of heavy PC-work whilst watching Netflix!)

I agree - funding as the main thing. You could ask if there are any opportunities coming up in the foreseeable future.

It's really hard to say... by the sounds of it there may be a bit of an expectation for you to be at your desk during the working day? In that case, I would go in a little later if you can (10?), and leave a little earlier (like 3 instead of 5). If you can't get away with doing that, then I guess you'll have to just hang around... :/ In my case, I was free to work at home (and still do spend most of my time at home working). But if you have to be seen to be at your desk then I guess you could just take your work at a slower pace. It will get busier later and it is normal for it to feel a bit slow at the start in some cases - so don't worry! : )

Argh I remember that feeling! And if I could turn back the time I would do something relevant and interesting for a couple hours a day (e.g., in my case read some broadly relevant book chapters that will feed in to my work later - in your case - maybe work on the programming skills as cloudofash suggests). And then, I would spend the rest of my time chilling and relaxing. I so wish I had done this instead of being miserable/stressed because I didn't seem to have much to do but always felt I should be doing something! Now I'm in my final and just chilling isn't often an option!

All the best
Tudor

Hey Jambo! Congratulations!!!

Having not much support etc does sound dire and would make you think you didn't stand the same chances as others. But honestly, if you want to stay on in academia then you should go for it. You may end up getting a postdoc elsewhere (if moving is possible for you) and just starting anew. All you need for that is references, and the rest is up to YOU!

To be honest, I've never had help getting a job (other than references), and I don't expect it when I finish my PhD. I know that in academia knowing people, and people knowing people you know etc is a factor. But if you are determined and show passion and ability, it isn't going to matter. You have to stop believing that you're doomed, or - in my humble opinion - or you will be. I'm not in your position but there have been times where I've felt that it was unfair and that I was not getting the same kind of support/opportunities as others (it is to do with my supervisory set up/issues - as well as just to do with structural things in our research group/department that mean that some of us are sat in a different building and away from all the action). But I just told myself early on that I have to go out of my comfort zone and MAKE opportunities and good things happen - not wait for them.

It is amazing that you have your PhD more or less now. You might have to put yourself out there, make some sacrifices, and take risks, but... the world is your oyster!

Tudor

Yeh, I've come to the conclusion that I will do it if it as "posthoc analyses" is going to add to the study in a meaningful way (it may be just as well to say in the discussion that I noticed something anecdotally - and save myself lots of time in coding and analysing the data just to make a point).
Cheers Chickpea

I get your point but if you are doing statistical tests then you need a pre-specified hypothesis - it is part of the methodology (Null Hypothesis Signficance Testing - NHST). If you don't have one then the method isn't being applied correctly - as the idea is to reject the null hypothesis (so that you can entertain your alternative hypothesis).

Of course if you are using a different methodology, a qualitative one for instance, then a hypothesis might not be necessary (or may even be completely against the principles of that particularly methodology).

Congratulations on finishing the bulk of your corrections! That seems so quick. Just out of curiosity, do you now agree with what your supervisor (or was it one of the examiners?) who said that they could give you minor corrections but to allow you more time to do them (i.e., being kind) they'd call it major corrections? Apologies if I am confusing you with someone else.

All the best.

It depends entirely on the specifics of what you are doing. If I were to conduct additional analyses posthoc and make it clear this is what I was doing and why, then there is no problem. There are some (only a few I have been able to find) good examples of it in APA journals.

Unfortunately, the p-hacking/data dredging/torturing literature seems to suggest that many researchers are doing this and NOT stating it - but rather, they are presenting them as a priori hypotheses. And that is where there is an issue.

Back to my own research... I don't know if I can be bothered to do further analyses! I'll see if the sups think it's worth it.