Dear all
I am really keen to apply for a postdoctoral position in France but i am a native english speaker with 'okay' french.I know the Head of the research institute, and I would LOVE to work with him. I would like to hear about people's experiences of working in a second language. I know soo many people do it, and still do a fantastic job, I just feel a bit overwhelmed by the thoughts of it.
Can anyone give advice?
Many thanks
Sandian

I am currently in the third year of my PhD and I have been suffering from depression for a pretty long time now. I finally decided I needed professional help and I have been diagnosed with severe depression.

Here is the back story:
At the end of my first year I spoke to the postgrad director for my department, I thought it would be easier to talk to another woman, and that she might understand. I explained to her that I was really struggling and very unhappy. I got absolutely nothing from her. Talking to her was so difficult because she was really not concerned even though I was pouring my heart out, and it took so much out of me that for the next few days I was a zombie.

About a year after this I felt even worse, so I decided to talk to my supervisor. He was really 'concerned' and went off to get advice from the Head Dept and the same post grad director I had talked to the year previously. The Dept Head arranged to talk to me, said he understood how I felt, but to hang in there. That was it.

Prior to talking to my supervisor about how I was feeling, he was really good to me, very supportive and showed a lot of interest in my work and we had meetings every fortnight. It has been about 10 months since that conversation and I have only had three meetings with him since, he shows no interest and even brought up in the last meeting just before xmas that he has been 'neglecting' me.

I feel that he lost interest in me and my work once I told him I was finding it difficult to cope. It cannot be a coincidence that after that point he was suddenly too busy to supervise me, and no longer found my work interesting.

So now, ten months later, I am at an all time low. Having a counsellor actually say 'you are severely depressed' has really struck me hard. Given the current relationship with my supervisor I have no idea how to approach this, or even if I should say anything at all. I am not doing a great deal of work only about an hour or two a day, and so progress is very slow, but because my supervisor is so uninvolved he does not realise.

Has anyone had a similar experience to this? Or any advice on how I could have these people take my mental health seriously?

Thanks everyone for your advice, I will def be taking alot of it into consideration as I prepare the first draft chapters.

I probably should have said that my research is in the social sciences, human geography, to be precise. Thesis in this field are less exact than a purely science thesis in terms of fleshing out our arguments, this is approached in a different manner (although I could be very wrong). There just seems to be so much to read, so many authors coming from all different perspectives and yet discussing the same issue. I find the relevant literature expands across several disciplines, all equally as useful but they seem to talk past each other... it drives me looney!!!

Many many congratulations and let the celebrations begin :-)

Hello everyone

This may seem like an amateur question for a phd student to be asking, but I have got different responses depending on who I have asked so far... Should we read every article/book chapter that we reference in our thesis, are you/ have you cited authors without having read the full work by taking the reference from another source?
I am asking this because I seem to be constantly tracking down more and more articles, usually from one reading I get a further 5 references to check up and it gets out of hand very quickly.

Also are students asked to show hard copies of their citations at PhD level? My boyf did a M.Sc thesis a couple years ago and he was instructed to keep a hardcopy evidence of all his references. Is this standard in other universities?

hmmmm... i have one main supervisor which i like because then you stay on the same page, 3 supervisors is a bit of a handful when it comes down to making decisions. In my dept its normal to have two or three on the panel but the 2nd and 3rd would only read drafts or if you need a second opinion they are there too. My advice/opinion would be to either have a primary supervisor who is your go-to-guy, or if they must all have an input insist meetings involve everyone and only happen when everyone can attend, and things must be debated altogether otherwise you will end up going around in circles saying 'he said this, but you said this, and the other one said something else'.... potential for too much confusion there, especially if they are not all on the best of terms you could get caught up in the messy-ness of that, and believe me I know all about that from past experience.
Good luck with it... and what ever way it turns out remember its your PhD not theirs!!!

thank you everyone for the suggestions :-)

To further develop my case:
When I initially agreed to take the scholarship and do the PhD I was told I didn't have to do modules because I had a masters degree which was one reason that I did the Masters, however the day after I was registered I was handed my timetable and module options and was instructed to choose the most relevant ones. I was shocked. This was not what I had signed up for and no body listened to my arguments. I was not given the correct information to make an informed decision, through no fault of my own. I was going on what my supervisor (at the time) was telling me. He has since left which is a whole other issue itself!!

I feel that there is a close bond between all my superiors which makes it very difficult to get support from supervisor, they simply don't like to challenge their close friends, and certainly not stick up for their student.

I have made it known that I wasn't happy and that I was considering leaving but they know how much I want this so they didn't take me seriously. Its funny because we talk about empowering people and having the little voices heard a lot in class and yet when students get together to voice their concerns they are not heard.

From my experiences of academia I don't want to be a part of it... get my PhD and bid it farewell, that is the plan.

I am on a structured PhD programme and it sucks! Although I am in the second year and should be focusing solely on my research I am still doing taught modules... one of which starts tomorrow and in preparation for each 3 hour class, we are expected to read 10 to 12 long and tedious articles, write up a two page critical argument (not a summary, but a well constructed argument) and a 5,000 word essay at the end. This is only one module, I have two other modules to do as well, although they involve less prep work.
While I do sometimes see the benefits of a taught component for PhD students I feel it has really affected my work over the last year and a half, not to mention my quality of life, my relationships, and my general health has deteriorated considerably.

I have spoken to my supervisor and I was advised not to complain, I spoke to the course coordinator and I got far less satisfaction there, and the Dept. head insists that I don't see the bigger picture which for him is the value of having graduated with a solid theoretical learning.
For me the bigger picture is far more than my CV at this stage, its having my weekends free, and even some of my evenings to relax, so that I can keep a good head space.

I feel that complaining last year got me no where, this is evident in the continued work load this year. I think I argued my case in a rational manner but all I seem to have done is created an image of myself as a moaner/complainer/lazy person.

Does anyone feel my pain?

I am in the second year of my PhD (in a n social science discipline) and I am 23 years old... there are often comments made to me or during conversations with other PhD students that lack of life experience etc etc means that younger PhD students are not as well equipped, and are not able to make judgements as well as someone older... Indeed it has been suggested to me that my age is actually affecting my research which is on older peoples social and community lives.

What are people's views on doing a PhD in your earlier twenties? are we at a disadvantage?

Oh good someone understands

Thank you for the reference I will check it out.

I am carrying out the interviews in the people's homes and also in a neutral space in a local family resource centre, depending on access. The setting I think is definitely a factor, and the participants home is probably where they would feel most comfortable to talk but often its not a good idea to do the interviews in people's homes for various reasons.

Trust is an interesting one, I have been emphasizing to my participants that I take ethics and confidentiality very seriously and I point out that on the information sheet I give them they have a contact number for the university if they feel that I did not follow correct procedure.

I have also a few participants requesting that I do not record the interview, which means that I have to take notes and keep the conversation flowing at the same time which is a bit tedious.

Your in a pretty good position, your probably at that stage now that you just want every little thing perfect about it, I totally understand. When you put alot of time and effort into something its normal to feel overwhelmed by it.
Enjoy your thesis, treat it like your baby and watch it flourish each day. Try relax and appreciate having got to this stage with plenty of time still left. Well done!

I am doing a social science PhD and interviews are my primary data source... I am feeling a bit concerned that I am not getting enough information or insight from my participants (I am asking older people about their experiences of community life and how this might affect their wellbeing). Has anyone had this concern? My research requires my participants to be reflective but I am not convinced it is working. Are focus group discussions a better alternative?
Please help, I would love to hear other people's experiences.
Sandiane