Had a similar experience with my postdoc but my supervisor has and is managing it really well. Would love to know what other people's opinions are. PM if you want to talk some more.

======= Date Modified 29 Aug 2012 09:41:10 =======
Hi PhDiva,

I'm sorry you're having problems but like Dalmatian said it would help for you to finish your post so that we have the whole picture :)

I would contact potential supervisors to see what they think. From talking to a medic in my group who's just been offered a PhD position, it looks like some programs may accept you but in order to be competitive it may be better for you to have that specialist training and the MRCP.

Hmm it is a bit tricky to know how potential supervisors will view you because though you have some 'real world' experience and have stayed in science so to speak you won't have much technical/field experience. I would suggest contacting potential supervisors to see what the feeling is and maybe considering doing an MRes first.

You really should have reasons for the gaps in your CV but that doesn't mean that supervisors are intolerant of or look down on them. They just go to show that you have experienced the real world outside of academia. Having experience especially science based experience is a good thing even if it's patchy.

It is advisable to make contact with potential supervisors to discuss your application before you apply.

Ah a tricky one. I haven't actually tried doing this myself but can imagine that Mendeley is quite picky about manually inserted references. Is there no way you can add them to your Mendeley library and insert them that way?

I am a PhD student and yes I did win a fully funded studentship.

I can help if you like though I'm a scientist. PM if you want. Good luck :-)(up)

Agree with Sneaks. I might even restrict myself to just the one email containing the work.

Sure!

I'm signed up to an online site as a writer/researcher (so the other side to the one you're on) and can say that the one I'm with is quite stringent about how things are done and who does them.

I'm not too great at using the software either but can give it a try if you PM me.

Your 'proof of PhD' is your degree itself. I wouldn't worry too much about the number of publications you had during your PhD though is there any chance that you can still publish some of it?

Having 7 publications from your post-doc position is quite good. Many people don't even have that so I wouldn't quit based on the number of publications you have. Same with having publications from your masters degree.

It's sad that you'r so put off by academia but if you're not happy there then I would quit.

Good luck!

I don't have experience with a similar situation but with regards to his non-response to your emails, is there any way of cornering him by going to his office, for example? If you're struggling to communicate with him now can you imagine what it'll be like if you start working for him as a PhD student?

Maybe you should start making discreet enquiries about other options just in case this doesn't work out because April was a while away now.

======= Date Modified 25 Jul 2012 10:19:25 =======
First off doing a PhD is hard work and being in a long distance relationship on top of that is even harder. I'm in the UK and my partner works in India and we've been together like this for the last 5 years (though I've only been doing my PhD for 1 of those). As someone earlier said you will go through periods of intense pressure but there are also periods of time with nothing much to do (though still quite a lot). With time you'll get used to it and will fall into a pattern of working.

Doing a PhD does weird things to you because you are essentially living your research (I'm a molecular biologist). So it's something in between being a student and having a job. Your partner will have to be incredibly understanding which can be quite difficult. We struggled a lot and even spilt up for about a year around the time I started my PhD. It is quite difficult for someone who isn't going through something similar or hasn't in the past to really understand what we're doing and why. In the end, look at it this way, if you guys come out of this together you know our relationship will be able to withstand a load of other crap life chucks at ya.

PM if you want to talk some more. Good luck!

Oh I came into my PhD straight from undergrad with a 2.i degree. I did, however, have a year's worth of experience because I did a year in industry. You may feel like you've been thrown in the deep end a bit at the start but once you start reading, become independent in the lab and really wrap your head around your project you'll be fine. Don't let the experience or the thought of it intimidate you. Take it as it comes and enjoy it. :-)