Hey Guys

Would appreciate some help if possible as my situation is getting messy:-). I did work so very hard to get all the approvals and grant approved to start my PhD. Just to give you guys an idea, it took me about 11 months to start my clinical PhD. The main reason was obtaining Ethics approval from the Research Council and of course all the process of getting a 3 full time grant was very time consuming. After 1 year of hard work (all by myself) I'm finally a full time PhD student.
The topic of my PhD was my first supervisor idea(and because he is a well respected Professor in one of the best UK universities) I was of course really excited. He found me second supervisor, which officially is only a collaborator (because he told me he already has enough PhD students at the moment).

Now...the big issue is for my specific subject I have to rely much more on my collaborator then my supervisor, as its in his clinical field of work. I,m also doing some work in my Fisrt supervisor field of work but its minimal. As Im dealing with aptients with severe patologies and test them with a relatively "aggressive" tests, I have to be extremely carefull. I cannot have time with my collaborator as he is always busy and away. Doesn't answer emails etc etc. I have talked with my first supervisor and he just told me I have to more proactive and said that this University doesn't spoonfeed anyone (his exact words). For someone that doesn't have any experience in research I don't know what to do. I have so much stuff to do for my PhD, but without my collaborator its useless!!!

Its my second month and I just don't know what to do or where to go. I know I have gazilions things to do, but don't know if its worth it!! I clearly think its the wrong topic, as its not my main supervisor field, but cannot change topic as my grant was given due to the research theme, and the ethics approval also on this specific subjects.

Any help??Pleaseeee

Samuca,

Am I understanding correctly that you are in the second month of your 3 year FT PhD?
If so and you are feeling a little lost, daunted and doubting yourself / your research question then I think you are in about the same place many of us here were at then. It takes quite a while to find your stride and get a good grip on the subjects of your thesis.

I am surprised that you are collecting data so early on though as many people spend much of the first year establishing their questions and setting up their study. I hear that you already have ethics approval so wonder when the PhD process started for you?

Dafydd

Hey Dafydd

Thanks for the reply. Yes on my 2nd month of my PhD. According to University rules I needed Ethics approval before i start my PhD project. That said, I did a lot of background research before and when I applied for the grant and when I applied for Ethics approval. Hopefully you are right and all will get clearer!!

Do they mean ethics approval before starting the whole PhD, or before starting any data collection? Maybe it's different in your discipline, but in mine (cross-disciplinary but kind of social sciencey) the early stages are all about identifying research questions and designing the study, and it's only been in my second year that I've actually started approaching people and collecting data, and haven't needed ethics approval before this second year stage.