Hi All,

Just wanted to vent quickly to figure out what (if anything!) I'm going to do... Apologies for ranting!

I'm feeling very disappointed and let down by my supervisor - I realise there are worse supervisors around but here's what's going on. I started a life sciences PhD a year and a half ago and applied for a specific project using techniques I'd never used before in an area I was very interested in. At the beginning I was told by my supervisor that my samples weren't ready to get started on and given another side project to work on that would take 'a few months at most'. It's now been 18 months and I'm still working on this useless side project that is yielding no results, meanwhile I found out recently that my project was handed to another student a few months ago, and this student is already getting data and is preparing to write a paper for publication. I should point out at this point that this side project I'm working on uses techniques I had experience of previously, but that I have no interest in and wanted to veer away from during my PhD, in the hope of getting a research job in this other field after my PhD. As a result I feel like I've learned nothing new since I started and I know that I won't be prepared for a job in the field I want with the experience I'm getting.

I've tried talking to my supervisor informally about this, basically saying I'm disappointed with the way my project was taken off me. His response was pretty much suck it up and get on with it. I'm also not very happy with him in general because of other things that have happened, e.g. him blurting out a personal problem of mine that I told him in confidence to another student! My partner has suggested complaining formally but the only people to complain to are other academics.....

Sorry, hit word limit...

The only people to complain to are other academics, and I'm well aware of the tendency of universities to close ranks. As it is I don't feel like he took me very seriously when I did complain about the situation, so my gut feeling is that there's not much point trying again. Maybe I should just put my head down, work hard for a year and a half and get the hell out of the department.

Apologies for this massive rant - if anyone has any suggestions on whether I should speak up or just get on with it, I'd be really grateful! Feeling a bit lost at the minute...

Thanks!

PS that post should say 'I'm well *aware*...' - brain has decided to stop working as it's Friday!

I wouldn't confide in him again but it might not be wise to make a formal complaint about this either. From my perspective, I would follow the outline you mentioned when you said
"put your head down, work hard for a year and a half and get the hell out of the department".

But that doesn't mean that you relate to your supervisor in the same way. Keep it professional, don't confide anything personal to him again (well confidential anyway) he's blown that privilege and look at the PhD as the opportunity to gain credibility as a new researcher and someone who has trained their thinking, writing and analytical capabilities to a very high level. Then move on...

All of the other stuff sounds unfair and it is really understandable how you feel and why you are upset about it, but it is nebulous sort of stuff that might not really go anywhere and might harm your own case more than anyone elses.

That being said, don't feel like you have to really like this person or accept what they have done as okay.

Do you think that this project might pigeon hole you 'research-wise'? I'm just thinking that once this is done, you may still be able to explore this other area you are interested in. With people doing PhD's as a pathway into academic research and teaching (not all of us are), I don't think that they would all just stay with the topic explored in the PhD-which tends to end up as a rather narrow topic anyway.

If you look at the research profiles of academics and researchers in their publication histories and biographical blurbs-their areas of interest tend to be much broader than their original PhD thesis ever was. Understand though completely why you need to rant...

A few random thoughts: is the project you're working on actually 'useless' i.e. there's no way you'll get a PhD out of it, or is uselessness something you're projecting onto it because you want to be doing something else? I wondered whether it's something your supervisor actually thinks is important, and so doesn't really get your attitude towards it?
You're the person who is going to have to write up the thesis convincingly, get some publications out of it and sell it in job applications - do you think you can change your own feelings towards the project enough to do that? If you stepped back from your frustration, and saw the project with an outsider's vision, are there proactive things you could suggest doing to make it more interesting for you or more likely to succeed? I think if the answer to the last two questions is no, you might be best served to walk away for your own mental health if nothing else. But if you think you can break through your negativity about the project and the supervisor and make the best of the situation as it is, rather than how you would like it to be, then sticking it out and trying to change direction afterwards as pjlu suggests would seem the best option.

Hi, thanks for your comments guys!

Pjlu - I'm definitely with you in thinking that to complain would be a bad idea so I'm just hoping to get on with the PhD and get finished as soon as I can. I'm not planning to act unprofessionally, I still treat my supervisor and colleagues with respect but I certainly am not happy with the situation. I'm thinking that the project probably won't pigeon hole me so as you said I could always try to explore my original interests later, although if I'm honest I'm now looking at career options outside of academia for after the PhD, as I'm getting really fed up of it now.

Bewildered - thanks for your message. My supervisor thinks I will get a PhD out of the data I'm getting, even though it's pretty much all negative data at this point. I have really considered walking away to be honest, but I think I'd feel like I'd let myself down if I did. I'm trying to change my feelings towards everything so I guess I'll see how things go over the next few weeks.

Thanks again for your messages, much appreciated, it's good to get an outside perspective at times!