So I have been appointed a supervisory panel after my not so great but yet passable first year viva. I have only ever worked with one supervisor and really don't like panels so I find this change unsettling. My primary supervisor said that since now supervision time will be divided among all the supervsiors, two of us will meet less frequently. I feel like she couldn't wait for an opportunity to "get rid of me". Our meeting frequency will decrease from daily to once fortnightly. Also she said that she has been too much of a friend to me so far and not enough of a supervisor (which she admits to being her fault) and that needs to change too. This is again very annoying and feels personally offensive. Sorry guys, just need to vent :(

I would not see those as offensive ( though I can understand how it feels very personal..) but as some steps to move you along in the next phase of your research. A supervisor really cannot be a friend--at least I do not think so--in that the role of a supervisor is much more than what you need from a friend, and you and the supervisor have to have good boundaries in order to have a good working relationship. Much the same is negotiated in the workplace, where people have to figure out whether and how to be friends with work colleagues. Meeting every two weeks is still a frequent amount of contact--daily contact I think is a LOT!--and as you are to work independently as a PhD research student, this helps move you down that road.

You just got handed more freedom and more responsibility--those are good things---the next step in your progress in your PhD career!

Congrats!

Thanks Olivia, I think this is what's best for the project, and as someone else told me today "keep an eye on the prize". Supervisor also said that she wasn't tough or critical enough of my work (which also goes along with being a friend) and other supervisors are tougher and will push me harder (altough I will meet them once a month if that).

Now I have two weeks on my own, kind of scary...

I think that a panel is a good thing. Where I am a student you have to appoint your panel in the first few weeks of starting. I have 5 people on my panel.. 2 from my lab, 2 from my CASE sponsors and then another guy from industry who my CASE sponsors wanted to be involved, he just happened to be in the year above me during my undergrad which was a bit random.

Basically it means you get a wider range of expertise and experience at your fingertips which means greater input into your work.

Also one thing that I have found in having a panel is that when I have meetings with them all and present my work, it gets me used to answering a broader set of questions. The industrial guys aren't overly familar with the lab techniques I use so question me about them, which gets me used to explaining the things that I just take for granted.