I am currently in my second year of Phd. I have suddenly fallen out with my supervisor in the course of two weeks.

In my university, there is an official seminar after one year and i passed mine without any bother. And its been six months since my confirmation now, the data i have been getting is a bit ow, because the techniques which i am using are a bit hard and i have never done before. My supervisor doesn't do much in the lab, all his work is desk job and admin stuff.

Last week, my supervisor called me in and told me that i am not generating enough data and talked about setting up a meeting with second supervisor and said, they will decide on whether i can generate enough data over my next year or so. This meeting was in no way official, as there was nobody from the research office involved.

The second supervisor, was criticizing the data i was presenting (it should be noted that the same data was presented during my confirmation and nobody said a word about it and he was in that seminar as well marking me).

After the meeting the supervisor says to me, that he is putting me on a probationary period for three months and will monitor my progress for PhD. He said he will mail me and i will sign the agreement.

But the mail was a total flip, where he says that even after six more months of work, i can only manage to get a data for M.Phil and its "insurmountable challenge" to do a PhD. Not only that, he goes on saying that my techniques are bad and my handling of the reagents in sample are bad and that i am a clumsy and casual worker. Really harsh words.

I think i have reached a point of no reconcilation with him, in a matter of two weeks and planning to take it up to the research office.

Any help and advice on how to approach this issue with research office is much appreciated.

It definitely sounds like you have a case here. You need to check your postgraduate handbook/uni rules and don't sign anything you don't agree with! Go and see the person responsible for pastoral care straight away as they should be able to give you impartial advice.

Also, from what you've written it doesn't sound like they are following the rules here. If you are only in your second year, you still have plenty of time to generate results, so you need to get your supervisor to agree a plan that is feasible for you to complete to generate the results, not something you can't complete so they will kick you off the PhD,

Sounds like there is more to the story though...

Thanks a lot for your advice.

Actually the frustrating thing is that he keeps changing his mind. He said on friday that he will nurse me through in the lab for the next three months and we set up experimental plan for that period. On saturday he emails me and says that howmuch ever effort i put in during the next 3-6 months, its insurmountable for me to generate phd data, so M.Phil is the only choice. He clearly did not mention that during the meeting on friday.

The only thing i can think of, is that a new student came in and supervisor set up a plan for him. That student asked me to review it, and i found certain flaws in it, which makes it really difficult to finish. So may be he is trying to move me away and give my work to him. I dont know...

My only worry is that if research office takes his position.

Well If you don't take it to the research office, he wins by default so regardless of your apprehension you must see it through to the end.

Worst case scenario: They tell you to pi$$ off, award your MPhil and you'll have to cut your losses. You yourself have laid out the current flaws in your methodology, which are the lack of volume of data...which is a pretty big problem if you are using the results as a sample population for quantitative analysis. Secondly you have also said that because you are unfamiliar with this particular method of gathering data you are having difficulty.

If the worst case is that you get an MPhil and lose a year getting into another institution that's not the end of the world. You would have the opportunity to reassess your methodology throughly.

If the research office rules in your favor however, be prepared for one hell of a viva at the end of it all. It might be worth considering that it's something that may come back to bite you in a rather nasty fashion in the end.

Just my 2c