I’m a first year PhD student, 5 months into my PhD and I feel as if I have done nothing.

I need technicians and post-docs to teach me techniques before I can begin my experiments but I keep being told they’re too busy to help me. Every week I ask and I get the same the response; this has been occurring for 3 months now.

I’m not part of any lecturers 'group’. When I mention this to the other students they lose all interest in helping me, even with very small things like the inner-workings of the labs; I feel like an intruder. I do not even have any bench space in the labs and I have to work alone in the unused teaching labs.

I have to give a presentation to the whole department. I'm so worried that the lecturers are going to rip me apart for having no data.

I spend everyday in the library by myself reading. I do not have an office or a desk as I have been told there is no room for me.

I feel that, as I don’t have a supervisor in my department, I get no assistance at all. It’s like I’ve been completely abandoned. I also feel like I should be able to solve all these problems myself but I’m too stupid to do so.

Every Monday I feel so depressed because I’m going to spend another week not making progress. I’m anxious that my supervisors will be annoyed by my lack of progress and get rid of me.

I have spoken to my supervisors, numerous times. They are understanding and tell me that they will sort everything out but nothing ever changes.

I really want to just quit but my third supervisor resigned at the beginning of my PhD. This delayed my project by 3 months and caused a great deal of stress to my other supervisors.

Sorry for my long post. I am being whiny and childish but I find the whole situation upsetting.

Firstly, don't panic! 5 months in and no data is perfectly normal, and you have plenty of time to rectify the situation. I didn't properly get started until about 10 months, and then everything seemed to happen at once and I got loads of data in just a few weeks, just in time for my 1st year upgrade report :)

The way you are being treated does sound really unfair, particularly not having space of your own to work in. Are your supervisors from another department? I would keep reminding them of the situation every week until they came up with a solution. Can they help you at all with the techniques you need to learn? Alternatively, can you go over their heads and ask someone else to get this sorted, such as a head of department? Can your postgraduate office provide any help in sorting this out? Perhaps you could make an official appointment with a technician or postdoc, e.g. ask them to put aside some time a few weeks in the future and make sure they make a note of it so they have the time to organise their diary and make time for you. Alternatively, ask them by email and copy your supervisors in - that might make them respond more positively!

For what it's worth, I don't think you're being whiny or childish. You are at the beginning of your PhD at the time you need the most support, and it doesn't sound like anyone is being very supportive! In the meantime, carry on doing as much reading as you can, writing down ideas you have for future experiments once you get up and running etc., and then at least you will be as ready as you can once you finally get things sorted.

Hey!

The first year's always a bit of a mess, and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! I'm 5 months in too and I wake up every morning freaking out.

One of the unpleasant things about a UK PhD is the tradition of being thrown into the deep-end of the pool. It's the whole "you-are-an-independent-scholar-so-get-on-with-it-by-yourself" attitude. This is supposedly changing with more foundation courses, more avenues for recourse and more support in general, but the change isn't even across the board.

I think you need to focus on your first year report/upgrade. Don't look beyond that for the time being. Just focus on what you need to do to get upgraded, and work backwards to come up with a plan. If there are obstacles which you can't overcome by yourself, for example, the lack of lab assistance, you have to let your supervisor know in no uncertain terms that this is holding you back and this has to be fixed.

One of the personal challenges in doing a PhD is developing really think skin and being comfortable with standing up for yourself. It's really hard if it's not in your personality (like me), but start pushing back. Be very specific in your correspondence (this is my plan, I can't move forward because of XXX therefore I need YYY) and keep a record of it.

It takes a lot of guts to do this but put yourself first. Push back! Ask for what you need. I'm trying to become better at this too rather than keep quiet because of self-doubt/fear of judgement. You may not be the smartest person in your lab, but you've got what it takes, otherwise they wouldn't have accepted you.

Good luck!