Hi all,
I have real problems with my supervisor. I have only been doing this PhD for 3 months, but I've already been asked to submit abstracts for conferences 3 times, the first was only 1 month after I started! He doesn't listen to my ideas, constantly changes my project plan to the extent that I don't really have a plan anymore and seems to have no intention of letting me use my own initiative. I thought that a PhD was an opportunity to work more independently and plan your own project, but I feel like a general lab technician most of the time. How easy is it to get on another PhD once you have already started one? I'm not usually a quitter, but I don't think that I can take much more!

Hey Ratty, sorry to hear things aren't working out as you'd like...

I've heard that there are two opposite types of supervisor. One type will let you get on with it, be quite hands-off, and give you freedom to do your own thing. Sometimes, this type of supervisor will be hard to get any help off, sometimes they'll be approachable and offer help if needed.

The other type is the one you appear to have. This one will treat you like a research assistant, delegate lots of work to you, tell you what to do, and give you little room for your own ideas. Of course, this one will probably leave you in less doubt as to the way to go, but unfortunately the way to go will usually be his idea, regardless of what you think.

cont...

Of course, there exists an nice spectrum in between these two poles, but if you get the wrong one for what you want, it can be a big problem. I'm sure you wouldn't be the first person to quit a PhD because of something like this.

As for finding a new project - I can't see that you'd have much of a problem at all. I'm sure most supervisors realise that not all students get on with their supervisors, and as long as you're honest about it, you'd have a good chance I'm sure. Having said that, if you leave and then apply for a project with someone who collaborates with your current supervisor, you may have a problem...

Thanks Matthew,
The PhD that I'm interested in is based in London and is in a completely different field to what I'm studying now...so I'm hoping that they've never heard of my current supervisor! I think that if I was able to have a bit more influence on my project and go on the courses that I feel I need, then this PhD could still work out. Ideally I'd like to stay where I am now, but it's not easy finding funded projects in this neck of the woods. If anyone knows of any microscopy based projects on offer I'd be very grateful to hear about them.

Sir Winston Churchill war bereits 93 Jahre alt, als er von einer Universitaet eingleaden wurde, einen Vortrag zu halten. Von weit her kamen Menschen, um den beruehmtesten Zeitgenossen ihres Landes zu hoeren.
Als Churchill den Vortragssaal betrat, waren tausende Menschen versammelt. Der Dekan der Universitaet stellte Churchill als den bedeutendsten lebenden Englaender vor, der im Begriff war, nun seine wichtigste Rede zu halten, gewissermassesn die Quintessenz seines langen Lebens. Unter grossem Applaus ging Churchill ans Podium. Und dann hielt er folgende Rede: "Geben Sie nie, nie, nie, nie auf."

In other words: NEVER give up.

There is always a way to deal with unpleasant situations or problems, but the moment you give up you bury your dreams and it is unlikely that you'll ever try to achieve them again.

Sir Winston Churchill, 93 years old, at the end of his life, considered this the most important lesson of his life. That's why his speech was so short.

People got angry and some of them travelled large distances to hear him speak so they did not understand why he only said one sentence. But soon they realised that only this simple rule has made him successful-nothing else.

So you got the choice: stick with it and finish the job (nobody said it would be easy) or give up and be like millions of others who give up too easily and never achieve anything..you got the choice.

True to an extent, Apollo, but you there's giving up in the sense of capitulating, and giving up in the sense of stopping doing something you don't like, in order to do something which is better for everyone concerned. If Churchill has done something stupid in the war, would he have done it again, just to avoid "giving up"? I don't think so.

Oh, and Ratty, what kind of microscopy? Bit more detail please...

Yes Apollo, I knew it would never be easy. I just thought that I'd be more involved in the planning and be more independent in the research process. I'll give you an example of a normal week, I spend hours of my 'free' time reading and reviewing other researchers work. I then spend hours collecting and processing my samples. Just before the weekly meeting, my supervisor will ask for all of this info, which he then presents to the meeting. He then passes over to me...when it's all been covered and there's nothing left to say! I feel like an idiot most of the time, as I have to present him with my ideas before the meeting and he always dismisses them...so I literally have nothing to offer. I usually end up doing a goldfish impression, just opening and closing my mouth in the hope that I'll think of something to say!

So, although I'm not a quitter...I am tempted to look elsewhere.

Hi Matthew,
I'd love to be more involved with electron microscopy, both TEM & SEM. Using confocal at present, but have had no real training and I'm struggling to be honest! Love using SEM, it would be a dream to have an SEM based study!

Ratty, is it that you want to do research which INVOLVES SEM, and if so, does the application matter as much as the techniques?

Or...

Is it the case that you want to do research on the application and uses of SEM, with the research focused on SEM rather than using it incidentally?

Actually, I just remembered a group who does EM work. Not sure what type, ior if it's relevant, but they're in Sheffield, at the (proper) University's Molecular Biol and Biochem Dept. They're called Prof Neil Hunter and Prof Per Bullough. I had some lectures off Prof Hunter - their work, I think, is in membrane proteins involved in photosynthesis, but I have heard that they're very well known in their area, and he seemed like a really enthusiastic guy.

Probably not much help, but hey..

I have an opposite type of supervisor as Ratty has. I also just begin my PhD for 3 months. My supervisor simply lets me do whatever I want, even though I don't really have any ideas at all. He won't ask me for results . Once he asked me,'How're the experiments?' I replied,'err....sometimes good, sometimes bad.' We didn't have much conversations, but instead he would redirect me to other post-docs for help.
I think finding a "perfect-match" supervisor is hard, a better way is to get used to the style of your supervisor, and to defend for your own rights.

I'd say that it's hard to know what you'll get before you start, even if you get the chance to talk to the supervisor's current students. Personally, I'd like one who gives a good amount of guidance at the start, but leaves off later on. Still, strikes me as pot luck somewhat.