Hello, I have just entered the academic world (part time PhD student)after many years as a nurse! I am fortunate that my subject area for my studies are close to my heart (educator behaviour and quality assurance of patient self management programmes) and I am being funded (paid) to do the studies - but I am part time and getting on a bit (actually 57) - I also live quite a distance from the University so cannot easily develop academic networks - so any tips out there for me? This site seems to be a very helpful place to get support....:-)

Hi Sue2010,

welcome to the forum.

I think there are several other participants at this forum who live a quite a distance of the uni, and / or who do the PhD part-time. As such there will be plenty with whom you can share your experiences.

Perhaps the best tip may be just to express yourself and to ask many questions. Especially at the beginning research can be confusing and also quite daunting.:-)

Hi Sue2010,

It is absolutely wonderful to hear that you are A: part-time; B: working and C: a mature age student! Fantastic- i love reading stories like this because they are inspiring and encouraging to so many.

I am completing a Master's thesis- am also part-time and mature (mid-career stream) working to the hilt from this week on (just had a 3 month leave - where I focused on the thesis-end) and hope to complete a Phd or Professional doctorate in the future as well. I also live some distance from university-so my networks tend to be developed a little differently as well. My workplace alas does not fund my study-in terms of paid regular time to study or fees, although if the thesis goes well, I will be eligible for the Commonwealth research grant to pay the fees of any future study-so that's good.

With regard to developing professional networks- I chanced upon this forum just before Christmas and have been plaguing it and its online posters ever since! (You can guess that in 'real' life, I would be regarded as an active participant in most tutorials and groups!) However, what I have found with regard to actual living networks, is that my distance university is only okay. Not as good as some others-including my last one; and I have made the decision that my next serious stint of research will not be at the present institution for these reasons. I have already selected the two degrees and universities I will apply to...just not sure which one I prefer yet. In other respects, the current university is fine though! (Except I have a few supervisor issues with regard to getting back to me at times-otherwise she is fine).

My own workplace- which is really large- has at least three or four other serious students who are in various stages of Master's or doctorates and they are tremendously supportive-we try to really keep each other going at times and use each other as accountability buddies. So perhaps you will have some similarly minded colleagues around. My other main source of real support comes from my greater network of fellow educators. I am a curriculum coordinator but belong to several different professional associations through either my institution or privately. I find with all of these working together, plus my children's encouragement- it is enough. But developing the links, etc are a work in progress and it is only this year, that I am finding that it seems to really come together. Or perhaps, I have just developed more resilience after going through all of the post-grad processes and traumas of the last few months.

Good luck with your studies and keep that flame burning!

I'm just finishing my PhD (thesis newly bound and to be submitted next week!) but I was part-time too, studying over 6 years. I was based away from campus, long-term seriously ill, and progressively so, therefore increasingly unable to take part in on-campus activities like research seminars and informal social events. I felt incredibly cut off, and more so as time went on. However I had email contact with a very good fellow student friend, and this forum was a life-saver over the last few years when I was going through the difficult writing-up process: sharing problems on here helped to put mine into context, and help me find the resources to keep going. Sorry that my story isn't more encouraging, but it is possible to get through it, even if it can be harder if you're part-time and at a distance.

hi sue 2010
I love this forum! Here you'll find people with different personalities, temperaments (!) mostly everyone is helpful. before I started my phd I posted to this forum--and what a lot of helpful replies I got!
its nice here because we get to rant, complain, advice and speak/agree/disagree with each other whilst being anonymous; somehow we don't exist but we do exist and its comforting :-)

good luck with your phd!!!
lucky satchi

Thank you all for the responses and I am already realising that I will be using this forum a lot - to help with my PhD and to make friends. It is inspiring to read all your words
BilboBaggins - yours words are soooo encouraging - as Pjlu says...how can you not think this is so? I can only assume that your journey has been a hard one but I hope soon that you will see the side that others see!
I did start a PhD a few years ago as part of my full time work but after 2 years stopped! I learnt from that how lonely you can feel if you do not make the effort to communicate...so I am so pleased that I found this forum! I will also be attending some activities in Leicester (where I am registered) and especially if I can get lower rail travel...that is one to try soon...
Love the spell check!

Glad I could help. I'm afraid my experience was pretty tough - not just the illness factor, but just being so isolated, and it got worse and worse. There was very little the institution could do to help, especially because most PhD (usually full-time) students in my department didn't even use the online bulletin board facility provided for us to communicate online. So not good.

But on the plus side I'm on the brink of submitting. So it's doable :-) Also it was my second go at a PhD too: I had to leave the first (full-time) one 13 years ago after my neurological illness developed. Which was very upsetting, but at least when I had another go at a PhD (totally opposed discipline!) I knew what to expect. So that will put you in a good position Sue2010.

I fit in both your categories! :$. The most important thing I have found is that you have to make people realise that part timers cannot always get to things, not because they don't want to, but because the timing is impossible. The place where I work is very unsupportive - although it is in education which is the area I am researching - and I cannot get time off to go to things during the day, because they simply refuse, and that is when most things are held in the faculty of education. However here we have quite a few sessions that start at 5.00 or 6.00  for general post grad stuff, which have been set up since I mentioned this and which I can go to. We also have Saturday schools, which are really good for getting to know other people, it is quite important to get to anything you can, and point out things that you would attend if they were on at a different time, it is understandable that academics forget that people cannot always be available, they have as many things to juggle as the rest of us, so you have to let them know about problems, they can't read minds, so don't keep these things to yourself, just make them aware, and if you can think of a solution they may well take it on board, they do here anyway!

Also, don't worry if you think your work is progressing slowly, I work in chunks of time and write mostly during school holidays, and use the rest of the time for doing the reading. Work is not all writing things down, there is a lot of thinking needed and this can be going on in the background whilst you are working on something else, or even watching the TV, just make sure you have a notepad ready to note down any gems that spring to mind as you go along, get yourself a rough plan though so you realistically write down what you are going to do when as this means if you come across something that will fit nicely into one of your chapters, you can file it away in the appropriate place - um... that's so you can find it again without having to search through many files to find it (I've been there several times).

good luck and as people have already said, welcome to the site!:-)

Thanks Joyce...I seem to be very fortunate with my university and supervisor(s) as they are all aware of the nature of part time work and seem to be very predicting the challenges I face (of course it maybe that this is partly because they see me as a mother figure and they wnat to look after me!)
Interestly..I was reading a book last night (Rosaline Barbour) whilst watching saturday night TV with my partner...and woke this morning with thoughts going around in my head...leading me to consider my research approach in a slightly different way. I realsied that I had made some assumptions - which her words challenenged. So I have started my PhD journal...hoping that I wont lose those thoughts.
Thank you for your words of support and welcome.:-)