Hi

Firstly I'm new to the forum.... soo helloo...

Anyway... I've recently been offered a scientific based PhD at Southampton Uni, which I've accepted :) I'm now due to meet up with my supervisor for a coffee and chat regarding the post.. I'm not entirely sure what questions to ask him... thoughts? Any advice would be great, I'm currently working as a research tech and the post starts in October so I have a good few months to prep and do background reading etc..

Thanks!

Hey,
I'm applying for a PhD in southampton! What is ur research field?

Hi Chemkalie89

I'm going to be researching in the human health and development dept!

Where have you applied for??

I would say treat this as an informal first supervisory meeting, so have some knowledge of your topic area, your recent work, his recent research, and an idea of what your project involves and its trajectory.

You could ask about frequency of supervisory meetings, other students in the group, things to do in the local area if you don't know it well etc

I'd recommend asking the following:

1. How often should you expect to meet with your primary supervisor? Find out both frequency and duration. Will you have a second supervisor and how often should you expect to meet with them?

2. What is the review timetable in that department, meaning when is your PhD upgrade and what needs to be submitted for it? What other forms of assessment take place, for example 21 month review?

3. What does your supervisor expect in terms of progress by the end of the first year?

4. What particular preparation do they recommend before starting the PhD programme in terms of reading?

Thanks for all the advice! I think I'm going to write up a list of questions that I want to ask and treat it as pretty informal :)

Bear in mind though that what the supervisor may say in terms of meetings isn't always what will happen. My supervisors says to all his students there will be meetings every 2 weeks, but I've gone for 4 months with no meeting before...