Hi everyone

I'm quite new to my phd, only about 6 months in and I'm feeling a little bit like my supervisor is quite controlling in the sense of not giving me the freedom to do that much teaching around the university (this is something I really enjoy and if I'm honest, I think it's a good break from research and allows me to clear my head). I'm not sure if I'm over-reacting or if this is totally normal near the start of a phd, I just kind of thought it would be a bit of a relaxed supervision during a phd. Any advice about how it was like with your supervisor and how to deal with this would be really useful!!

Hey Edin,

Have you actually spoke to your supervisor about your desire to teach? I would assume that, because you are only now beginning to cement your ideas, your supervisor is wanting you to focus more on that than teaching. She/he will probably be more inclined to discuss teaching options with you once they know your project is moving in the right direction. They probably want to see your potential first before allowing you to teach others, I would definitely recommend just asking though. Failing that, is there no-one higher in the university you could contact to find out about teaching opportunities? As the teaching isn't technically related to your project I don't think you have to go through your supervisor to do so.

A.W

Normally PhD students are not advised to teach in the first year of their studies to focus on their projects. I am a first year phD student and that is what I was told when I asked. So I think it is normal.

We can teach in the first year of our PhDs at my uni. We are only allowed to do 6 hours per week on average though so if you're trying to do more than that maybe that's why?