Me again. Sad to say I'm not feeling all that much better since my last post, though I'm soldiering on in the hope that it's still just culture shock. Anyway. I spent a couple of hours in the PhD office today, and... I didn't like it. I sat there knowing I would be working far better at home. However, I'm also painfully aware of needing to be accessible etc. to the faculty. So my question is - do you guys all tend to try and keep 9-5 office hours? Would you think it a very bad plan to work from home where possible? I'm just interested to see whether you think working from home is a feasible idea or not.

Hi there

I spend ALL my time working from home. If your research can be done at home, it is possible to successfully work from home. Having said that tho, I would like more time on campus as working from home can be really, really isolating. I don't have much choice - am writing up and live 3 hours away from my uni, so has to be done at home. You're not trying to avoid your uni and colleagues tho are you? If this is the main reason you want to work from home, then it's not a good one. If you want to do this as there are less distractions than at uni, that's fine, but maybe you need to have a think about exactly why you don't want to be on campus.

I'd love to have the company of some colleagues, the energy of campus, and be able to go to seminars!

Hey there! I am the other way round- I do pretty much all of my work in the office. I was initially planning to work from home and even moved into a flat with a separate study room so I could do this. But I just find that I work better in the office where I have all of my work things around me and it I think it helps me to separate work from home so that when I'm at work, I do work, when I'm at home I chill out, and the two don't get too blurred. I do some of my marking at home at the weekends but that's about it (I'm a TA on my sup's module). If you work far better from home then work there- my office mate tends to work from home even though she lives just a 5 minute walk away and my supervisor doesn't have a problem with it at all as long as the work is getting done! As long as you're in the office when you need to be, i.e. for meetings and supervision then I wouldn't stress over it! Best wishes, KB

Hey,

I'm right slap bang i the middle. I work from home when I'm too lazy to go to the office, and work in the office if I want to get lots done. I work far better in the office as there's too many distractions at home, but I generally spend an equal amount of time working from both locations.

If you work better at home, work from home. I did that while I was doing my data collection as it was easier, and just came into the office for meetings, but now I have to force myself in everyday to get writing up done or I'd just stare out the window at home!!

As long as your supervisors don't expect you to be in the office at all times, I'd say just stick within your comfort zone, and make yourself available when needed.

Hope this helps!!

I have also just started the PhD and have been allocated an office space, however in the office there are no other phd students but research consultants. I have been told that it is OK to work from wherever I am comfortable but should I feel guilty for not going into the office every day?

I hate working in the office - I just can't. Mainly because I have everything set up on my home PC e.g. all journal articles, endnote, all my writing. But also because I like to take breaks, be noisy e.g. shout "oh ffs, why can't I think of the right word!" and also I enjoy wearing my 'day pyjamas' and sitting with 10 cups of tea a day with my dog. I also get a lot more work done because I dont' spend 2 hours a day travelling to and from work - I just go downstairs!

I have an office in my uni and a desk at my industrial partner. When I go to uni, I just use the time to do admin e.g. checking pigeon hole, meeting supervisor, doing teaching prep. When I go to the industrial partner I do NOTHING because their computers are so 'secure' being a gov't department that you can't download files and can't use USB data sticks, so I can't take my work in to do, I can't download journals from the web, I can't email myself work, I can't use my own laptop cos there is no wifi and I refuse to pay for mobile broadband- so I just tend to pop in, say hi, send off some emails, go to lunch ( so it seems like I am there longer) , twiddle my thumbs and go home. But I generally feel very begrudged at having to go there and waste a whole day!

Gosh no! Go in whenever you feel like it and that's it! People in academia work from wherever they can or want to, and the hours are flexible. I don't know about your uni, but at mine, I walk around the dept and am lucky to find anyone in their office! Experiement a bit and find out what suits you best. It's all fine.

Well, I don't have an office at the university plus I live an hour's drive away so I only go in to see my supervisor, attend seminars and go to the library. If I work there I can get a desk in the grad school or in the library but that's rare. At home I have a very cluttered desk in the bedroom which isn't ideal but we manage! I like working from home and it's much more productive than travelling in, though I am aware that it would be good for me to be seen more in the department so I'm going to make more of an effort to show my face this year even if I'm not actually doing work there.

I'm just not disciplined enought to work from home. If I stay home I find myself watching daytime TV with a journal article on my lap! I think if you work better at home it's better to do that. Why do you need to be accessible to the faculty?

If you work from home it is wise to have a proper set up and routine - and not boyfriends or flatmates around to distract you!