y'all take things toO serious.

in other news Hillary Clinton for president in my birth country.

i am still voting ukip in my adopted country SMH!LMAO!

wena dont quit, push through. A PhD is meant to be hard otherwise everyone would do it. Take a deep breathe and take some time off to think things through.

With the general elections coming up, its important to go out there and vote.

I have to say I have lived in the uk, 18years of my life and I consider myself a bonfired British and used to be a tax payer before leaving my job to do my PhD.

Currently I work in a group of 15 students - all of them foreign. To my shock there are not only bullies but are racist. Baring in mind there are on student visas. I didn't expert this from the group and to say I am disappointed in the group diversity is an understatement. My thought is that if you decide to come and study in the UK, you must be open to learning english but most importantly to adapt to the culture. Coming here and criticising us is not completely unacceptable. Simply nobody forced you to come here and to study here. As a long term UK resident I don't need to adapt to your culture you must adapt to ours as this is our land.

Having been a Labour supporter for donkeys of years, I have come to a decision that I do not agree with their policies on immigration, benefits and retirement policies. The UK government have been so generous to foreigners, benefit scourgers and this has left the system drained and the country in a lot of debt. My parents and the new generations suffer to pay off these debts via getting taxed a lot of money in our salaries. I have seen the price of a kit kat go from 20p to 65p for example. There is hardly any difference in the % of money I pay as N.I - which pays the NHS and Pension and Tax which goes towards the infrastructure of the country.


It is therefore I give my vote to UKIP.....May general election

I suggest don't tell him. Speak to your family and seek help. He will always hold it on you that you are depressed. Speaking from experience.

Your approach is to always keep personal matters away from your supervisor. Keep it professional

Hi Cloudofash, what I mean is that I want to find the content of hydrophobic powder in my mixture. This can be either by concentration or mass. Any ideas on any suitable method. You can't weigh it if it's a mixture of hydrophobic and hydrophilic powder. Need to find a method to isolate the hydrophobic from the mixture then a measure hydrophobic mass or concentration

Hi Guys,

I have two powders mixed together a)hydrophobic b)hydrophillic and I would like to know if there is a way to quantify the hydrophobic content. I was thinking to dissolve the powder mixture in a solvent, assuming that the hydrophobic content only will dissolve in the solvent and then use UV spectroscopy? These powders are white in colour .Any ideas would be great.

Always pick a phd topic depending on what you are passionate about NOT about work prospects. This will help you a lot when you are doing your phd and feeling down.

First of all TAKE A DEEP BREATHE. 2) THERE IS A REASON WHY YOU ARE SECOND YEAR 3) PANICKING DOESNT HELP 4) TAKE A STEP BACK AND CRITICALLY EVALUATE WERE YOUTRPHD OBJECTIVES, WERE YOU STARTED IN YOUR FIRST YEAR AND CURRENT STATUS AND PENDING WORK. THIS WILL TAKE A DAY OR TWO. SO LAY BACK AND DONT DO ANY WORK FOR 2DAYS AND CRITICALLY EVALUATE YOUR CURRENT STAGE AND WRITE GOALS AND GIVE YOURSELF DEADLINES.

to be honest thats the normal starting salary for a research position esp part time. Full time would be in the 20k range. Do you have any previous work experience or you have just your degrees because this will matter as well. A couple years experience, you could argue to increase the starting salary. However if you do not just accept it and gain the work experience. What I find is that in the UK having a PhD doesn't get you a higher salary however it will get you an entry level role were you can progress quicker because of your education.

lmao:) a lot of people are in our situation

I love my PhD topic. I don't mind the uni and the location of the uni because at the end of the day I love my PhD topic. When i accepted this phd funded program, I accepted it because 1) I am passionate about the topic 2) my supervisor is a professor who has a good reputation in the industry as well as all of his students finish on time and all pass and get their PhD certificates.

Now what I didn't realise it that he has 15 phd students and counting. We all use the same instruments for experiments and analysis. Frustrating much! All the students in this group expect for myself are from the same countries so they all group up and only help each other. When it comes to training myself a new student their response is I DO NOT KNOW. Simply the stupidity, selfishness and lack of consideration is frustrating me. And to make things worse my supervisor is oblivious to the way the other students are. Talking about my supervisor, as he has a lot of students he lacks time to even attend to each student. Anything he talks about, he has forgotten it the next day and my project goals change on a weekly basis FRUSTRATING ME A WHOLE LOT. In his words "I don't not remember what we discuss" If I had to do things over I wouldn't not have accepted this PhD knowing all the cons I know now.
No quitting tho, I have to champion this through.

Word of advise when you are looking to do a phd ensure that the number of students your supervisor manages is small, 2) you basically have your own equipment that your project is based on 3) ensure he/she sets clear goals and objectives within the first 6months of your 1st year 4) he/she is very much involved in what you do in your first year 4) gives you the training needed for you to be independent after first year like learning the equipment etc.

Hi Guys, was wondering if you can help me I want to characterize the uniformity of mixing two different powders to ensure that we have efficient mixing. Which techniques would be suitable I really need to see how the powder particles are distributed after mixing. Thanks

I quit my PhD in my second year in February 2013, I had already completed 18months of it. I managed to get a job, same as I was doing before I quit it to start my PhD. I love my job and I have gained my confidence back. It didn't take me long to get a job, I started applying early January and by end of January had a lot of offers to choose from. My dad always says I am known for getting jobs lol....Its the best decision I ever done quitting my PhD. I was very unhappy doing my PhD mainly because of an unreasonable supervisor. I am thriving in my job and at the same time earning descent amount of money. I wanted to let you know that they is light at the end of the tunnel. Quitting your PhD is not the end of the world, when one person does not believe in your capabilities you will find someone that will.Although I fought to be downgraded to an MPHIL instead of just leaving completely, I am going to decline the MPHIL offer as I already have an MChem which is the same as the MPHIL and wish to pursue a different part from my phd. Keep your head up people, Life, Happiness, Love....all the best.

Hello,

DO NOT QUIT WITHOUT GETTING A JOB.

I just downgraded from a PhD to an MPHIL, currently about to start writing up my MPHIL thesis.

However before I quit which I left in early feb, I have completed a year and 4months of my PHD, I started applying for jobs in December. I got offered employment in january. What I discovered was I was in the same position you are for the past year and 4months, although I really wanted to do a PhD as I am passionate about research, my relationship with my supervisor which broke down was one of the reason I quit also the rearch topic was shit. Now I have a job, I am much more happy and feel like I should never have chosen to do the phd in the first place. So i suggest you find a job then downgrade to an MPhil. Before you do this do not make any palns to quit, always quit with another plan otherwise you will become depressed of not getting a job after you quit.

2days away from submitting a letter to downgrade to an MPhil.

I always have a meetings with my supervisor and he is usually his bully, racist and stupid self.

And today he was so nice to me and I am thinking either this guy is bipolar or he found out I want to downgrade and leave so he is trying to leave.

Such an asshole, I cant forgive the mistreatment, bullying and unfairness I have recived from him the past year. He can fuck off I have found a job and I am leaving