Many thanks for your reply. I am not British either. Nor is my supervisor (we are from different countries though). He has a good reputation at the university, though I'm not sure how hands on he is in any of his students' research. Some of my fellow students are also having difficulty getting support from him, so it may just be a spate of carelessness. I think maybe I should have been more assertive with him about the direction of my project from the beginning as he wanted me to do something different from my proposal that got me the studentship in the first place.

He replied straight away to my e-mail, as I asked if I could bounce my idea off one of his former students who is now on the faculty of a different UK university. He said yes. Diplomacy is not a strong point for me, so I am pleased this may blow over. Fingers crossed.

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I have just started my 3rd year of a health informatics PhD studentship and am concerned at the low level of support from my supervisor. He has graduated many PhD students, so perhaps I am just unlucky. I have asked to change to a different project as the one he encouraged me to do is too complicated I think for a PhD. I wasn't sure at first as I've never done a PhD, but this project sounds much more complex than any other of the PhD students I know and I have been held up for nearly a year trying to access a component I need for the research. I am a librarian and we are taught how to help students focus their project. It's ironic that mine has turned into a mess.

My advisor has replied to my e-mails only sporadically for the past few months (we both live remotely from the university). I am afraid it will make me look really bad if I change advisors. I am also unsure that there is anyone else at my university who would be suitable.

I am planning to e-mail him and let him know I need more and better communication from him, but am worried I will offend him. Health informatics is a small field and I would also need to be careful about criticizing him to others.

Any tips?