Hello, have a BA (1st) and no MA, and have nearly finished my PhD in humanities. Was a bit of a crisis earlier on, but completely on track now and doing well.

Hi,

You might remember that I posted months ago, about the supervisory issues I was having? I am working under the same team, but more with the co supervisor, who is great, but I'm having some major concerns as I am exam in January, the last one before the viva (I have 10 months of funding left, plus a year's writing up).

Where has everybody else been up to by this point? (Arts, not Science, PhD) Did anybody else feel still unsure? I expect to have the research completed by June, have method, intro, lit review and chapter 1 (of 4) written in draft form...is this really bad and behind? Very worried about failing the January exam! Any comments very well appreciated!:-s

Some of you may remember that I posted a while back, about poor supervision...

The University has reached a resolution, which is to swop the order of my supervisors around. Apparently, my old main sup who I had all the issues with did not realise what she was doing wrong (she's been an academic for 30 years) and sees this as a way to make amends, and, due to the University being unable to find another subject expert, this is the solution that they have offered.

I have turned this down, and instead proposed a slight change of topic/adaption to meet the knowledge area of my old second supervisor, and appoint a second supervisor who would guide me with the PhD process. They have gone away to think about this.

My question is, as I am funded and the supervision has been poor (see old post) is it worth trying to get a year's additional funding from the University to accommodate the fact that I may have to change topics to change from a supervisor who has been very poor? I have a year's funding left and clearly won't finish in this time.

Milk and cookies to all who got this far!! :-)

Ah ok thank you for all your replied :-( i think I've had enough excitment for one PhD, so I might hold off and then use what I do in future to get published :-) How difficult is it to get work accepted, and does anybody have any tips for the future? Thanks :-)

Hi Bewildered,
It's an internal University scholarship, not sure if that makes much difference, but they allocated the Sup

Thanks LL :-) I'm laying low from second sup atm, in case we have any awkward supervisor based discussions, the department are going to talk to her next week :-(

Ok, some of you may remember I was unhappy with my Supervisor, thanks for all the advice and I am now in the process of changing Sup, which may take a while, so I am getting on with the research in the meantime.

The question is this, I feel that I have something which would be worth sending to a journal to see if it is publishable, I did it whilst working with main sup, but they had nominal imput. Second sup is still second sup, as far as I'm aware, but isn't aware of the issue with main sup (yet.) So, if I submit my script for publication, is this breaching some sort of academic 'manners,' as I'd be doing it completely off my own back with no guidance, or is it showing initiative?

Thanks :-)

Hi Alice,

I posted on here a while ago, about a similar problem, and am now going throught a change of supervision. You're not alone!

Thanks for your responses. I was really disheartened that the person I spoke to seemed to want me to repair the relationship, however I went back to uni, took some more advice and emailed them to say I no longer wanted to be supervised by this person. I think they took that as definite. I also spoke to somebody else, who was really apologetic, and seemed to think the relationship was irreperable so I've had to put in a complaint, in writing, to them. Also found out that my Sup is notorious, she has a reputation, and there was one complaint about her before but it was dropped, so not on her official record. This makes me more angry that, as jobs are lost, people like this continue to keep them and wimps like me, constrained by funding, put up with being treated like this. I've wasted so much funding that it is likely I'll run over, at personal cost, but hopefully if I can get a new Sup I'll have a chance of passing, it's taken me so long to realise that it's not my fault/me being over worried.

well, I was certain that I didn't want to speak to her, not least because she's unapproachable and it would make the relationship worse, but because she knows what she should be doing as a sup. HoS urged me not to do this by email, which I might have done, but it had to be face to face. Also said that whilst she should have come to my exam, she may have got confused with the second year exam, where the Sup can't attend?! Once it was obvious I wasn't budging, and said I'd rather drop out than continue to be Supervised by her (HoS def didn't want me to drop out) she told me to take a week to think about it and then come back to her, but that really before they gave me a new sup we had to try and salvage this relationship

Ok, update...

I spoke to the Head of School and she's told me that I need to speak to my Sup, face to face, to set out my problems with her and try and resolve the relationship, before they can try and find me somebody else (they've discounted both my alternative sup suggestions for various reasons). They offered to be in the room, or reluctantly to speak to her for me, but all with the aim of maintaining the relationship, which I think will be ten times worse now the Sup will know I've complained about her.

I completely understand the logic of getting me to speak to my Sup, but feel that if I had a good enough relationship to have spoken to her, I would already have done this. Also, I don't feel it is my place to instruct my Sup how to supervise me, as that's their job and I'm sure she knows. So, stalemate at the moment; I've got to meet the HoS next week and decide what I want them to do. I'm seriously thinking of quitting.

Thank you :-) It's only when you hear about the good ones that you realise how far off the mark mine has been :-( I sent her emails, over 4 weeks, with the progress of a chapter I was doing, eg what I'd read, asking a couple of questions; didn't reply, then berated me for not including something I'd queried in one of the emails! ;-(

Thank you all so much for replying, I really appreciate the fact that although I haven't posted before, you've all taken time to help me. I spoke to a PhD liason yesterday, who told me the same as you (and what deep down I knew) and said they would be willing to approach the head of school and try and get me a new Sup. So, being the coward that I am, I am 95% sure this is what will happen (have arranged to call in Monday morning), still a little bit of me that worries about the implications, but with all your advice, and the University's advice, I'm finally beginning to see that I should have done this a lot earlier and if the University can't find me another Supervisor, and so I have to leave, then that is unlikely and unreasonable. Thank you :-)

Thank you I guess I'm just worried that if I complain, Sup won't want to manage me anymore (not sure I want her to tbh!) and there will either be nobody else to do it, or I might be seen as a trouble maker. Has anybody had any experience of this?