Hi everyone, i guess this is the official support group for us Phd's. Good to know it exists. Well, here's my story :

My supervisor is considered the maverick of the department and although his research field is X he is willing to take in students who are working in fields Y or Z, where Y and Z have similarities to X only in general terms. I was pretty confident that we could get along together as I have worked under him for my masters, also in a field which is somewhat different than his.

Recently my university has placed rules which require Professors to publish a certain amount of papers and my boss is now desperate for students to work on his topic. Since I'm the most senior and, not bragging, the go to guy in my lab he wants me to work in his field! Changing my topic to his is like throwing all my masters work out the window and starting from scratch!

I know this is wrong and I have resisted his "soft advances" so far but recently he has been more abrasive by saying that I'm too slow and I should change my topic in front of everyone.

Frankly speaking I could just leave the lab and work in the library and work on some papers, publish them, write my thesis, submit it, pass (hopefully) all by myself as I think I can self-supervise. I mean, at this level, doesn't everyone self-supervise?

Anyway I'm just hoping that some new students would come in and get his work done and he'll leave me alone.. But I guess my query would be "Am I wrong to do research in my chosen field?"

I am a TA but I'm hired by the department and he did not help me to get this position. So basically I owe him no favors at all, be it academic or financial. He's just the guy who owns a lab which happens to have my table and pc.

Anyway, thanks for reading my vent..

No go for it - you have to do your own research as that is what you are passionate about and signed up for!  You're not his lab monkey to produce results for him so he can meet his article quota!  As you point out you just happen to be in his lab which doesn't make you his slave! 

I think it's great that he's willing to take on students that don't do his particular topic but in a related topic which shows that he is open to new ideas.  It's wrong for him to push you into his field by trying to embarrass you - especially as you have already started and found a topic you want to study further. 

If he is that worried about his research output - he should get his own results!!!  Is he going to a co-author on your papers when you get your results assuming he does contribute to them so what is he worried about?  Is he the kind that wants quick results so he can churn papers out or is this only since the new policy has been put in place? I know academics have to publish and are under constant pressure to do so but forcing students to do their research topic is no the answer!  Surely he must have collaborations with others and involved in on-going projects to get some publications out? 

If you are interested in any aspect of his research topic is there anyway to incorporate it into you own?  If not don't worry but it might be an option.  You know academics especially some Profs have big egos and I often think it's often down to how you manage your supervisor especially maverick ones likes yours!  :-s

Is there anyone you can talk to about this?  Do you have a postgrad tutor or a mentor for TAs that you can go to for advice as that is totally unprofessional?  Unfortunately these mavericks usually get away with it as the dept doesn't want to create a fuss as long as they are bringing in the funding/raising the research profile of the dept! It's all about personalities and they try to bulldoze their way through it all!  I take it he's not great with the old social skills! 

Good luck and I hope you get something sorted out!
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I'd urge a little bit of caution - its crap not having a supervisor, my hubs went through it and had to submit his thesis when only me and him had read through it and it was horrible not knowing if it was good enough or not.

I'd talk to him frankly about his motivation - is it that he wants publications? or is it that he actually thinks that route would be better for you and your PhD?

Thanks so much for replying Sneaks and Doodles, I really appreciate it..

To Doodles,

Is he going to a co-author on your papers when you get your results assuming he does contribute to them so what is he worried about?
He will co-author on my papers and since his field is distant from mine and he knows squat about it save some general ideas, he won't make any significant contributions. However, since the university wants Professors to produce papers with their name as the first author indicating that the work was done by them, he has already made templates of papers for us, where his name will be first. Isn't this guy just wonderful! But since this guy is a nice and funny guy and he gives space for people to work, I really don't mind the formalities. But when he starts getting abrasive, that's what upsets me.

To Doodles and Sneaks,

#I'd talk to him frankly about his motivation - is it that he wants publications?
*Is he the kind that wants quick results so he can churn papers out or is this only since the new policy has been put in place? I know academics have to publish and are under constant pressure to do so but forcing students to do their research topic is no the answer! Surely he must have collaborations with others and involved in on-going projects to get some publications out?
Well, he was a really great guy to work with as he gave you the freedom to work by yourself which might be a bane or a boon depending on the student. So I guess it's the policy. I'm from Malaysia, and the government here has mutated into this results oriented in all sectors entity which might also be a bane or a boon for academics. The funny part is, this guy is part of an international collaboration and he has 5 papers dumped on his door each month without him doing much. For years now this guy has been living it up with his bestowed upon papers, but unfortunately recently the policies have turned to not placing too much weightage on collaboration papers, so he's a bit edgy nowadays..

*If you are interested in any aspect of his research topic is there anyway to incorporate it into you own?
#or is it that he actually thinks that route would be better for you and your PhD?
Well, there are some overlaps but essentially they're apples and oranges.. Me working in his field is akin to a veterinarian being a doctor..

Well, thanks for taking the time off to reply to my comments, it's good to know that I'm not like breaking "academic traditions" and he really is at the wrong in forcing me to work in his field. I will wait and see how he is and if he starts to getting really nasty, I'll keep you updated on how I switched supervisors
;-)

I wouldn't assume that just because he's not studying your specific area, he'll not make any significant contributions to a publication. Getting the data and writing it up is only about 20% of a publication in my experience, there needs to be a lot of re-writing, re-scoping, re-arguiing within a publication, particularly if you want it to get into a good journal.

My supervisor isn't studying in my specific area, but she's still very able to supervise me and understand 'what is a phd' and what isn't in terms of structure, amount of work, detail etc.