Hi,

I need some advice. I have been doing my PhD for 6 months now and so far I haven't got very far. I am still not working in the lab full time. I am doing some lab work now but it only takes me a few hours a day. I haven't had a meeting with my supervisors for nearly 2 months. I keep emailing them but one of them never replies and the other just tells me the other one is off somewhere. I have reached the point where i just don't know what to do to fill my time. I don't see my supervisors on a daily basis as they work in a different place to me and there is no one in the lab who supervises me. I feel so lost and fed up. I don't know what to do and I feel like I'm getting nowhere. I really want to get on with my project but it seems like I'm the only one who is bothered about it.

Does anyone have any advice? as I am reaching the end of my tether!

Don't worry about it, just catch up on some reading, and write your literature review. Don't worry too much about your lab work as once you know the direction of your research you can do the lab work you require.

If your supervisors then say that they are not happy then point out that you are still new to the whole research idea, and that not having regular meetings is unacceptable, so perhaps they should take some of the blame.

Don't worry though, 6 months isn't that far in to your project, and it will soon work out and you will then have very little time to do anything except work!!!

thanks stu :)

yeah i def feel like i need to see them. I need some guidance on how to progress. I feel like I'm totally abandoned! One of my supervisors gives me the impression that they have no interest. :(

I know a PhD is supposed to be a self-study research project, but there is nothing wrong with seeing your supervisor and if they don't let you see them, then they are not taking proper responsibility.

Imagine what would happen if you went another 6 months in the lab, and what you did was absolute rubbish and is useless for your PhD. Hope this doesn't happen, but thats why you need to see your supervisors frequently. Even if its just to say I'm doing this in the lab... then at least they can say 'no don't do that' or 'thats a good idea'.

Email and be straight to the point and say that you are not meeting up frequently enough. If over the next couple of months they do not improve, then consider talking to another member of staff (do you have an advisor?)

The 'impression' that your supervisor isn't interested is probably more than that - it sounds like they aren't. Okay, they could just be really really busy, but I doubt it. And as much as I'd like to think that we can reason with our supervisors, it's been my experience that you can't force them to do anything they don't want to, and if you have a supervisor who doesn't want anything to do with you then that's a problem! As for what to do about it, 2 1/2 years in and I'm still trying to work that one out. I can just sympathise and say I know how awful it is, poor Jen :(

yeah i have an advisor but I am reluctant to contact them. I don't want to make the situation any worse than it is. My second supervisor is lovely and shows genuine interest but my 1st supervisor is the one that knows all the gene expression stuff i need.

Sue, it sounds like you have had the same trouble. How did you cope? Did you tell them you weren't happy?

You are right dan. Things have got progresively worse over the last few months. I know I'm going to have to do something. I think it might be best to approach them first and tell them how i feel.

Hey Jen, I guess I sympathise with you on a number of points. Firstly, the e-mail thing is SO ANNOYING (and really rude?) I know you can't just e-mail someone and demand a reply, but when I really really need help and nothing comes it makes me so angry (which doesn't help with the next encounter) and I feel like I'm just not worth repyling to (because I'm sure that not everyone's e-mails are treated like mine) So, the face-to-face approach is probably best. It's harder (but not impossible) for them to avoid your questions when you're right there in front of them. Wanting supervision isn't wrong, but supervisors can often make you feel like it is - just because you need some help once in a while doesn't mean you're an incompetent PhD student (I think I'm repeating what someone else said earlier).

Also, feeling like you're the only one (in the whole world or at least your country!) who's bothered about the project - that's SUCH a lonely feeling. Friends can help with generally feeling low, even if they don't understand what you're talking about, but it's when you have some silly technical or scientific issue that you find you actually have no-one to talk to.This is something I really don't understand - how can some supervisors be SO disinterested in their research when it's that that's keeping them in a job? I think two possible reasons are that they get distracted with teaching, and that they've been thinking about the project for so long that their enthusiasm has waned a lot.

I've also had months with nothing much to do - because I was waiting on orders arriving, waiting on technicians doing things for me... this is hard to take when you have lots of ideas you're itching to try, but you simply can't.
So, the solution. Well, I think because I'm so close to finishing I've kinda given up on finding a solution, and I'm not going to have a repeat experience as a postdoc. I personally don't see the point in talking to someone who isn't listening, you can't make them care! I think you (and me) need to find some other scientific person who is willing to listen, and to try and understand and advise even if they're not the best person to do it. I have someone in mind for this and I hope I pluck up the courage soon to do it. Maybe try and arrange a meeting with the person who DOES reply to your e-mails. Sometimes I think though that this is just 'giving them what they want', and I should put up more of a fight, but they might fight back.

Finally, maybe your supervisors aren't that nasty and just need a little persuasion (so try this before adopting the 'resistance is futile' attitude). I really hope this is the case, and that you can be happy with your project soon. My utter negativity about the whole thing is because I've tried and hoped so hard for so long (and like I said, because I'm nearly finished).

Just another word of warning about telling them how you feel - be prepared for them to say quite bluntly that they don't care how you feel and that you're there to do a job. I've had that and it wasn't at all nice, and made me feel much worse.

Stick strictly to scientific issues, only touch on how you personally feel if you absolutely have to.

sue thanks very much for your advice. I'm sorry you have had such a bad time.

My second supervisor is great so maybe i will try speaking to him. I don't understand how supervisors can not be interested in their work, it seems mad to me.

I love my project and want to get on and do well but the lack of things to do and input from my sup is making me not want to come in. I came in this morning didn't know what to do so I went and cried in the loo. how pathetic is that!

I'm feeling a bit cheerier now as I had a good afternoon in the lab. I guess I just have to decide how to approach the issue without it leading to a drama.