I started my PhD in July this year, and am struggling to get things underway - I just wondered if this is common for the first few months?! My PhD is part funded by Astra Zeneca so I spend half my time there and half at Uni - this makes things a bit confusing as I have 2 uni supervisors and 1 at AZ. Basically I don't feel I am making much progress yet, especially as my PhD is not in my original field (I started in biochem and my PhD is pharmacology) and seem to be spending all my time reading papers and not doing much else!! My supervisors all seem great but don't communicate much with each other so I feel a bit lost at the moment and my project is sort of drifting! Is it normal to feel like this at the beginning of a phd?!

Reading lots at the beginning of your PhD is what it's all about. Just make sure that you write about what you're reading as well.

It's normal to feel lost at the beginning...and in the middle...not at the end yet but I get the impression it's not unusual to feel lost there either!!!

Try and enjoy soaking up and working your way through all the lovely new things you're learning!

A

THis is perfectly normal.. Basically in the first few months you spend time reading and getting familiar with your subject area. I am on a CASE studentship and deal with industrial and academic supervisors.. One thing I do that helps focus both academic and industrial supervisors is to have joint meetings every 3-6 months to go through my work and discuss it all with them. I would imagine that sometime in the near future you will have a joint meeting to start discussing where things are going with your work.