Supervision Ordeal:
Last night my supervisor emailed me to say she wanted to change the time of our usual 11am meeting to 0930... this was fine (although i am NOT morning person). I worked late and got in at 0845 so I could print and prepare for the meeting accordingly. She got in at 0945 then decided to talk to everyone in the lab, make coffee for her self then called me in at 10:10am. Then she spent 15 mins sorting out her outlook calender and emails. Then she asked what I was doing. She said not to bother getting ethics committee approval even tho its regulation as she isn't doing it for her research. She told me to do a literature review as a favour for her and my name wont go on her paper. This happened and it was 1030 and i didn't have a chance to tell her everything. Then her visitor rang. She asked if there was anything else, i said yes so I will email her. She said she wouldn't have time to look at her emails.

...continued

I asked her if she would ahve a look at soem work (i said i would email her and she can give me feed back for the next meeting), she told me to ask someone else. So i said fair enough and went back to my seat annoyed that i didnt have a meeting.
I know academics are busy, i can cope with turining up late to every meeting, i can cope with her thinking that shes bigger than teh system but i have had enough of coping with it all every time we have a meeting!!! Is this normal and Should i be standing for it?

how about a base ball bat instead?!

We have a 'history' in that I have already had a discussion/argument with her about her supervision attitude. I get on well with my other supervisor - she is fab but she is head of dept. She listens to me about the other supervisor and has had words with her, but she is so busy. But i dont want to come across as a moaner...which is why i 'ranted' on here...
Either she wants full control, in which case Iwould have got her full attention, or i do soemthign different, which is what I did as I didnt like her ideas so i tried to compromise but she was still stubborn. so i get no support from her.
AGRH. Sorry and thanx for allowing me to rant.

My main supervisor is VERY busy, i.e jets off all over the place, is a lecturer, keeps writing chapters for books, is always getting asked to talk at conferences, runs an MSc course and has a number of PhD students but she has NEVER treated me like that!

Sometimes I wont have a meeting for a few weeks because she is away but she always makes sure I'm ok and happy with my work.

You should complain, I think that is DISCUSTING behaviour.

lol, I was soo mad I didn't even notice.

I am so glad that you all think that this is outrageous behaviour as well. Feel free to do the stuff with the fish!!! I am going to see what happens in our next meeting next week. I am writing a log of what happens. I will tell my main sup next week that things are getting worse.

According to the research student's handbook from last year (for the uni & department I am about to join) the main roles of the Supervisors are to:
(i) keep in regular contact with the student;
(ii) offer advice to the student on both academic and personal problems;
(iii) give general guidance and advice to the student on the progress of his/her research;
(iv) give advice and instruction on research methods appropriate to the student’s study;
(v) report to the Director of Research on the student’s progress;
(vi) give advice on the preparation of the student’s thesis and to encourage him/her to write up the thesis before leaving the University and in any case before the lapse of four years;
(vii) present a written progress report annually to the student at the point of re-registration.

sorry to hear all this, driven2insanity. You must be very annoyed. I know how it feels not to get support but this woman sounds like a very ignorant person. I think you need to have words with her. If you can't get anywhere, then take it to your director of studies or whoever she reports to. This is your PhD, she has no right to mess it up or waste your time.

It's not just outrageous and unacceptable. If she is telling you not to bother with stuff like getting ethics approval because she can't be a***d, that is really worrying. What happens in your viva when your examiners ask you about what ethical approval you got? Or if you try and publish and reviewers ask? It could seriously compromise your future in research. You really have to address this by taking it up with someone more senior. Sorry, dont mean to sound too heavy about this, but you really can't be ignoring stuff like ethics (or any sort of regulations) because a supervisor says so.

Yeh I am going to go ahead with ethics stuff. Its quite annoying. She doesn't even know how to go through the ethics commitee etc, so I sent her the link so she was aware of everything I had to do. She then sent it back to me saying that I was patronising. I have decided that I am just going to have to get on with it, cos she obviously doesnt care. I am happy as long as my main supervisor is ok with me.

Phew! Good luck with the ethics stuff - but you'll be fine. I did it on my own because my supervisor had no idea it was required and no idea how to go about it. But at least they appreciated the work involved and the time implications!

at least you have a supportive main supervisor. Least you have to do with the other one the better I reckon!

thank you so much to you all for calming me down. I usually get like this after all my meetings but today (due to the early start) seemed to really annoy me. Its just AGRH. Many thanks once again

If i can put my twopenneth in, D2I, I really think you should just get rid of her. She sounds totally unprofessional, and I think you might be better off having only one decent supervisor, than one who seems to be sabotaging you. Can you explore this possibility, with your good supervisor or with the head of research students? (if such a person is around?)

Changing is certainly an option. Its just that there is no one else willing to take on a PhD like mine unless I cross faculties as I am doing a sociology/psychology type topic in a computing dept. I am having a 'secret meeting' with a Reader in another faculty who may want to help me and I may ask if she can be an advisor or a 3rd supervisor.