I am a Senior Lecturer. I am ashamed in reading some of questions on bad supervisors. The academic environment must be enjoyable and supportive for all PhD students. It is hard enough without having bad supervisors. As a supervisor myself, I feel these people should be reported and exposed as bad supervisors. They cannot get away with ruining peoples careers. Legal action is a possibilty but can be expensive. Any thoughts on how to tackle this problem?

You know what? I'm glad someone from academic has responded to what students have to say. You will be surprised at things that happens in Uk universitites especially to international people. You know that statement that UK universities have about "equal opportunity", it makes sense that they just remove these because it is just words and paper. It doesn't exist.

This makes me scard to read this I am an international student going to start my PhD on the 2nd of this month what will I have to face????

Yeah - it is nice to hear from you Paddy. I think there needs to be a lot more accountability in academia. Problems go unnoticed because there aren't strict boss-employee relationships (or that's how it seems). Who is my supervisor's boss? Bad supervisors SHOULD be weeded out, but unless there are major structural changes in universities I don't think that's likely to become a regular thing...

...I reckon it's the same in most areas of work though - how many people can you think of who are quite happily NOT doing their jobs properly? I've just accepted that nothing is going to change in my time as a student, so I've learnt to live with it. If I was a bit less 'uptight' I'd say 'if you can't beat them, join them' and start doing my job badly!

Anon, these supervisors can't be WEEDED out because if you report them, the University protects them. Not only that the head of Dept might try to convince you otherwise about what had happen. some of these people have been reported more than once yet still they are employed and protected by that University. So you see my friend as you said "Can beat them, be a part of it" if not, then it's "Just one man against the world"

Paddy's concern is very real. Perhaps the best way overcome this without confrontation is to ask for a second or even a third supervisor. many unis even accepts a supporting supervisor of the student's choice

I believe having some kind of written contract would be of huge benefit as many of the problems here seem to be created by a gap in the expectations of students and supervisors.

Even a relatively informal contract could cover all the key areas and make it easier for the student (or supervisor) to complain. Does anyone have such a thing already?

Firstly e-mail your supervisor (blind copy it 2 urself) - saying that you are unhappy with supervision. No reply - email again. If doesnt work then see hos/groupleader. And then email your supervisor again and copy it to ur hos emphasising that u have emailed twice and nothing has happend - so you are trying for the last time before you do a formal complaint. Its good if u have other students to back u up and evidence that u have tried to get in contact i.ee people have seen u stand round his room.

I understand the need to document things but I think it’s a good idea to see your supervisor in person as a first attempt to discuss your supervision and hopefully get something sorted. It’s less confrontational and it’s always best (for everyone) to sort these things out amicably if possible. You could follow up your meeting with an e-mail saying 'Thank you for meeting with me today when we discussed my supervisory arrangements and agreed to meet fortnightly from now onwards...' or similar. Then you have a record of the meeting and the agreed supervisory plan.

Well- at the end of the day you are much more dependent on your supervisor than they are on you. You can't just change your supervisor, and you will need his/her reference and if you are very lucky mentorship at the start of your career. A researcher is not rated on his/her teaching/supervising qualities - all that counts are the papers written & the grants they can get.

If you can't finish your PhD you've got to find another PhD, which can be difficult (especially if you're an international student). On the other hand, if you don't finish the supervisors/and the departments ratings might go down a bit - but in the end the supervisor will still get funding - especially if the supervisor only has a problem with one student (and others finish).

So in my view its the best to try to ignore rude/unhelpful/unapproacheble/demoralizing behavior of your supervisor and seek advice of the postdocs in the lab (if there are any).

How did anon German get to write so much? I always get cut shor...

Hi Munchkin, if I am feeling the need to waffle on for more than 100 words, I carry on my post in a second message, as Anon German and others also do. These linked posts are usually tidied up and re-posted as one longer message by the FindAPhD team over the next few days.

... or maybe I am just more eloquent, he he