Hi,

I'm due to start an EPSRC-funded PhD studentship in Cryptography at Royal Holloway in March, and I've been trying to find out how holidays work for PhD students.
The nature of the PhD means that I'll be in an office most of the time (as opposed to a lab).
My main query is: during the undergraduate holidays, would it be possible to leave the country, taking the PhD work with me and working remotely during the hols?

I'm guessing most unis have similar policies (or lack of) in this regard, but if anyone is currently doing a PhD at RHUL, I'd be really interested in your experiences.

Thanks in advance

depends on your sup I guess, I think you get leave anyway, so you can do what you want with that, but I tended to take off weeks here and there when I wanted, I never notified anyone. And my sup leaves for the entire summer so doesn't care what I do!

Are you like Robert Langdon? Are your holidays going to be to Paris, and the Vatican? :p

Hi Slog,

Your PhD is mostly an independent work except of course you have pre-schedulled supervision sessions, in which case you will have to arrange supervisions around your holiday. However, sometimes supervision do not take place at all for a couple of months, which gives you the time to carry on with life's shenanigans!:-)

One top advice: always have your laptop with you, an A5 note and a pen are a most for any idea(s) that come to mind!! A recorder for 'soliloquy' no matter how insane you may look in your holiday room!!

Your research is nearly an everyday thing as you may have 'strange' but later meaningful ideas at odd times of the day...

I suspect universities are more likely to have a lack of policies in this area. In my experience (been a PhD student twice) it's not normal for PhD students to go away during the summer months, but rather to stay glued to their desk or lab or whatever all-year round :p

But if your supervisor is happy with this _and_ you can work satisfactorily remotely then it should be ok. But you will need to agree this with your supervisor. But, again, it's not normal in my experience.

PhD students can take a holiday or work from home whenever their advisor allows it I guess, but during undergraduate holidays you just keep working. I visited Royal Holloway this summer for a conference and the local grad students were still doing local grad student stuff. Have fun in the Happy Man or that medicin bar from time to time!

I am agree with your words. You should go to beautiful place.