I am very unhappy about the support I have received during my PhD. I obtained funding for a project I designed (based on my previously published work). Unfortunately my supervisor left at the beginning of the first year. No help finding a new supervisor was offered. Without understanding my situation, I took on a new supervisor who was interested in the project. They did not express any concerns with the project aims except that we design new computer based equipment. As this would delay data collection I would also run some experiments that he had already designed. Though they were unrelated to my project, this would ensure that I had data for my 1st year viva. When the equipment arrived I could carry on with the aims.

My viva assessor was not happy with what she saw as me working on two PhDs: one using untested equipment and the other using a design she did not believe would lead to a PhD or publications. I complained to the university that I was spending my time doing unrelated projects to pass an assessment. This plan seemed to actually prevent me from passing. Redoing the report was spending more time doing unrelated projects. I was advised that my assessor was inexperienced, I should trust my supervisor because once the mile stone was passed we could refocus on the original project aims.

This did not happen. Every study I ran became a pilot which I then had to re-run. Worse than that, no-one at the university would confirm how much money I had been awarded to buy equipment with. 1.5 years in, the equipment was finally here. I went to discuss the experiments I had designed with my supervisor. At that point, he informed me that he did not want to continue with any of the work we had done so far for the same reasons that had been expressed in my viva. I would have to design another PhD to complete in 1.5 years but that would be ok because I could go back to the literature that I am an expert in.

I want to do the original project but now my supervisor claims that it was not good enough. Surely he should have expressed this earlier instead of letting me carry on whilst continuously setting unrelated tasks! At the end of this stressful time I have nothing, no data, no papers, no training and no PhD plan. It turns out that my supervisor is using the equipment in a funding proposal for a different project and the pilot experiments will be continued by someone else. Luckily I can still be involved by supervising undergrads! My time and funding has been used for his aims at the expense of mine. My university offered no help ensuring my supervision, has prevented me from accessing funds and ignored complaints from both me and my assessor.

I really don’t know what to do. Designing a new PhD to complete in 1.5 years is a huge risk. I don't feel like this is my fault. I completed everything they wanted on time but these were bad decisions.
If anyone has any advice I would be incredibly grateful.

Sorry to hear of your woes, bettybooboo. Can anyone offer some advice?