Sorry if there are loads of threads in a similar style to this one but I'm at a bit of a loose end!

I'm coming to the end of my first year science PhD but I'm really worried I haven't done enough work.  There have been multiple problems this year that I wasn't anticipating that have slowed my work down. Firstly, my supervisor took maternity leave for 4 months shortly after I started (in the November when I started in the October) - no she wasn't pregnant and I didn't expect it, she adopted a child!  Needless to say, I still got on with my lit review and felt like I'd made some progress.

However, when my supervisor returned she asked why I hadn't been getting on with lab work - I couldn't get on with lab work. Frustratingly whilst she'd been away, I had collected samples but I could not get a response out of the lab staff to book time to analyse them and two of the instruments I wanted to use were broken.  despite asking multiple times for them to be fixed (and I eventually started recording when I asked) nothing was done about it. It is now June and I still don't have any real data as there is now a massive backlog in the labs with other people needing to use instruments!! 

I'm feeling quite disheartened particularly as I found out from another student that I had to write an end of year report (I seem to have missed out on things like the research handbook as my supervisor was away at the start). I emailed my supervisor about this a month ago, she never got back to me(!) so I've just handed her something I thought would be right but I'm really worried it's not enough work. I have published a paper this year but it was from my MSc work, not my PhD work.

I've always wanted to do a PhD but I feel I'm not getting the support (from the lab and my supervisor) that I need. I'm not sure whether to cut my losses and leave.  Not sure what to do, any advice? I'm really disappointed as I did both my undergrad and MSc in this department and I feel like they know me well and I know them well but no one is helping!

Thanks.

Hello, and welcome to the forum!

Firstly, don't panic! EVERYONE worries that they haven't got enough done in their first year, and it isn't always the case!! And even if it is, you have lots of time to make up for lost gorund. PhDs tend to go in fits and starts, where sometimes you go for months feeling as if you haven't achieved anything, then suddenly you have a mad busy period and get loads done in a week!

The most important thing for you to do now is to get hold of that research handbook and try and find out exactly what is expected of you at each stage. My uni were quite strict in terms of form filling, and so every couple of months or so in the first year I had specific milestones to reach to keep track of my progress. Your graduate office should be able to help you with this. Then you need to deal with the lack of support from your supervisor. I would suggest you organise a meeting where you sit down and work out a timetable of what you need to achieve and when. This could be laid out month by month or even week by week to give you some structure and get a better idea of what is expected of you.

As for the equipment being broken etc, if this isn't getting resolved then you need to escalate it higher until someone does something about it! I was assigned an 'advisor', a sort of backup supervisor who I could turn to if anything came up that I felt my superviosr wasn't dealing with, or that I felt I couldn't approach them about; do you have a system like that at your uni? Fortunately I never needed mine, but it was good to know he was there if necessary!

Hope some of this helps. The most important thing to remember is that no matter what problems you're having, someone on here will be going through it too and no doubt others will be along soon to share their advice and experiences!! Good luck.