Hello! I'm writing for a bit of advice about something. Recently I got an email from a new PhD student in our department who is doing pretty much the same topic as me. We've got a new high-flying academic in our department who is an expert in the general area I'm doing my research in. This student is one of his new supervisees. I have met him before and he knows about my work as he attended a presentation I gave (he even said he couldn't comment much because he didn't know enough about the topic!). I guess my first question is: does anyone think it's unusual for a new student to be looking at the exact same topic as me, in the same dept? The second thing is, I looked at his profile and noticed that he is planning to start a research group in my area, based around the work of his PhD students, which he will be disseminating. I felt a bit put out if I'm honest that my supervisors hadn't told me about this, and I haven't been asked to be involved in any way, given that before I was the only PhD student in the department doing work in this area. I'm not sure if I'm just being a bit sensitive about the whole thing. So my second question is, should I contact this academic and ask if I can be involved in the new research group in some way, or would this seem a bit forward? Any advice gratefully received!

It is a bit unusual in answer to your first question but after a few frights with this myself (from people elsewhere) I've learnt that superficially similar projects are often very different in reality. You can't really do anything about it, but it might help to think that you're ahead and so the more likely to publish first etc. If the high-flying academic is like the high-fliers I've encountered, your supervisors might not even know about his plans - high-fliers don't tend to consult... I think it would be fine to send an email introducing yourself & your project, and asking to be added to the email list for the new group so that you could attend any seminars etc. That way you're not asking for anything major but get the info and can see how the land lies.

I understand that you might feel very put out by this but I also agree that superficially similar projects can become very different in reality. Within a few months of starting my PhDs, I found out that one of my research team had a PhD student, who had nearly completed, who was apparently doing exactly the same thing as me! Her project description sounded identical, and she seemed quite offended and aggressive. I felt very much in her shadow for a few months until I realised that my area of interest was totally different.

If you can introduce yourself to the new academic, and request to be part of the research group, then you could instantly find yourself amongst an improved group of collaborators, and not competitors. Unless the culture of your department is very destructive, there will probably be far more benefits than drawbacks in having more people in your same area to discuss ideas with.

Thanks both - good advice. I've said to the student I'll meet her for a coffee and chat so that's fine. And I will contact him but speak with my supervisor first to see what he knows about it. I think because I haven't been in the dept much over the last few months due to fieldwork, I'm feeling out of it in general, and possibly this made me feel that my work is a bit invisible, and not really accounted for. Also maybe feeling a teeny bit jealous that he seems to be offering his students quite a lot of support whereas my supervisors are very hands-off. But I'll get over it and be proactive! Hopefully he'll be happy for me to be involved - it would be nice to be part of something bigger.