I'm due to start my PhD in September (at Nottingham Uni / AstraZeneca) and just wondering what to expect in terms of a working week? I've had no guidelines as yet and just wondering whether 9 - 5 would be sufficient? Cheers

9-5 is fine and well-disciplined if you manage it. Maybe the industrial part of it will help. I'm a 35 hour-a-weeker, so I often vary my chosen working hours according to what else is going on in my life and how I feel that day, just so long as I do my 35 hours.

Just remember it is a marathon, work steadily in your first year and take time for holidays. Year 2 and 3 are where the hardwork is, so don't burn yourself out in year 1! Well done and good luck.

I reckon a good PhD submission takes 9000 hours of productive work. How you split in is up to you (within Uni regs)

I tend to be in at 9:30 and leave at 5:30, in the beginning i took work home to read over the evening but i've stopped that now as i found i was burning myself out.

I work from about 9-4, a lot of my experiments are overnight incubations so once I've set them up I'm done for the day. For the first few weeks I'd get in a 9 and try to stay until 5 to see what everyone else in your lab does and then take it from there. Some supervisors really want you to be there during set hours, mine doesn't care as long as I'm getting my work done.

Thats great thanks...just can't wait to get started now!

It all depends for example last 3 weeks ive done about 20 hours a week. This week ive already done about 40 hours and still 2 days left of this week. But thats how i work, in sprints so to speak just find what works for you. Also remeber you will loose count of the amount of time you actually think about your PhD so although you might not be in a lab physically doing something. The hours put in thinking is quite mind blowing i find. Its there when you wake up and go to sleep. or maybe im just a weirdo. Who Knowssssssss!!!

I think 9-5 everyday is minimum working hour. If you are lab- based, sometimes you need to come during the weekend. If non-lab, the time is more flexible.

as for me, i come in to office/lab at 930 am, and have lunch break about 1 hour and go home at 530 pm.

if there is no lab, I will work on reading as I do not have spare time at home, busy with husband and 2 kids! :)

hi guys,
After read one of the featured articles in this web page that recommend to maintain 40 hours a week, i've started my own stats on the number of hours spend for reading, coding etc that related to my research. I found out it is difficult to maintain 40 hours of effort to your PhD works, as the average i've managed so far is 26 hours in average a week. That's exclude surfing the net, go out for lunch, loitering around, etc etc.

Hey DanT, I'm starting my PhD in a couple of weeks to, and have thought about the same question actually. Probably quite a similar area to yours too - good luck!!

Thanks Matthew82, good luck with yours also

I'm a first year, and my hours have been really odd! When im in the office I come in around 8.15am, and leave around 5pm 4 or 5 days a week. I tend to do some reading at the weekend to.

I know next year, I'm going to have to put in some more hours though! :(

My supervisor is pretty tough/strict and does expect me to be here a lot of the time. If Im not here for a few days at a time, I'm obliged to tell the department why!!! Other PhDers have different schedules in different departments to mine, ie come in much later, leave much later, work through weekends etc etc.

My supervisor is very strict about working 0900-1700 or 0930-1730 as a bare minimum and any additional work outside of these hours is never praised or even acknowledged. He basically wants to see that the work is getting done and that the quantity of data being obtained is proportional to time spent in the lab. I've been increasingly working late evenings and at least a few hours at the weekend and my supervisor has no interest in this whatsoever. I don't need him to appreciate this though; I work because I want to, because I enjoy what I'm doing and because I'm excited about getting the next result and watching the story unfold in my research.