Hello!
I'm new in this forum and I am glad I found it!

BACKGROUND
I started my PhD in January 2012 in the UK, to be honest I've really enjoyed it. It has been a great opportunity to improve skills as a research, the team at the univ. is really supportive and I have very good (and "human") supervisors!
The first year was very challenging and required a lot of efforts. My boyfriend was living in France and to have a distance relationship was definitely hard! He joined me in October until now.
Now I'm in my second year and so I have around a year and half to analyse and write my thesis! :)
And my boyfriend needs to back to France in September, because of course he can't stop his career for me (and here in the UK he doesn't have job opportunities).

QUESTION FOR YOU:
So, I am deciding to go back to France between October and November this year, and write my thesis from there. And back frequently to UK (at least every 2 months) to have regular direct contacts with my supervisors and colleagues.

Is there anybody who experienced this? I'm interested to see what were the challenges? the concerns? the advantages? or other important aspects you felt during this time?

I think that to have some feedback from people who lived it might help me to create realistic expectation of this challenge!

Many thanks in advance,
Cheers*
S.

Hello Catr,

I hope you are well.

In answering your question, I must begin by stating the obvious - everyone's PhD journey and experience is unique. I think it is wonderful that your boyfriend is supportive and that you want to move to France to be with him and write your thesis there, while travelling intermittently back to the UK. There WILL be challenges, but you will deal with them - like we all do - as they occur. It is important to remember that although the PhD is VERY important, making sure that you also have a LIFE is equally important. it sounds like your relationship is serious so being together is important. Some people can make long distance relationships work, however, if you feel that moving to France with your boyfriend is what is best for you at this time in your candidature, I say go for it.

I am in the final year of my PhD candidature. I am an expatriate Australian living in Hong Kong. My university is in Australia. For the past three years this arrangement has worked well for me. I travel twice a year to my university. I have a very supportive husband who works here, and great support also from my primary supervisor in Australia, and my secondary supervisor in Hong Kong.

The best thing I have found with distance study is that when I know I will be making the trip to university for a symposium, an assessment, or to meet with my supervisor, I make sure that I have everything I want to discuss prepared and ready ahead of time. Having a deadline when I need to be on campus in Australia has made it easier for me to plan my work while I am away. It also makes the face-to-face time with my supervisors an efficient and effective use of time. So my time management skills are now well developed.

On your unique PhD journey, I wish you the best.

Hi,

I don't think that your PhD will suffer, especially if you make sure you arrange meetings with supervisors as often as needed. I agree, that possibly having a life while doing the PhD will keep you less stressed and more organised time-wise.

The only disadvantage I can see, is that in this way you will have less chances to be involved with what happens in your department, like teaching and marking which are useful experiences when it comes to job hunting. Moreover, the uni organises workshops on statistics, or other services you may need, and it will be harder to access them.

If you are funded, the supervisor might refuse to allow you to live more than certain miles away from the uni.

Good luck with the rest of your PhD

Hi!
I am form Greece, living and working in Greece, with Greek as native language. I am doing a PhD in the UK.
I've been travelling to the UK every 3 months in order to meet with my supd and discuss my progress. Now I am nearly finished (NEARLY, not there yet).
It has been hard, as I was here alone doing research and working. I am away from everything that happens in the university (seminars, student groups, networks etc). And the most important issue for (which I gues it is not an issue for you) is the language barrier! Writing in a langiage other than your own, is very tricky!!!!
BUT, if you have a tight schedule and you stick to it you can do it. Regular meeting with sups (even via email or skype), and strict deadlines are the things that you should for. And most importantly, willingness to finish!!!

Hi Catr!

I'm from Italy, living in (the German part of) Switzerland and doing a PhD in UK! I've been living and working abroad from the very beginning of my PhD, now concluding my third year and hoping to get my thesis ready to submit in Summer 2014.
I agree with TCDSW, each PhD journey is unique. Personally, I regret a bit not having had the opportunity to experience the PhD-student atmosphere in these years, I missed the contact with some student-peers and I can imagine it would have been interesting and helpful to have the chance to participate to PhD activities and courses at the campus. I say, it would have been interesting and helpful, but not necessary afterall.

At the end, the 15hrs/year of supervision can be easily done travelling 1-2 time/year to UK or via Email/Skype. Most of the feedback you get during the PhD comes from other peers/colleagues - particularly from those you meet at conferences or who review your submitted publications!

And then, doing the PhD while working and living abroad also had advantages. Some of them have already been mentioned: developing time management skills, lower PhD-stress level, and - for me - the possibility of working already in a research department in an other university and gaining experience in teaching, fund raising, and getting other projects (parallel to the PhD one) developed and run.

Of course, I'm enrolled in UK as part-time student - otherwise I could not teach and run other projects at the same time! And of course - I'm aware my situation is peculiar, having got a research associate job while doing the PhD. Again, each PhD is a unique adventure.

I think completing your PhD living in France won't create big difficulties. Furthermore, if France is anyway the best long-term option thinking of your boyfriend, then being there already may give you a chance to start some networking that may help you get a job later.

Good luck!!!

Thank you very much for your replies!

I really appreciate your optimistic messages! :)

Just one more question: Are you working from home when you are abroad?
In my case, I am not sure yet if I will be able to be hosted by an university, so if not, I will need a lot of motivation to work from home.

If some of you experienced it, any particular advice?

Many thanks!

hi Catr
I am also a foreigner. I prefer to work on my thesis in the UK because it is easier for me to meet with my supervisors and get the help I need instead of using email. Once I leave the UK, there is a time difference--it is really not the same. In the UK, my supervisors can speak to me on the phone, but it would not be easy, if I were to go abroad.

On the other hand, France is not too far away from the UK. In fact, if you want to pop back in for meetings, it would not be as difficult compared to flying from India, Africa, HongKong or Australia :-)

It is true that you really need to be motivated working from home when you are abroad. It's the same here in the UK for me too, as I no longer live in my university area. I have had to move away, and it is hard when I am in a relationship where one of us is unemployed, and doing a phd, the other is having a normal working life and cannot really understand the ups and downs of a phd.

Sometimes I feel very lowly of myself because I have not been able to support myself (have you seen my job app thread) but thankfully my boyfriend is supportive, and we are going through this phd journey together, job interviews, thesis corrections, warts and all.

my advice to you is to try ways of motivating yourself (example regular breaks, little rewards for yourself when you have achieved something etc.), and keep in touch with your other phd colleagues because that will help encourage you, when you know what's going on, you won't feel left out.

A phd written back in France is definitely possible!

love satchi

Hello (again) Catr,

I hope you are well!

I must concur with DrJeckyll on the downside of studying from abroad in that you are not involved in the day to day goings-on of "student life" and you miss out on postgraduate seminars on how to: structure your thesis, do a literature review, and be in the company of fellow students. You also miss the opportunity to develop friendships and it also makes it difficult to get to know your supervisor better - and them you.

For me, as a mature aged student living in Hong Kong, studying Hong Kong politics through an Australian university; I do not feel like I am missing out on a lot. But this is solely "my unique PhD experience". I have from time to time looked at presentations for some postgraduate seminars on "how to manage your thesis", but on the whole I am alone. I also value my solitude. I am not a hermit by any means. I do occasionally go out and meet friends. And like satchi, I have an amazing husband who supports me in everyway (I am not on a scholarship). I also have a wonderful (second) supervisor in Hong Kong who is very encouraging. However, I do not take part in the life of a postgraduate student at his university, as he is not my primary supervisor. I work from home only - it has been a long three years, with 6-12 months left. But I have hated/loved it in equal measure and have produced quality work, according to my supervisor. Taking stock now and seeing the end in sight, writing the thesis has become a (stressful) labour of love.

I must say that the highlight of my academic year is travelling to Australia to meet the other postgraduate students and my supervisor at the annual Symposium. It's nice to see what everyone else is doing and feel like I belong. Other than that, I am happy working from home. It takes a lot of self-motivation and dedication though, which is hard to muster at times.

Wishing you the Best!