Thanks for the reply. I'd just like to echo the sentiments of Delta and Lughna regarding your blog which is proving helpful and is deeply informative.

I guess this is at such an early stage that it's hard to speculate on these matters. Ideally, I'd like to combine both areas so maybe whilst that probably won't be feasible for a Masters dissertation, hopefully come the PhD, something will be sorted out. I think tomorrow, I will ask him if it would be feasible to do the dissertation with another group (although I may still stay in the original one!) and what impacts it would have on my PhD next term.

Thanks for the information though. I guess If I do my dissertation in a different topic and subsequently decide to stay, I will feel better explaining my situation

Hi there,

First of all, I'd just like to introduce myself, I'm currently an M.Sc. student and I'm hoping to start a Ph.D. next academic year. I realise this may be the wrong section of the forum (instead of Prospective Student:Funding section) however it seems to be significantly livelier than the Funding one. Apologies. Anyway, here's my problem:

I've applied for a scholarship from my department with a specific supervisor Medical Imaging. We are now in the process of choosing our M.Sc. dissertation topic and I've realised I would like to pursue work focused more on combining Signal Processing with Imaging. I am therefore considering doing my dissertation with another supervisor, rather than with him.

My question is therefore related to switching supervisors after funding has been granted (touch wood!). My potential supervisor helped me draft my research proposal, introduced me to the research group and has been rather enthusiastic about my research proposal. Furthermore, there is a good chemistry between us.

However, I feel like it would be a slap in the face and quite impolite (whilst making me feel bad) if I suddenly turned my back and essentially said "Thanks for the help, I have the money now, I'm now going to do this...". My M.Sc. coordinator has mentioned to me that it is not uncommon to switch supervisors before the start of term (with funding in hand). However, I find this rather odd as I always thought once funding is allocated, it is specifically set to a research group and a supervisor.

Obviously, this is at an early stage. I have a meeting scheduled with my potential supervisor Monday and will hopefully get his thoughts on the matter. If there is potential to link two research groups together (which I think represents an exciting area of work) then the whole problem can be avoided. Furthermore and obviously, a new supervisor would have to accept for me to carry on with him.

However, I would just like to know what peoples thoughts are or if anybody has any similar experiences?

Thanks a lot for reading and taking the time to hopefully reply!

k_m