I have a 6 month old who was born at the end of my second year. I have taken 9 months off and will return part-time as I am not prepared to put him in childcare full time. I am 30 and been with my husband a long time, and I have health issues so we decided not to wait any longer. I had a difficult pregnancy however I got through it, and did a lot of work in the lead up to taking time off. All I have left is analysing and writing up as my lab work is all complete. For me, writing was the hardest as I just felt like I could not concentrate (baby brain if you will!) but this is not the case for everybody and you won't know how you handle pregnancy until you do it. Honestly there really is no right time, if its what you want then go for it, the rest will fall into place.

I have had problem after problem with my phd, I am 12 months in and it has honestly has been one of the hardest years of my life. Supervisor relationships have been difficult, funding was non-existent for over half the year, promises haven't been kept, and now to add insult to injury, I have been diagnosed with a chronic illness, which I have had to take extended sick leave for.

My supervisors are pushing me to get back into study, however I am still getting over my illness and I have broached the topic of going part time as I am not able to take intermission right now. One was supportive, the other one wasn't at all. I have not put in a formal request for part time at the moment, but I do have the support of the student services to do do this as my scholarship requires a "good" reason to drop the workload.

I don't know how to manage a phd with a chronic illness, I need to reduce my stress levels (how!?), and I have a very difficult and demanding supervisor who has no idea about personal boundaries whatsoever.

Has anyone been in a similar situation? Does anyone here have ongoing health concerns? How do you do it? Are you full-time? I am at the end of my tether, I need a holiday, but they are now telling me to work over the holidays (holidays I was going to have off before I got ill) :(

I don't know what to do anymore.

My first conference was scary, I won't lie. I was worried sick about the questions - they were the big unknowns to me. Fortunately the chairman introduced me as a student at my first conference so I think people were kinder. A lot of people attended my presentation which also made me very nervous, I was asked a few easy to answer questions (yay!) and people came up to me afterwards to ask further questions when the pressure was off a bit. The only thing you can really do is practice as much as you can in the weeks leading up, and ask fellow students/supervisors to ask you lots of questions so you may have an idea of what questions may arise. This will also give you some confidence in your talk which will show when you present. It's scary but worthwhile, it's nice to know that people care about and are interested in your work and it is a good opportunity to learn and meet other people. You can't control what others think of you, so just go up and do the best you can. I struggle with this too, and I'm sure many others do too so take solace in that other presenters probably feel just as nervous! Good luck with it.

Hi Saurabh, do you have an academic adviser/counsellor you can get in contact with that is not your supervisor at your uni? They are there to give you confidential advice on what is best for your situation. Unfortunately the ones at my university are not overly helpful but yours may be, so give them a try. If you are struggling to fund your own PhD perhaps there are also scholarships you can apply for to help you out financially. But deciding whether to stay or leave is definitely a hard decision to make, and I am yet to make one too. Anyone else have any helpful advice?

Hi Matt, thanks for responding. I am 8 months in, and I have had problems right from the beginning, not only with lack of funding, but supervisory problems as well. I have been to my principal supervisor, several times, who backs me up in private meetings, but then backs down when it comes to "crunch" time. He is also failing me in other very important areas - and I think I am doing myself a disservice staying with him. The original issues are just not being sorted out, and more problems are arising because of this. I have sought guidance from a highly respected academic a while ago, who told me to try and fix it, failing that, to leave. She said - quite frankly - given the situation, it's not worth the trouble. She can give me a reference, but I need 2 referees for job applications. I am finding it difficult to leave when I need my stipend until I have a job - and to get a job I need referees. Essentially I'm in a horrible catch 22. I have been told I can look for another project and apply for another scholarship, but I feel dishonest doing this, and I fear I will meet the same problems by not taking enough time to think things through. I wish I had taken more time thinking about this PhD before jumping right in - hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

I need to quit my PhD and I don't know how to do it. I am having major problems with my supervisors and my research funding has fallen through meaning that I can't do half the things I wanted to/needed to do - I will now miss out on a lot of things because of my supervisors mistakes (training, conferences, equipment etc). I was heavily pressured into doing this PhD and a lot of things that I was promised will not ever eventuate (and wouldn't have regardless of money) which is very disappointing. I love my project but my supervisors are incredibly hard to deal with - I can see the writing on the wall. I have been to the university student ambassador and she has told me my options are to leave or suck it up - making a formal complaint with the faculty (even though I have reason to) will result in "making my life hell" for the rest of my time - what a joke. I would like to work while I think about what to do next, but I don't know how to apply for jobs when my supervisors are my only referees? I can't just up and leave as I have bills to pay. Can anyone help?