Hi,
This sounds like a good idea! I have entered my third year. My research has not been finalised I am in the middle of possibly my last project. Although, I have been writing a few things every now and then e.g. lit. review, ethics, identification of purpose and very basic on methodology. I still have NO publications. I am therefore wondering am I very very behind in terms of time? What about the rest of you?

Hi Albatross,

I can understand you most than everything. I am in my second year of my PhD and I see already few points and especially time planning..that are not working at all! I can understand that you might blame yourself a lot at this point. But you shouldn't!!! This is the last thing you should do!
Let's take it from the start. I am not aware whether you have a funding or you are self funded.. In case you are self funded think of all this as an investement of time and money that you decided and you had the courage to do, if luck or your supervisor did not help you enough or give the right guidance it is NOT your mistake! Go back think of what have inspired you in the first place! Start finding these feelings from the start! Cause in my perception, the only way that a PhD can be a good experience in life (yes! even in case that the result is not the desirable) is when you start loving and in no means by scaring it. I know the feeling, I also get panick attacks when I enter my office and I feel sometimes I am stuck in time and nothing goes the way it should. But think, if you have a scholarship or your project is funded someone chose YOU and only you instead of few others to do that specific thing so they saw sth in you and they believed that you are the right person for this! Even in case you are self-funded your supervisor gave you this opportunity to move with your project because, he.she thought/ think you are the right person for this job. If I were you I would try to take things over my control, I know it is difficult, but maybe you should have a good honest talk with your supervisor, maybe in an unformal meeting, outside of the Uni try to be gentle and don't seem desperate. Explain him/her you are both into this..A failure of you would mean a failure of him as well.So you need his/her absolute support! In terms of the esperiments I would try to point out both to your team and at your thesis what went wrong, and try to repeat even a small pilot experiment so to support your findings! Remember we are doing research for the sake of research..Therefore, there are not good or bad results! Results are what we need even 'negative' results are good results for the people who will follow our steps in research so they will not do the same 'mistakes'. In that terms, I believe you have a lot to offer as a researcher and later on why not as an academic!

I wish you all the best!! Best of luck from now on! Be strong!

Maria