I have been caught in an extremely devastating situation. The story is too long to describe but the main point is that my supervisor has caused me a lot of problems although I have always worked extremely hard and have been, according to him, an excellent student. The problem is that because of this situation, I have severe panic attacks and depression (this is what the University nurse suggested and my psychologist diagnosed). I have also developed psychosomatic symptoms such as nose bleeding, breathing difficulty etc. I have lost my motivation and rarely go out of the house any more. I had never had any psychological issues before. This is all because of the two years I spent as a research student working extremely hard under stress and allowing myself to be bullied by my supervisor. What’s more my supervisor knew the psychological issues I have developed during the last two years of my studies but chose to ignore me. My psychologist told me to avoid any contact with my supervisor.

What can I do? Do you think just a complaint is enough? What about my personal injury?

When I discussed my situation with a friend, he told me: why don’t you write a paper about the quality of research supervision in higher education? So, there is your way of fighting back. Instead of creating a movement, you could do some interviews with students who have been mistreated during their PhD studies and write a paper about it.

There are people who allegedly can help, like the student association or student counselling but, as I said, more often than not no-one believes you. At best, such groups only sympathize with you.

Bullying is a small word to describe my experience, but as shani said, I don’t have the energy to fight back. There is always a loophole in your relationship with your supervisor that the University will take advantage of. How can you overcome these problems? Even so, you will always depend on the Uni in order to get your PhD, a reference letter etc. You will not be able to find a job in the industry, let alone in academia. At the end it’s you, a student on his own, against a lecturer/professor who is backed by the University and the academic community. So, you do the maths…

QTPie,

I really endorse your idea but I feel I can’t help you. From my experience (you can read my topic entitled “problem with supervisor” in this forum), in a case of bullying, you only have two choices. First choice: if you don’t want your efforts and hardship to go in vain, you must shut up and beg your supervisor to help you whenever he/she feels like it. Second choice: you can make complaints and no-one will support you or (for that matter) believe you and you will be regarded as the ET the extraterrestrial!!! I don’t want to sound negative but I don’t think there is much you can achieve…

Hi guys,

Thank you so much for your support.

Krokondile, he asked the transcripts and the interviews. I don’t have the transcripts and I have less than half of the interviews (for reasons I described above). I only have the names of the people that I interviewed. See, I did not know about how long I should keep the data since no-one in my Uni explained it to me. I was only told by the Dean of School that in order to do an MPhil I don’t need primary data. Also, I don’t have a Director of Research or anything like that. Now, my supervisor questions if I have done the interviews at all!!! He is also saying to my prospective supervisors that my thesis is not good (this coming from a guy who asked me how an MPhil looks like since he had never seen one before). The most ironic is that I recently was given a best paper award for a paper I had written(obviously on my own with only my name on it). Anyway, I will contact the new Uni and explain the situation. I will keep you posted!!!

Thanks for your support.

I contacted the new uni when my supervisor could not find an external examiner. They said I could take up the new studentship but there is still a prerequisite to get my MPhil as soon as possible thereafter. However, my supervisor has caused me a bunch of other problems since I last contacted my prospective uni. How can I tell them that I now have fallen out with my supervisor (although I have tons of e-mails showing how he has treated me throughout my studies)? I do not want to start my new PhD and then fail to fulfil the condition.

I have discussed my problem with some colleagues and was told that the only solution, for now, is to give him the interviews (which I do not have). The problem is that I do not trust my supervisor and I doubt that I will ever get my MPhil. Even if I somehow overcome this problem with the interviews, I am sure he will come up with another problem and I do not have much energy left to deal with him.

He then said that the problem is only my discussion chapter and I had to send him the interviews I had done as part of my MPhil. The problem is that I do not have the interviews since no-one told me that I should keep them. So, after I had finished my writing up and when I moved to another city in order to start my new PhD I got rid of them because I did not assume my supervisor would be interested in reading them and I did not want to be reminded of this situation in any way! The problem is that he now says that unless I give him my interviews he won’t put me forward for a Viva examination and I will thus loose my new studentship. This situation has become really stressful for me to the point that my nose bleeds and I have a nervous breakdown every time he contacts me. I really cannot stand to think that after two and a half years of hard work, I will loose everything because of only one person.

If you have any suggestions, I would really appreciate your help

I tried to explain to him again that if he did not find an examiner I would loose my new studentship and a second opportunity for a PhD. He was reluctant to help me. Finally, I told him that if I lost the studentship, I would ask for compensation (I did not have any other option!). I also spoke with the Dean of School who only warned me that I should be careful with my supervisor and it was better for me to try and calm him down. This situation became very stressful for me and resulted to my visiting the university nurse because of panic attacks and stress. After I mentioned compensation, my supervisor said that I had not sent him my thesis, which was not true as I had kept all my e-mails from when I sent him my thesis. Anyway, I re-sent him my thesis and he read my work for the first time in two years. As expected, he said that my work was not good enough (other people who read it gave me really positive feedback).

Hi guys,

I have a major problem with my supervisor. The story is a bit long so please bear with me.

I was offered a studentship for a PhD in 2005 which I accepted. My supervisor did not give me any advice throughout my studies and I finally decided to finish my studies with an MPhil. The reason was that I could not carry on a PhD on my own without any kind of support.

Meanwhile, I applied to another university for a PhD studentship and after a lot of hard work (research proposal, interview etc) I was awarded a studentship from this other university on the condition that I was awarded my MPhil prior to joining them.

So, I wrote my MPhil thesis, once more on my own, without any comments or advice from my supervisor whatsoever. My supervisor arranged a Viva examination without reading my thesis. However, the external examiner he proposed was rejected from the school. I asked my supervisor to find another external examiner, but he said he did not have a person in mind and thus could not arrange the viva in time (in order for me to fulfil the condition).

I know a research student who has given out tea bags as a “thank you” for participation.

You could give them your research results instead of transcripts. In any case, it is important to assure them that everything they say will be treated in strict confidence

First of all, I don’t understand why you should keep your external examiner update. Is this common practice? As far as I know, you can meet your potential examiner in conferences but other than that you don’t have to communicate regularly with him/her.

Anyway, why don’t you discuss it with your supervisor? It seems to me that he is the one who misunderstood your examiner’s requirements.

I paid an experienced proof-reader to correct my Master thesis. I am not from the UK so I didn’t feel very confident about my linguistic skills. However, I wouldn’t recommend the service simply because it is not worth the money. The proof reader only corrected punctuation and did very minor editing. Had I given my thesis to one of my UK friends, the results would have been the same.

I agree that it is not fair or even professionally ethical to walk away after completing my studies. It’s just that my studies are in the UK but I come from another European country. If I decide to stay in the UK after I have completed my PhD, I would be happy to work for my current University. However, I haven’t decided at this point if I want to remain in the UK for three more years (six years in total). In case I wish to go back to my country, I would like to be able to do so without having to pay back the stipend or being obliged to stay…

Thanks fatbob.

I think you have already replied to your question yourself. You have to bear in mind that a PhD is extremely time-consuming and demanding. Therefore, if you don't have a genuine interest in your subject or doing research for that matter, what's the point of doing a PhD? The money you could gain from a studentship is not that worthwhile. Plus, you would lose a good three years of work experience in the industry....

All the best!!