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Sorry - I think this post got a bit too long for the space and got cut off ... here is the rest of it ...

10. Be aware that your supervisor and your department may be so unsupportive that you feel completely alone. But you may be lucky and your supervisor may immediately pick up the cudgels on your behalf – I have heard that this has happened to fortunate others, although not me … This is why having made contacts and friends right from the start of your PhD is so useful – these are the people who will now make suggestions and support you.

11. Be prepared for a long wait – my college took months and months to deal with my appeal and neither he, his office or my department would communicate with me during this period. It was an extremely painful and frustrating time.

12. When you do finally hear back from the appeals office and you have won, be prepared to do all the running regarding your (new?) supervisor, (new?) department, finding out how long you have to resubmit, arguing about whether you have to pay any more fees (yes they undoubtedly will try this one!!).

13. Now try to use all the resources at your disposal to rewrite your thesis bearing in mind that if there has been a hideous error in the examination in the first place, there will be little help to be had from the reports of the examiners.

I’ve tried to set out the stages I’ve been through, obviously there is a lot more that can be said about regulations but each case varies. I would also say, never give up, but actually, it may be giving up is the best thing for your mental health. Only you can decide – as Morrissey once sang, “There’s more to life than this you know …”, you fill in the blanks!

Very best of luck.

======= Date Modified 12 Oct 2010 20:45:54 =======
Thinking about my update overnight I realise I’ve left out a lot of important things that I have learned through as a result of what has happened to me. If you are reading this because you fear you might fail, are rewriting or have been failed and are wondering what to do, or even just setting out and looking at this with horror, I hope what I have suggested below will be useful to you –

1. As a part-time PhD student your time will be limited but do get to as many seminars and conferences as you can, even before you start your PhD – you need to know people in your field – these are the ones who can best advise you on your choice of supervisor and examiners … As a part-timer it is very easy to become isolated.

2. When finding a supervisor, listen to what others have to say about your choices … if you are not getting good feedback, save yourself a heap of trouble and look elsewhere …

3. Most colleges in the UK now set out in detail what is expected of supervisor and supervisee (i.e. you). If you feel your supervisor is not doing what he or she should be, deal with it – it may be difficult but much harder in the long run to fail because you didn’t.

4. Take an active part in the selection of your examiners – if you have reservations about them say so, jump up and down, refuse them!! Your supervisor really should include you in the discussion and if you aren’t don’t just go along with the choice. My advice is also very firmly to avoid retired and very new examiners.

5. Make sure you discuss with your supervisor exactly what is expected of you and what can happen during the viva. Be as prepared as you can be. Ask for advice for how to respond if things start to go really badly. Practice assertive responses. Read the regulations, choose whether you want the supervisor in the room – in the UK this is usual and I would think very desirable – some colleges even provide for a neutral chairperson who will keep the examiners in check and prevent the kind of viva I had. Be aware that you can ask for a break … Read the regulations for examiners conducting vivas …

6. If things go very badly and you are offered something less during the PhD during the viva, do not feel obliged or pressured to say “yes”! You need time to think about what has happened and what can be done about it.

7. If you are not given the opportunity to resubmit your work go back to the academic regulations of your institution immediately. There will only be certain grounds upon which you can appeal – and difference of academic opinion is not one of them. Consider carefully how your viva was conducted and whether the requirements of the college have been fulfilled by the examiners in their reports – in my case they had not. In the UK you will receive the joint final report of the examiners, but most colleges do not give you the preliminary reports unless you ask. You need to see these too. They are crucial and will be the key to whether any administrative error has been made in your examination.

8. Find out who deals with complaints/appeals in your college – there will be an academic registrar and this person may not be easy to track down. This is an administrator who will probably tell you, oh dear, well appeals don’t usually succeed, but will invite you to submit your complaint. Be aware there will be a timetable for complaints and you may have something like 3 months to put together a full statement with supporting documents.

9. If you have the contacts or the money, seek the opinion of an education lawyer … I did. Also, try the Student Union – mine didn’t have the experience to help me but they did listen and keep in touch. Get as much support and help as you can as soon as you can – from counsellors if you can, as friends and partners are only human too …

continues above ...

Please read Dina Glouberman "The Joy of Burnout: How the End of the World can be a new beginning" - I read this recently after experiencing a really horrible outcome to my PhD - posted under Failed PhD on this forum - life won't get any better until you make some changes and you really do deserve to have a better life (and so does your husband!). Looking back now I feel I set a course for myself which led only to unhappiness and I forgot that I had choices. Don't suffer any longer than you have to. Very best of luck.

Please read Dina Glouberman "The Joy of Burnout: How the End of the World can be a new beginning" - I read this recently after experiencing a really horrible outcome to my PhD - posted under Failed PhD on this forum - life won't get any better until you make some changes and you really do deserve to have a better life (and so does your husband!). Looking back now I feel I set a course for myself which led only to unhappiness and I forgot that I had choices. Don't suffer any longer than you have to. Very best of luck.

======= Date Modified 11 Oct 2010 21:21:44 =======
Thanks to everyone who posted their support - this is a belated update - I won my appeal on procedural grounds - and on paper - which was a disappointment because I had really geared myself up for a hearing!! I wanted my day in court!! I wanted to see those examiners squirm and my superviser too!

So here I am a year after hearing that I had won my appeal with time left to resubmit and the lastest is, I am sure some of you will not be surprised to hear, that somehow I just can't make myself look at this piece of work that has taken up so much time and caused me so much heartache. I have sought help and to anyone in my position I would point you in the direction of a book by Dina Glouberman, "The Joy of Burnout" - this has really helped me to realise that when you reach a complete standstill like I have there are always other options in life. You need to accept that some parts of your life now no longer fit and other paths will open up for you.

I haven't made my final decision about my thesis - my thinking about it is still tied up with fury and disappointment about how I have been treated by these selfish academics - it will take an immense amount of strength to push all the rubbish and anger out of my mind and focus on the work again - but it is not enough now for me to say "I'm not going to let these people do this to me" - I no longer care what they thought of my work, I remain furious about how they did it. To anyone thinking of doing a part-time PhD in the UK I would say this - think very very carefully before committing - you will spend time, energy and money and may get very little back in return from those who are there supposedly to help you. Good luck everyone.

I still have to tackle my supervisor about this - I only received the (extremely inadequate in my opinion) report last week and have been trying to get what happened into proportion since then. Clearly meeting with my supervisor is next on my very long to do list. He was there, but sitting facing away from me and the examiners and I think unable to observe the full force of what was actually going on. What was also really upsetting was that there was no clear statement at all that there was a problem with the thesis - either before or during the viva - if there had been I feel I would have been so much better able to cope with what happened.

I am a part-time, funded PhD student (not much fun over a number of years) but finally submitted last year and have just had my viva. I had got through my upgrades, with only one set back over the years when I had not done sufficient to get through but this was remedied the following year. My (eminent) supervisor and department clearly thought I had done enough work until the day of my viva when I was trashed by a very retired external and a research fellow (internal). I was absolutely unprepared for this and this has to be the worst experience of my life. My supervisor has since sent me 2 line email which seems to suggest that the examiners had decided to fail me before I even went into the viva - although unless he deserves an Oscar, I don't believe he knew this was going to happen. Having trashed me I was offered MPhil on major rewrite, which I am not prepared to do. I think I may have good grounds to show bias and ineligibility on the part of the internal - does anyone have any experience of a similar situation? Thanks to those who have posted their experiences too - I have read some past threads - it is good to know that I am not alone and that others of you have fought the fight before me and won.