Is it just me or is it difficult to live off a studentship in London??

My funding is pretty average (i know people getting even less than me) but everything costs so much. My research is pretty intensive, it's usual for me to work a 50 hour week in the lab so that doesn't leave me with much time to find a part time job that I can commit to.

Anyone else with the same problem? Any ideas for making extra money?

Cheers in advance...

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2.8 years - very specific!!



Check on findaphd.com, now is a good time to apply, but be quick as lots of PhDs in this field have closing dates which are coming up soon.



findaphd.com is a great website, that's where i found my PhD.



You could also contact people who's research interests match yours and see if they have anything coming up in the next few months. express your intersts and send your CV. Takes a while but you will find something you are interested in, I'm sure.



Good luck!

cheers guys, picking up on what you said smoobles, my main supervisor seems to be getting a bit pissed off that i haven't produced any data yet.  I've done shit loads of work but nothing ever works the first 2 or 3 times in science research (as you're probably aware) so i spend most of the time trying to optimise protocols that don't work. other PhD students assure me that this is normal and from what I've read here I would tend to agree with them. It's just quite demoralising having spent 5 months in the lab and produced very little data. I have a clear idea of where my research is going and I understand why I'm doing what I'm doing.

most days i don't leave the lab til after 8pm and I've come in on the weekend a few times but still no good results!! I guess it just needs time and everything will fit into place, I'm just worried my supervisor thinks I'm a total waste of space!

i don't have a star either....:(

Is it just me or does time just seem to fly by? I feel like I've achieved very little although I've been doing my PhD for 5 months. Does anyone have any time management tips?? Or is anyone else going through the same?
:-s

congratulations!! I know just how you feel, I got a distinction in my MSc - feels good!!

thanks for all your replies guys!! the experiment was just a PCR, it's good practice to have a negative control but it's hardly the end of the world.

if i got all my experiments to work every time i wouldn't be a PhD student, i'd have his job! i'm just worried as to what the outcome will be. i guess i'll know soon enough!

Hey everyone, just wondering if anyone has been through the same kind of thing or if anyone has any advice:
So I'm going through some data with my supervisor and he sees that I haven't included a negative control - he goes nuts, I mean totally loses it then in the lab meeting the following day he makes a point to remind everyone how important negative controls are - fair enough. Basically, he wants to meet with me next week "to discuss my progress". I started my PhD just 5 months ago and have really struggled to get some decent data, all the experiments I try and do just don't seem to work the first or second or even third time. I'm basically a bit worried as to what the outcome will be. I've spoken with other people in my group and they say that this behaviour (from my supervisor) is normal and that before i started he was like this every 2-3 weeks. I really don't know what to make of this all. Comments please! :)