Ah okay. So is this a project that has received funding already? Or is it something that they are putting together a grant application for? If it's the latter, you might benefit from having a couple of brief conversations about it to try and get involved and possibly put as a named RA on the proposal. But definitely don't do any serious work for it unless it's paid and with the agreement of your supervisors/university (which you would be unlikely to get before submission tbh).

Good luck for the conference. It's definitely a great way of getting exposure. And, when you are there, make sure you tell anyone who is interested (and even people that aren't) that you are submitting soon and looking for an RA post. I know people who have had invitations to apply for research posts as a result of conversations over a glass of wine at conferences.

For the Conference presentation I don't think you need to frame it as asking permission, but you should certainly tell your supervisors that you have been invited to speak at a Conference and plan to attend. Unless of course you need them to fund your attendance, if that's the case then you'll need to ask for their support in attending.

In terms of the project, this is a bit of a grey area. I would suggest that you probably need your supervisor's agreement to be working on a different project. I'm a bit concerned about the project though, is it a paid research position? Or are you being used as free labour? If you can link it into your PhD work, so it becomes part of your PhD then it might be worth pursuing though your University may have problems with this sort of collaboration unless it is formalised. But, you really shouldn't be doing research for other Universities/Companies that is unpaid - it devalues you and your contribution. Especially given it may take time away from your primary research responsibilities i.e. your PhD.

That's very exciting news!

I don't really have any advice because I'm not there myself yet... But if your supervisors think you're stalling and being too perfectionist then I'd probably try to trust them and just submit. You can fix the teeny problems in minor corrections afterwards :-)

It sounds like they think your work is of good enough quality, so it's time to let go of the reigns a bit and just submit the thing. Well done!

Next weekend is going to be awesome knowing it's all submitted and out of your hands :-)

I kind of see what you are saying here Dunham, but I think a lot of your argument assumes that, all things equal, there is no difference between the opportunities afforded to men and women in higher education. And that simply isn't true.

Career-breaks aside, there is a big pay gap in employees at the same level. For instance, at my university there are absolutely no female professors at level 3 (the highest level). Not a single 1. Across the entire university. And you can bet your arse there are male professors at that level.

You just need to look at the numbers, even those women who aren't taking career gaps to take care of children or relatives are not being paid equally to their colleagues that are men.

I recently read a paper that looked at the different language used in references for male and female students. It was fascinating, and is a clear indicator of unconscious bias that we all experience. Basically, references for men tend to use words like "leader" "innovator" "smart" while for women it's more "team player" "good communicator" etc. this demonstrates that we unconsciously favour, highlight and expect different qualities from women. And while it's okay for a woman to be thought of in this way, at management level you're looking for leaders yet these qualities for female applicants aren't highlighted. So of course the leader is going to be hired over the team player, even if the woman is in fact a great leader it's not emphasised on the reference.

Anyways, gender issues are fascinating to me. But we've massively derailed this thread. Perhaps we should start a new one? Or just all agree to disagree?

I just clicked on the first link and it says the survey is closed? Is that correct?

Doing a PhD is immensely hard. Trying to do a PhD with a serious mental illness is the hardest thing I will ever do. But, I want that job in academia so I'm going to finish my PhD.

In terms of career, I'm actually doing better than many of my peers - my first Teaching post ended in May, I'm about to take up a 2month Research Post for my supervisor and am then starting a 2 year full time teaching post in another department at my university.

So, although my PhD will not be submitted until 5 years and 3 months after I started, it hasn't hold me back career-wise.

Do not be ashamed of your illness. You should be proud that you are doing this enormously difficult thing in spite of your illness. Can you suspend your studies but continue to be editor of the magazine? It's important to still feel connected to the uni I think and to do things which give you a sense of worth. Additionally, is there any option to drop to part time for your PhD instead of full absence? If you could take some of the pressure off, you might find a bit of space helps.

If you want to talk further, please PM me. I've been there, I've come through the other side and although I still have the odd moment of depression, it's nowhere near as critical as it has been in the past. I haven't had a major freakout since February, when before my absence it was an almost daily occurrence.

I had to take Leave of Absence from my PhD to deal with my depression. The story is a bit long and convoluted, but basically I reached a point where I was just unable to do productive work on my PhD. I was working all of the flipping time, but I wasn't making progress because every time I sat down to work on my PhD my brain went "you are so stupid, this work you've done is rubbish, do it again" so I was working constantly but always redoing work I had already done.

My depression was getting worse and worse and, after going back to my parents for Christmas, I decided I needed a break from PhD. So, I applied for 6 months leave of absence. Eventually I took 9 months off, coming back to my studies last November. I've made good progress in the work since then and, with a 6 month extension on my 4 year deadline, I'm due to submit at Christmas.

One thing that may surprise you though (and certainly means that many of my colleagues are surprised when I disclose my illness), is that I worked part time as a Teaching Fellow throughout my illness. I got the job after my funding wasn't extended beyond 3 years (it was for all of the other students, but I hadn't been deemed to be working hard enough/making enough progress so my funding was pulled). I've always loved teaching and this post was perfect. So, throughout my absence, I was in the department most days (because a part time teaching post is never really part time) but I was NOT allowed to work on my PhD. I spent the rest of the time in therapy, sleeping, spending time with friends and developing a life.

If I'd just been absent from everything I think I would have really, really struggled to come back. But, having that job gave me a sense of purpose and reminded me why I was trying to finish the PhD in the first place.

I don't really want to turn this into a discussion on gender bias and sexism in academia... but, there is evidence (take a look at the People Science and Policy report by the RSC from 2009 for data) that women, across all subjects (i.e. not just the men dominated areas) are discriminated against when it comes to promotion. You just have to look at the numbers of women professors across all subjects, which is consistently at about 10%. Are you really suggesting that only 10% of women academics warrant professorships because the others are not working hard enough?

Going back to the issue of getting pregnant while trying to forge a career in academia, well I've seen it go both ways... one of my best friends was doing her PhD in Cambridge (unfunded) while doing her PhD. She was really sick during the pregnancy and had to go on leave of absence. She has never been able to return to her PhD studies after a really bad bout of post natal depression following a difficult premature birth, but she adores being a stay at home mum and now has two gorgeous boys that are an absolute credit to her and her husband.

On the other hand, I know a few people who were on funded PhDs who took maternity leave and have come back to finish now their babies are a bit older. The babies are in nursery a few mornings a week so they ca come to the office and are both due to finish up pretty soon. I don't think it's been easy at all, but they're managing and having a baby to take care of outside of the PhD gives them joy and happiness and a different focus.

I don't think you'll really need a conversion course for any of them, especially if you've already got some experience in programming. But, if you're going down the Robotics route you'll want to brush up on your maths as well as programming - CS is about more than just code!

If you're looking for a good HCI course I can thoroughly recommend York's programme.

This is quite normal for a PhD... once you get into the practical side of things you are quite often left to your own devices to make decisions and plans. Yes, you should discuss options with your supervisor, but you should be leading the research... not them.

If you need extra help with a particular aspect of your PhD is there someone else in the department you can talk to? For instance, my supervisor has no knowledge of a particular programming practice that I wanted to use in my PhD so I did a lot of reading and discussed this with other students/members of staff to decide if it was feasible for me.

I don't think doing another PhD is the answer to your problems.

I know lots of people, myself included, who have take research associate positions while writing up. But, anyone who was in receipt of funding had to waive that funding for the job - i.e. you can't have funding and a job at the same time.

This is a tricky situation to be in. But, I would probably advise taking on new supervisors - it's very, very hard to come back from disagreements with a supervisor such as you've described. A fresh start with someone new sounds like the best idea to me.

I couldn't easily go and live with my parents either - they would have had me if I was desperate, but they live on the South coast of the UK, I live in the North so it just isn't really feasible. Plus, life still costs money even if you're living at home.

My PhD supervisor has always been really understanding. But some of my colleagues less so. I had a conversation with someone last week where I explained that if I didn't get a job I would have to survive on beans on toast and super noodles for the next 3 months and also start selling my possessions to afford rent and bills. The alternative, is working full time in retail because I can't get any admin/temp work (and I've tried) and that would be fine, but it's a fairly low paid full time position, and most places aren't going to hire someone for just 3 months. At that point, I think it hit home why I've accepted this full time research post in between teaching jobs.

Anyways, I wish you the best of luck SL1990 and Caro. The next few months are going to be tough, but imagine how amazing our CVs are going to look afterwards. That first academic job after PhD is so hard to get, and so many other posts on this forum discuss the "I've got my PhD but can't get a job" frustration - and quite rightly so. But you and I are the lucky ones. We've climbed that hurdle. Just got to get the dam thesis submitted.

Changing from full time to part time during writing up is very university dependent. I haven't been allowed to :-(

Working full time as a lecturer while trying to finish is really hard. I'm doing the same, but my job is just a teaching fellow so I don't get ANY research time built in and have a ridiculous amount of teaching. It's okay, because I love it. But goddammit, it's difficult.

I'm about to go full time on a research contract for 3 months before starting a new full time teaching post. It's madness, frankly.

But, at least you're in a job that understands and, if you do have time free during the day it's okay to work on your thesis. If you're in a job outside of academia then they just don't care. Source: I have friends working for big software firms who couldn't give a crap if they finish their thesis or not. One, had to BEG to get a day off to attend his Viva (examiners could only do that particular day).

For me, the best approach is just to get something submittable by your deadline. It doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to convince your examiners that there is enough work for a PhD. I'm at the stage where I'm basically planning to submit something which the examiners will deem is PhD-worthy with a year of extra work - i.e. Major Revisions (or Revise and Resubmit) is my end game. It's very unlikely that I'll get a thesis worthy of minor corrections by my deadline, but that's okay because I'm working my butt off and making career progress.

It's not ideal, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. But, as I say to my friends who are trying to make me take 3 months off between jobs instead of taking a short term research post, a girl has got to eat and sleep. Food and shelter costs money.

Oh man, this resonates with me.

For my MSc, I got an average of 78% but, my project wasn't distinction level so was marked at 68%. Because this mark was below 69%, even though my average was high enough, I was awarded a pass.

It's a slightly different situation, but I basically gave up on my project because I thought it was crap. The work was good, but the write up was awful. I have since been diagnosed with depression, so I expect that during that period I was actually suffering depression without realising it.

I graduated in 2009, and am on my way to getting a PhD but it still pains me. I haven't been able to publish from my MSc project - not because the work isn't good enough, but because I cannot read that write up without getting seriously sad and finding myself entering the depression spiral.

It's annoying and I hate it.

I don't really have any advice for you, but I wanted to empathise. My "poor" project mark was all my own fault whereas for you it seems there was some element of institutional failings, at least with your courses. The year after I graduated, my university introduced Merits. So, if I'd done this a year later, I'd have a merit rather than a pass which is the same mark as a friend of mine who averaged 51%.

Anyways, it sucks. So here, have a *hug* internet stranger.

How are you doing nowadays?