Horrible situation for you, and not a good reflection on the conference organisers. When I attended an international conference several years ago the conference programme (including times and titles of all talks) was up on the web several weeks / a month before the conference, so I knew when my slot was. In practice I had to be there for the whole thing (travelling from a very long way away - across the Atlantic!), but I still appreciated knowing what was happening in advance.

Good luck and hope you hear what you need soon.

If you quit tomorrow you will need to pay back a proportion of your stipend covering the days you've received a stipend for already in advance, but are not studying. So tomorrow (or the day after), and every day after then up to the 3 months you've received in advance. You could hardly keep those days' worth if you're not doing the PhD any more.

Good luck. I left a PhD nearly 13 years ago and was in a similar situation, but it was the right decision for me then.

Ok. Out of what you have available I'd recommend formal trousers and formal shirt, assuming they'll travel in a suitcase well.

Are you male or female? That might influence things.

I'm female and at my first conference presentation I just wore a very smart shirt and comfortable trousers. Convenience was important because it was an international conference (in Canada) so I couldn't have anything that might get creased or ironed. And my luggage carrying was restricted.

Seemed to work anyway.

Good luck!

I took a break (for medical reasons), but my funding council will only allow breaks for medical reasons (supported by a letter from a GP) or maternity leave. Nothing else. If you are funded by a research council and are considering taking a break do check the rules and regulations to see if it would be allowed.

As for returning after a break I didn't have any problems getting back into the swing of things. I was keen to return and drew up lots of to-do lists of things to be done, and I got on with them, picking off the most appealing.

Good luck!

I think you do. The stipend doesn't count towards taxable income in any shape or form.

See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM06265.htm

But the simplest solution is probably to ask the tax office directly. They should be the best people to advise.

Very well. He'd moved 500 miles away by then (though we still met up occasionally) and so I emailed him about it, basically saying I needed the break, it wasn't up for discussion, and I would easily be able to get the necessary medical evidence from my doctor to back up the request. All I needed my supervisor to do was co-sign the form requesting a break form that needed to be sent to my funding council. He did that a week or so later, and that was that. He totally supported me. Actually he wondered if 5 months was long enough, but that was my decision too.

If you're going to ask for a break make sure you get a long enough one, since this is your opportunity. I went for 5 months, partly because I wanted to restart at the start of the new academic year, and this fitted. But I made sure my break was long enough to help.

If I was you I'd go and see your supervisor tomorrow about it. It will dwell on your mind otherwise, including at the course.

I've got the impression during my part-time PhD that some students seem to regularly do the rounds of conferences, although goodness knows where they get the money for it from. Maybe their departments have lots of spare cash for this sort of thing?

I wouldn't worry about it if I were you - and it sounds as though you're not anyway. You've just as much right to be there, could deliver as good a talk as any of them, and it's really good experience. I went to a conference back in 2005 early on in my part-time PhD and some of the worst speakers were the senior academics: boy could they ramble on and on and over-run! Really narked me off. The postgrads, by contrast, were almost always spot on time-wise and very interesting to listen to.

Enjoy the conference!

You're doing what I did 2 years ago: taking a break, or it's quit time. I got my break, came back refreshed (not physically - far too seriously ill for that - but emotionally), and have now nearly finished the part-time PhD. I hope you get your break.

If you do quit though, you ask about feelings of regret. I went through a very painful grieving process. It lasted for years. It got better over time, but not quickly. It was a horrible sense of loss, and it hurt. I knew I'd made the right deciion - given the constraints on me it was impossible for me to continue and complete the full-time PhD - but that didn't make it any easier to live with. Sorry not to be more positive about this.

I'm still on these forums because 7 years after quitting the PhD I started another one (humanities rather than science this time), part-time, and, 5 years later, I've nearly finished that. If I wasn't doing a PhD any more I don't think I could bear to be here.

As I said before I wish I'd told my first supervisor I was leaving in person, rather than an email. I took the easy way out, but I regret it. But it's up to you how to do it.

Good luck.

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Sorry to sound more negative, but a lot of full-time students are expected to be at the university full-time, Monday to Friday 9-5, do have to give up work, and have limitations put on how much extra work they can take on (usually based around teaching undergraduate students, restricted to a small number of hours a week). Also PhD stipends are much smaller than wages in general which will be a concern if you are the breadwinner for a family. Say around 12,000 pounds (assuming you're talking about the UK) or a bit more for a full-timer. They are tax free, which helps, but they're still nowhere near many wages.

I wrote mine in the passive third person form as well. But I'm a humanities student nowadays. Maybe if I was still science I'd write it in the first person.

Leaving my full-time PhD over a decade ago was the hardest decision I've ever made, and the toughest to live with. I went through a grieving process, and it hurt a lot. It was made harder because my husband was a PhD student in the same department and finished his. Very hard to watch.

I didn't think I'd get another chance again, but luckily a part-time option came up in a totally different discipline (humanities this time; was science the last time). I didn't plan on studying for just 5 hours a week, but that's what I've managed. I needed that break in the middle though, to recharge my batteries (emotionally as much as anything else), and to tackle finishing off the second PhD.

I do think it's sad that you don't feel you can talk to your supervisor properly about this. I resigned by email but I had very lengthy chats about the problems with my supervisor before leaving, and knew that there was no other option. It's possible your supervisor might be able to help you practically - even if that's just taking a break - but unless you talk to them you can't be sure of that. And they may regret not having the chance to help you deal with this problem.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

I took a 5 month medical break in 2007, but then my supervisor was 100% supportive. It was a case of either take the break or quit, because I was reaching breaking point what with juggling the illness and the stress of the PhD as well. I was very resistant to the idea of a break because mine is a progressive neurological disease, so if I took a break would I be well enough to complete when I returned? My funding council will only authorise breaks for medical reasons or pregnancy, so I needed a letter from my GP. Again not a problem: he fully supported the break too, like my supervisor. The funding council was very slow to agree to it, but they did in the end, and the break made a big difference. I did deteriorate health-wise, but not so much that I couldn't resume the studies afterwards. And, now, I've nearly finished.

I think doing a PhD for those reasons is enough, and it's why I'm doing it, whether people in other situations (specifically much better health) would be able to understand that reasoning at all. That doesn't matter. Doing the PhD gives me something I enjoy to focus on, and getting it will be quite a result, particularly given my circumstances.

When I left my first PhD I sent my supervisor an email explaining why. I never saw him again. I wish I hadn't left that way, but there was no option to continue, and nothing he could do practically to help me continue as a full-time student. Even so I wish I'd been able to speak to him more openly about things, and hadn't had to resign by letter.