I was wondering how everyone addresses their supervisors when emailing them? Are you on first name terms, or is it more formal, like "Dear Dr [Lastname]"?

I refer to my supervisor by her first name, but if I email any other members of staff I use Dr [Lastname] for the first email, and then however they address themselves in reply for any further emails.

Different academics expect different things - I usually go by how they sign their e-mails. I address my supervisor by his first name because that's how he signs his e-mails

My Masters supervisor always signs his emails as "Professor [Name]", but I always call him by his first name :s

It's a tough call - I always go by your supervisor first uses an exclamation mark in their emails, THEN I can use their first name! Other than that, if you know them well, and they're not stuck up, go for it. Even the most stuck up academics I've known (well, maybe except for one, but I didn't know him all that well, and he was detested by ALL) don't mind being called by their first name by someone they know reasonably well, student or not.

I addressed my supervisor "Dear Dr ..." a couple of times before I felt confident enough to address him by his first name. He had always addressed me by my first name so I thought he shouldn't be offended if I did the same.

I call my supervisor Voldemort to his face when I want to annoy him. It is kind of related to his real name and he is a big evil dark lord, being the boss and all. When I am not wanting to annoy him and in emails, I call him by his first name. Behind his back, we call him the Big Kahuna or Voldemort.

Ditto everyone else. If you don't know them, you should initially call them by their title and then be guided by how they respond to you. I do the same with my students when I'm discussing another member of staff with them.

hahaha...hilarious Piglet!

The first time I ever approached my supervisor I referred to him as "Professor W", but he suggested that I should call him by his first name, G, and that's what I do. It was kinda weird at the beginning because he's 60 and one of the two most respected Profs in my field, but now I just say "Hi G" whenever we meet or communicate via email.

I always err on the side of caution (especially if I'm contacting someone to ask for help/a favour!). If I'm contacting a person for the first time by e-mail, then I'll always address them as Dr Whatever (or Mr/Ms Whatever), but I'll just sign myself as Ann. Nine time out of 10 people will reply and sign with first name only so from then on, I'll address them by their first name.

Maybe it's an age thing though...when I'm teaching undergrads (usually about 10 yrs under than me), they have no problem with calling me Ann, rather than Dr Surname. I'm very happy to have an informal atmosphere when teaching but when I was an undergrad (all those years ago!), I've never have dreamt of called an academic by their first name unless specifically invited to do so...

Yeah, I find that strange too, Ann. When my first years emailed me at the start of the year they were calling me Mr Morgan which I found rather funny. I guess it's because they've just come school. I asked them to just call me by my first name.

I did some teaching last term and in the first email the students called me Dr., until they met me and realised they had a not very competent Grad student teaching them, instead of a distinguished lecturer.