Hi,

I am a PhD student in the UK from India and I have chronic hepatitis which had caused me to delay the start of my PhD by 3 months at the beginning. Now, mid way through the PhD, I have had another relapse of the disease and I am unsure of whether to inform my sponsors about my illness and interrupt my PhD as it is a highly pressurised project with strict deadlines as my sponsors are a German company. I feel really lost as I am obviously unable to work properly but I am scared I would lose the scholarship and the PhD offer if I were to take a gap of around 3-6 months for recovery. I am currently in India recovering, and trying to work as I do not want to lose the confidence of my sponsors and my PhD supervisor. I am even thinking of quitting my PhD and just recover in peace. I feel terribly lost. Please advise me in this regard. Thanks.

Arun

check your university guidelines, you can usually take time off for illness and suspend your studies. They can't withdraw you from your studies for illness. You do need to be completely honest with your supervisors though and tell them as soon as possible.

The PhD is not worth your health. The further you push into the PhD, the more stressful it will become and the greater effect it will have on your health.

You need to apply for a suspension immediately and tell your supervisors. As TreeofLife says, they can't kick you out because of illness.

Check your University guidelines or other terms and conditions as to the withdrawal of sponsorship. Even if the sponsorship can be pulled, I would still put your health first. You can always apply for other PhDs.

Ian

Thank you all for the support. I guess I'm worried that I would undo all the good work I've put in by taking this time off and everyone's faith in me would be lost. I will bite the bullet and talk to my supervisor first thing tomorrow. I hope everything goes alright. I will keep you all updated. Thank you again.