I've a horrible feeling...
Sorry all, you've ALL made good points and I'll admit I'm a bit down and feeling even more negative than usual and so I shouldn't be posting. However, that's partly what this forum is for - a release and I do provide help and support on occasion!
I am lucky, deep down I know that but feel a bit disheartened at the lack of posts and opportunities there are - it's frightening! I do not want to move yet again and especially not for short term contracts but at least I know I'm not alone.
tbh delta, I was where you are about 3 months ago, and since then I've been told to apply for a job by someone (at a different uni) - that person works in that uni, so I'm hoping it comes off and I for once will benefit from the 'who you know' thing. Also my sup has just come to me with a 12 month job offer (as long as funding can be secured - ha!) so its looking up. things will turn a corner :-)
KB, thank you. It's lovely of you to show your concern when you have much more serious problems, which I'm hoping will soon be a distant memory.
Sneaks, thank you as well. I hope you came through it OK and fingers crossed you get the job or funding (your preferred choice!).
The good news is I've still a lot to do but am on a home run, which will be a relief!
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Hi Delta,
I know what you mean. My supervisor encouraged me to write a paper after I had my first set of results from my analysis. I got very excited thinking it would be great to get a publication ( This was when I was just starting my PhD and the whole I want to be a scientist thing was very much at my forefront, sadly this changed as I became disillusioned with my supervisor). Anyway I wrote the paper and my supervisor read it and said it was fine, however, it has been sitting on their desk for over two years, despite endless emails urging them to publish it. I would like to do it myself, but I cannot since it has around 15 coauthors (international collaboration for experiment) who need to give their consent to publish the data and my supervisor happens to be one of them. As I mentioned in my other post, I have given up trying to get it published.
Later on in my PhD my supervisor, suggested that I write another paper on the new results I had, but I reminded them that I am still waiting for the other results to published, so I saw little point in writing any other paper for it to not see the light of day for years. They made excuses about being busy and never mentioned it again.
There really should be better methods to hold supervisors to account, as from what I see, they can basically do what they want and not give one hoot about what anyone thinks as they are virtually untouchable. Thats the impression I get anyway.
Hi, my supervisor is OK and going by many of the posts on here is better than most. I just find that they're a bit lacklustre given that it's their research interest they wanted researched. If I ever have any dealings with others in the department, they always make sure to be there making all the right noises but I'd rather they forgo these and provide feedback at a faster rate. I do like them though...
I do agree that there needs to be some accountability as some people really suffer and are at the mercy of their supervisors and I do think all universities should follow up and post on their supervisors web pages about the destination of their PhD students a year after completion.
I was reading your post and do feel for you.
It depends on the department, but usually supervisors need to publish to keep up their academic profile and it's in the student's interest to get your work published as this can help with the viva - different supervisors seem more/less interested in this. I know of people who have published prior to viva, been accepted for publication prior to viva, submitted but been rejected numerous times - all of whom got through.
If you're looking at staying in academia I would recommend at least thinking about getting your work written up for publication at some point - at the end of the day it's in your interest to have as good a publication record as possible.
Your supervisor should've been encouraging and supporting your paper-writing, but many supervisors are like that (don't seem that interested or that helpful in paper writing). Don't take it personally, academics are academics.
Don't get too wound up by it. If you want to publish your PhD work for your own career, best thing to do is to bite the bullet and work with the supervisor to get it published - you don't have to have any future contact with this supervisor post-PhD.
