I think you need to investigate what's allowed first... at my Institution it's 12 months max (and indeed this is what my scholarship stipulates).....
Is it likely to give your supervisors the hibee jibees if you try and take more off (I think mine might be concerned that I'd never go back!)....
But at the end of the day, you need to make the decision based on what's best for you and your LO's

Ooh timely post!

I'm 27 weeks pregnant and just did my Upgrade yesterday (and passed, yay!)..... six weeks until maternity leave.

My experience: from six weeks - four months of pregnancy were awful. I had Hyperemesis gravidarum, which is basically a mega-severe form of morning sickness... I could barely get out of bed, struggled to keep down even fluids, felt miserable, and slept from about 5pm every afternoon. Also had a threatened miscarriage. All very unpleasant... I took three weeks off over the worse bit, took anti-sickness medication and managed to work from bed for 5ish hours a day.

From 16 weeks ish I've felt amazing, full of energy and very happy! Bloody good job because I've been working like a slave 12 + hours a day seven days a week to get my c.25,000 words of Upgrade document in and presentation done. All in all my pregnancy has been pretty productive (maybe even more productive than the previous six months!) and had a very positive Upgrade.

From six weeks before the baby is born I plan to take a years maternity leave. Although this'll probably be a crazy time I'm hoping to get a little bit ahead of myself, at least after the first few chaotic months of motherhood -- but it helps that I have a very good support network. I'll have c. 14 months to do when I get back, which I'm sure will be difficult but by no means insurmountable.

Like you I'm in the very fortunate position that finances aren't really an issue. We own our own home outright, my OH earns decent enough money and I get 9 months of my maternity leave fully paid on my stipend.

I don't think horror stories about people taking 8 years are particularly helpful. It all depends on individual circumstances.....

The expectation is that while you're 'writing up' you'll support yourself, i.e. through part time work. I doubt you'll find any funding precisely because of this....

Quite possibly. I think the research methodologies used for Arts based PhDs better lend themselves to on-time completion than other subjects. My husband should have a complete first draft written for his by 2 1/4 years in and is aiming to finish on time to start work......

I've just come across http://www.rcuk.ac.uk/news/010410_1.htm this information on Research Council UK. As part of research council's harmonising their T&Cs if you receive your funding from the AHRC (and probably others) maternity leave T&Cs will change. This will mean that the current system of 9 months paid + 3 months unpaid will revert to 6 months paid and 6 months unpaid, potentially leaving students 3.5k worse off. This is being very poorly disseminated. For the AHRC this harmonisation happens from October 1st. AS LONG AS YOU ARE ON MATERNITY LEAVE BY OCTOBER 1st THE OLD TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLY. Which means I'm OK but if you're planning on having a baby you won't be.
I'm really angry about this as it isn't being publicized and could really muck up a lot of people's financial planning.

Thought it might be useful for some of you to know!

Thank you!! We're really happy, 'cept (so-called) 'morning' sickness is a killer for productivity!
Sx

Hi all,
I was wondering what help any of you with little people get in funding nursery places for them? It seems that g'ment help isn't relevant for me as both my husband and I are PhDers (so tax credits are no use)..... Has anyone had University help? My University theoretically offers help for full-time places for babies in their own nursery, but I was hoping not to have to put my little one in private nursery care on such a basis (we have family help for a couple of days a week).
Any advice would be really useful, none of the benefits entitlement calculators work for our circumstances so it's hard to know what I am / am not entitled to for my little family.
Many thanks in advance.
Sx

Maria1, I think, has been quite negative about this.... maybe a result of personal experiences.

I'd just like to emphasise that discrimination because of your dyslexia is completely illegal, and universities are required to make some allowances for the fact you have dyslexia. I don't, but I have other issues, which I've had help with in terms of Disabled Students Allowance, etc...

Sxx

I was submitted a proposal to a conference (submissions were asked to be submitted by today), before looking at the conference website. Apparently the panel to which I submitted my proposal is 'full'....
I don't understand why there is an advertised closing date if the spots are to be doled out in advance of it!! Has anyone else had this problem?
My I seem to be doing alot of wingeing!!
S

Congratulations!!

I'm so proud of the way in which you have applied yourself to the whole process, even when things didn't seem to be going your way!

So Dr. Lara, enjoy!!!!

S

Hi,

I'm funded by the AHRC which offers a number of scholarships for people to do part of their research elsewhere (Library of Congress scholarships and the like). These seem to be biased towards people doing book-based PhDs.

Other funding councils offer scholarships and extensions for students to get involved in a variety of career-enhancing activities. E.g. Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology fellowships. Despite the fact that part of my funding councils remit (Heritage mainly) falls under POST's remit they won't offer anything similar (or even give me an unpaid extension to do something like this!!)....

I find this rather proposterous given funding councils don't operate within a market (i.e. you can't choose the one that offers 'extras' like this....).

Any thoughts?

S

You can try! But I really can't see this happening, since presumably the place will have been given taking into account your Masters....
In fact I've never heard of this happening before though I've heard of many people with Masters they self funded....
S

I think you need to clarify this. Resubmission is usually fairly major changes, so I'm surprised to see resubmission and minor changes in the same sentence..... It SOUNDS like what they want is not resubmission, but minor corrections before publication..... in which case scrub my advise - you can't really withdraw at this stage....

I think you have grounds for complaint on the basis of them not arranging a replacement supervisor straight away. I don't see that it makes any sense to delay this.
That said, I'm not sure of the wisdom of complaining about a rude email. I had a similar situation (although it was by no means a single incident) and approached the Graduate Tutor in my department. I was quite clear, however, that I didn't want intervention from other members of staff -- just the opportunity to talk it through, have my issue 'logged' in the system in case of future catastrophe, and work out how I was going to sort it out. I subsequently found out that my supervisor was going through a difficult time. While this is no excuse for his behaviour, I'm relieved that I didn't irreparably damage our relationship. I think lots of students (including myself) have a tendency to underestimate the diplomacy element of any working relationship.
S

That said, I'm not even sure a formal withdrawal is necessary when they've advised you to resubmit.  Alot of people who get this (rather than revisions leading to publication) don't bother and go elsewhere. So I'm not sure it's quite so henous a crime as has been suggested!