Quote From Nad75:
Wow, PM, not sure why you are so defensive. This is an issue that concerns our industry. Yes, this article is being exposed, not as nonsense, but as a dangerous editorial slip/possibly paid off. I don't have to provide an analysis, the abstract is written simply enough for anyone with a critical background to understand. Good god, look at that last sentence. Did you not read the beginning of the post, where the reason I noticed it was from the ripples in Twitter by political science and social science academics who study colonialism and international relations?

Quote From Ephiny:
It doesn't sound very politically correct, for sure, but I agree that in academia of all places we should have freedom of thought and of speech. Presumably it will stimulate robust debate, no doubt including some academics from the post-colonial countries in question, who I'm sure are capable of speaking for themselves. If the original premise is misguided or not supported by the evidence, it should be easy to rebut.

If the controversy generates clicks and citations, I guess that's good for the journal, far from 'sinking' it?

Quote From Tudor_Queen:
Thanks for your contributions all!

pm133, it bothers me because one of the ways in which academia is in need of reform is that names are put on papers where no credit is due.

I'm doing it on this occasion (because I can't see a way out) but I won't for the other papers.

Quote From iwan:
Do people tend to judge if a PhD candidate mention that upon graduation, he/she is aiming for a teaching position in polytechnics? I often get that 'why do you aim so low' or 'why do you even choose to do a PhD even'.

is this thought about career option not something to be shared amongsts your coursemates?

Quote From Nad75:
So, I'm putting this out here in case any humanities/social science students missed this article that caused a flurry on Twitter. I thought it was a joke, but it truly may sink this journal (Third World Quarterly) , considering they give out the 'Edward Said' award and Chomsky, among other prolific academics, are on the editorial board.


Title: The Case for Colonialism by Bruce Gilley
Abstract

For the last 100 years, Western colonialism has had a bad name. It is high time to question this orthodoxy. Western colonialism was, as a general rule, both objectively beneficial and subjectively legitimate in most of the places where it was found, using realistic measures of those concepts. The countries that embraced their colonial inheritance, by and large, did better than those that spurned it. Anti-colonial ideology imposed grave harms on subject peoples and continues to thwart sustained development and a fruitful encounter with modernity in many places. Colonialism can be recovered by weak and fragile states today in three ways: by reclaiming colonial modes of governance; by recolonising some areas; and by creating new Western colonies from scratch.

It also had an altimetric of over 900 in just a few hours (due to Twitter) and over 600 views. :| Damn.
It was originally published as an article, but it seems the journal now changed it to 'viewpoint'..as if it will save it.

(I can't seem to choose the 'off topic' category for some reason)

Quote From AgnesNutter:
I'm due to start my PhD in 3 weeks time, but received an email from my supervisor a couple of days ago to tell me that they have just been offered a job elsewhere, and my project is now off the table. The university are still going to honour my offer of a studentship, but I don't know for what project or who my supervisor will be.

My 2nd supervisor (who I haven't met) is apparently 'very keen to work with me', but they are a post doc, and reading between the lines, I suspect that they will be my de facto supervisor, while somebody more senior will be a nominal 1st supervisor. I may be reading too much into this though.

Another alternative suggested is that I join a completely different group, but none was actually suggested. For the moment, it's being left for discussion once I arrive.

Has anybody else found themselves in this position before, or have any advice on how I should handle this?

Quote From Tudor_Queen:
I do not want to put a supervisor's name on a paper simply 'cause it is the way things are done. I've barely seen this particular supervisor (although they're lovely), as they gave a bit of technical advice at the start and then I was well away (actually I got most of the technical advice I needed from other sources). I have to send the finished paper to them as they said they wanted to read it and I agreed to. But is there an acceptable way to get out of having to put this extra person as an author (the paper will already have several names)?

Quote From CharlieC:
What would you class as a good reason to get a PhD? If not because the topic is interesting, to further ones career and / or to do something that's intellectually challenging / stimulating?

Quote From CharlieC:
What would you class as a good reason to get a PhD? If not because the topic is interesting, to further ones career and / or to do something that's intellectually challenging / stimulating?

Re your other points
1) I'm not. More considering the impact having a PhD will have on our decision to start a family, something all adults should consider prior to starting one.

2) being too old or not is personal opinion. The vast majority of PhD students are in their early to mid twenties and with a general consensus the PhD becomes your everything (or perhaps that was just the case at the place I did my CDT year). As one gets older one is more likely to be earning a higher salary and become accustomed to a certain lifestyle, thus making it harder to walk away from to go back to earning the meagre PhD stipend. Furthermore as one gets older a PhD becomes less and less useful. With say 10 working years left ahead of you it's less useful than for someone who has say 40 working years left. Just my two pence worth though...

Quote From iwan:
Im one year into my PhD which has been stressful because of the toxic lab environment and the fact that i was asked to come up with my own project and to DESIGN from scratch a device that can deliver mechanical force to cells.

Was rocky in the beginning but i managed to get the device working and got some data here and there. A senior in the lab advised me to move on to the next step of the project asking me why am i wasting my time at this step when its already showing u the results you want to see. Move along kinda thing so i kinda agree.

So i showed my prof the data and the next future step but my prof suggested that i dont rush through things. Dont be too eager is what she said.

How does one evaluate whether he or she is going at the right pace or not?

Quote From Tudor_Queen:
Haha, I remember asking people that. Yeh, it is possible. I know people who work 2 days a week and have kids and do their PhDs. Personally, I think I could fit my PhD into those hours and fewer days a week, if I following a strict regime and was very self-disciplined. (In fact, I did used to be more disciplined in that way... but I think the PhD has a way of changing your working habits... sometimes you end up just working solidly until midnight simply because you feel like you CAN work on that particular day... especially as the day before you sat at your desk for 7 hours staring at the screen and maybe managed to write a single sentence, which you then deleted later as it was rubbish anyway...). It is pretty dynamic - you'll probably just end up adapting for what works for you (unless you have other big constraints in your life - which may actually help you get that structure and be more disciplined). But it is doable in those times yes.

Quote From CharlieC:
I'm due to be starting my PhD next month and wondering what sort of hours most people work? Is it possible to complete working 8:30 until 5/5:30 Monday to friday?

Quote From Soulflower:
I have finished and handed the final version of my PhD in Organizational Behavior to my university about two months ago. In that time my mentor and the four members of my defense committee approved it and I am waiting for my defense date to be scheduled.

However, about a week ago the head of administration of the university informed me that there is one more legal procedure that needs to be done before the defense date can be set. Apparently, the law for higher education concerning the process of acquiring a PhD states: once the final version has been submitted and approved, the student needs to write a 15 pages summary of the thesis. Then the summary needs to be sent to five educational institutions which have a department the corresponds with the topic of the thesis in this case business/management. These are mailed by regular post from my university to whichever I deem appropriate and the university waits for a month for a response. According to the administration head here, response is not needed, as long as in 1 month none of those institutions write back with proposed changes to the thesis, defense date can be set. His words: find me five institutions where you know a person that the summary can be addressed to, this is just a formality and rarely which institution writes back. However, if they write back with proposed amendments then your defense can't be schedules for another few months until you have changed those things, your mentor and committee approved it again and then that same institution approves it again. In other words he wants me to find institutions which will not prolong my defense date and would not respond or if they decide to, the response should be positive.

I honestly don't need much help apart from your willingness to accept the 15 pages summary sent to your university by mine and hopefully not find any changes to propose, so not write anything back for a month or if you decide to, write few sentences in a positive light.