Hey y'all,

Just wondering what everyone thinks of the proposal to allow mothers and fathers to split maternity time however they see fit. Personally I think it's fantastic and will prevent so many employers from choosing a man for a position when confronted with two equal candidates, one male and one female. (I realise they are not meant to do this now, but I guarantee they do!). It also allows fathers to play a more active role in bringing up the children from an early age of course.

Anyone against the policy? Or see other benefits/negatives in it?

There's not much you can do, so basically you need to not worry about it. That is crap advice though cos you can't just not worry about something, so maybe set a date for your viva and act as if that date is the date it will be on. If people ask, say that date. Make the date a good two months from now and it will almost certainly be either then or around then, if not sooner in reality.

You can basically then act as if you DO have a viva date.

The guy whop sits opposite me in my office is Korean and we've chatted about work practices before. In Korea it is basically the case that you are expected to be in work before your boss and leave after. It's just the culture. Most work at least a few Saturdays and getting home at 10pm is not unusual.

If you have a boss who works until 10 then you work until ten past ten. If your boss goes home early then you might be able to (but this would be very rare!). I would therefore suggest that this routine is not going to change in the near future (i.e. until she's finished) and if she does then become a professor there is no reason to assume it will be all that different then (especially after 3 years of working in that culture).

My advice is that if you're not happy now, leave. This will be a lot easier than leaving later.

It might be different in Australia, but at my Uni in Scotland you have to have completed 36 Months registered as a PhD before you can get it, regardless of everything else, hence they would not allow you to complete in two years. It does seem a bit arbitrary to be honest but them's the rules...

Though I can see your frustration at being in, as you put it "early retirement, I would suggest looking at the situation from a different perspective. You're in your twenties, doing something you really enjoy and are fully funded to do so. By the time you finish, you will be in no worse situation than you are now and the economy should be in a better position to start a business.

I feel that your best option would be to focus on your PhD fully for now and get finished ASAP. Once you are done with the PhD you can then focus on your business ideas. If you went part time is there not a risk that either the PhD or the business side would get neglected now and again as you pour efforts into the other? Plus, I doubt the group funding you would be too impressed about you going part-time and if it were me I would definitely expect some money back off you.

As far as your supervisor goes, it may be worthwhile finding someone within your department who knows more and asking them for advice.

Obviously this is just one opinion, but I guess that's why you've posted, to get a few other people's opinions.

All in all, whatever you choose, you seem to be enjoying life and that's the most important thing really.:-)(up)

Have you lived away from home before? If not then that is your biggest hurdle. I moved away from home when I was 18 for uni (I'm now 26) and I loved being away. The difference is that I made friends quickly as I was a fresher surrounded by loads of others in the same boat. I've moved city for my PhD (after working in the same place as uni for a few years) and it's much harder (though obviously not impossible) to make good friends.

Assuming you want to do the PhD for good reasons (see one of the other thread on this board about reasons to do a PhD) then it is merely the move of city that will be a problem. I have been treating mine like a job (like many others on the board have) and try to work 9-5 Monday to Friday and will stay late/come in early as necessary. So far I've avoided working on the weekends. In this respect, a PhD is very similar to a job with flexible hours, the main difference being that your work time is pretty much spent on your own.

To sum up:

- It's not "too difficult" to get the right work-life balance, but it is sometimes tricky if you don't manage your time correctly
- Most of your work time is spent working on your own
- So long as you keep up "extra curricular activities"; sport, language class or anything else that lets you meet people, you should make friends, but it is more tricky than when you're in first year of uni.
- Most of this (all apart from the second point) is true for ANY job if you move city.

Sorry for double post.

Just to add, you could probably have one for "general lab activity" and cover all the stupid ones like using scales or using the fridge in one.

It shouldn't take that long and should mainly be a copy and paste exercise after you've done a couple, unless you are using an absurd amount of machinery. Ask the technicians in the lab (if there are any) and you should be able to get hold of old ones that are similar. Even if you can't then it shouldn't take long to whip one up. All you need to do is think of an accident that could happen then give it a likelyhood factor and a risk or injury factor. As long as you get any that are high risk of injury and can show that they're unlikely then I wouldn't worry about having missed a couple of low injury factor ones. The point of the exercise isn't to jump through hoops, but to show that you have considered all the possible risks. You should be able to knock off all thirty in a day, assuming all the tasks are similar, maybe two days if they're not.

They can be a pain, but I'd rather it be a pain a hundred times than one person get seriously injured. Also, I understand that people do it differently in other countries, and these methods may be better (or worse), but they're not how it's done here, so there's no real point trying to fight the risk assessment method.

Try the HSE web site for guidance if you haven't already.

Good luck :-)

Oh yes, also, I hope you're feeling a bit better now Keenbean and that you don't let the B*st*rd get you down.

All the best,

That's fairly awful!

Of course many all medics are people who have done a medicine degree. In general (seeping generalisation alert!!) people on this course seem to be either 1) In it for the money and very self centred or 2) Bullied into doing it by mummy and daddy (both doctors/lawyers) and seem to lack the required social skill to even stand up for themselves. These people then get repeatedly told how great they are as they qualify and also get told that they should never say that they don't know something. All in all it tends to lead to obnoxious t**ts being the consultants.

Of course this is a generalisation and I'm sure there are plenty of people who fit with 3) Went into medicine to help people and don't buy into the whole "we are doctors so we are gods gift" ideal. I reckon they probably mainly become GPs or work in A&E.

P.S. This is all a MASSIVE generalisation that should be taken a bit tongue in cheek. In actual fact it's probably very few that are obnoxious, but it would seem that this is no impediment to advancement within medicine.

Obviously you shouldn't be used as an RA, and if this is what your supervisor is doing then they are in the wrong. I would suggest a couple of things however. Most importantly, speak to your supervisor about it (most problems seem to come down to a lack of communication). They may not realise how time consuming the work they've given you is, they may also think it is relevant to your PhD and/or think that it is a good lead in to the subject that will prepare you for the work you have ahead of you. Of course they may know exactly what they're doing and are getting a cheap RA but I actually doubt they are doing it on purpose.

So have a meeting with your supervisor and ask them:

- How much of my time should this be taking up, as I think I need to spend time on my main PhD topics?
- Is this work relevant to my PhD? If so how?

If it turns out it's not relevant and/or is kept at a level that prevents you doing your PhD work then you're probably best off making a stand now, before it becomes the accepted status quo.

Obviously that's just my view (without any inside knowledge of the problem). More detail would be good, as would the opinions of others on here.

I'm glad that other people are enjoying their PhD and I was fairly confident that was the case.

I should also clear up that I'm not having a go at people who post with problems. Far from it, in fact

So it's obvious that the board is going to have negative stories more than positive. I was just trying to provide a bit of balance, and point out that every job has its ups and downs. Perhaps every job should have a good forum for people hitting problems, like this one?!

In terms of what makes people enjoy their PhD I don't think there will be one massive thing that everyone enjoying has in common, especially because saying "I'm doing a PhD" is about as descriptive as saying "I work at a bank", you get loads of different people doing very different things on a day to day basis, from the cleaner to a bank manager to the MD of a bank and from a student always in the lab to one constantly doing interviews to one that doesn't leave their PC.

Maybe it's still a good question though, what do you enjoy about your PhD?

For me, I like the freedom to be able to get on with something interesting that stretches me academically, rather than the day to day humdrum that constitutes much of a day in a "real" job. I also like the fact that money isn't the bottom line for my work and the feeling that I'm contributing to a field I am in favour of and enjoy working in (renewable energy).

Hi, sorry if I'm telling you something you already know, but just be sure when you set goals for your PhD to follow the SMART system of goal making, there's nothing more counter productive than poorly set goals, they just lead to stress. i.e. make your goals:

Specific - i.e. not "better at getting work done" but "will spend x amount of time working" or "will complete x task"
Measurable - i.e. a defined measure is available to check if you've achieved your goal
Agreed - Agree them with someone if possible, as it stops you from being too lenient on yourself
Realistic - i.e. not "I will complete my Lit review in 2 days" but "I will complete my lit review in [insert a reasonable amount of time].
Time Phased - Make sure you set a date/time to have completed your tasks and try not to move that date unless you have to (remember to add some "slack" for unpredictable events)

The advice everyone else has given looks good (as is usual on here!) good luck and well done on being ahead of schedule!!

Incidently, SMART sometimes is used to stand for any of
S - specific, significant, stretching
M - measurable, meaningful, motivational
A - agreed upon, attainable, achievable, acceptable, action-oriented
R - realistic, relevant, reasonable, rewarding, results-oriented
T - time-based, timely, tangible, trackable

I like the ones I gave above. :-)

Hi everyone,

It's a shame to read a number of threads on the board from people who are feeling very depressed/anxious etc and it's great that people on here are available to offer the support that people need to get through the PhD process.  It can however, give a misleading view of PhD life however to anyone browsing these boards considering doing a PhD (If they are like I was then they don't just read the prospective PhD bit!). I'm currently working as an RA and doing a PhD part time.  I've come up against problems such as being unable to find my supervisor for weeks, being in a large room on my own for hours on end, procrastinating for way to long on things like this board etc...

However, despite the numerous annoyances and frustrations, stress and heart ache that people quite rightly mention, it is still enjoyable. I worked in industry for three years as a mechanical engineer and trust me, EVERY job/vocation has bits that drive you to distraction, and I have found that the annoying things of PhD life are not as bad for me as the annoying things in working life.

In summary - Forum is great for helping out those in a bind, long may it continue to do so, but people do also enjoy the process!

Anyone else fancy lifting the mood and letting people know (especially any people browsing the board as prospective PhDers) that it is not all bad?

I have a copy if you need it. Just PM me your email and I'll send it along.