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another supervisor from hell
S

A few thoughts:

What is your goal in terms of having her as a supervisor, notwithstanding her expertise? Is the experience fulfilling this goal?
I agree with the poster who suggested talking to your Postgrad prog rep just to see what they think.
Do you need her permission to go to a conference? There are some cheaper postgrad ones you could go to.
Do you need her help to publish?
Can you do undergrad teaching somewhere else- say on a part time evening programme at another uni? I did this and it really helped, not only in terms of academic thinking and teaching experience, but in terms of seeing and experiencing another institution and department.
Moaning is healthy; we all need a good moan. I had one only this morning, and then I had some chocolate.


How well is your PhD going - A definitive Enquiry
S

If I answered this a week ago it would have been a smug 'extremely well'. Now it's more like a 'so so'.

I am in my 4th year of a part time PhD and had a supervision yesterday to discuss my penultimate draft. I thought I would be able to tweak a few things and then submit by Christmas, but...I now have a lot more to do. I need to stream theory I used towards the end back through the beginning; add some primary literature (I got caught up in theory and neglected the specialist bits); rewrite the introduction... I am very disappointed, because all this time they have been saying it's great; they love my writing; I had four publications, etc etc... really it was the first 'challenging' supervision in three and a bit years. I almost cried in the meeting! How embarrassing.

Trouble is because I thought it would be over, I applied for an early career research award and now have two other research projects on the go alongside the PhD. Plus lecturing, running a programme, and being a single mum, oh and maybe a social life...? I still enjoy the subject. I love writing and reading. I just need to readjust my expectations. The silly thing is, I would have finished very early. Now I may just finish early.

And breathe.