In part, I think this depends on your relationship with your family and the condition of your mum?

If you take a temporary withdrawal, what will you do?

If my mother didn't need much care at the moment, I would tempted to carry on at present, but work quite flexibly so I could take regular trips to see her- e.g. long weekends Friday to Monday. There will be many other people wanting to spend time with her so need to be careful about over-burdening her. It is the quality, not quantity, of time that matters.

Depending on your funding, your relationship with your university may be akin to an employer-employee in which case you need to understand the relevant HR policies re: unpaid leave etc.

There is a lot of unpleasantness on this thread- the OP has asked for general advice. They have been quite upfront about the fact that they made an error.

There is a huge difference between poor academic practice and a deliberate intent to cheat (e.g. buying essays on the internet). I do not know where this lies, but the fact that the OP remains in the programme suggests it wasn't a deliberate intent to cheat. As for the fraud issue, no such accusation seems to have been made against the OP.

There is also a huge difference in the way that depression affects people- some people live with it relatively well, some commit suicide, others do stupid things. It is ridiculous to say that just because depression didn't affect me in x way, then it would not have that effect in anyone.
If this is an allowable point in mitigation then it is right that the OP refers to it.

At the university where I work, the most common decisions are a reduction in marks or a requirement to re-submit for a capped mark. I am confused by how a score of 0 can be given without an opportunity to re-submit as if they don't meet the requirements for the module, they will not attain enough points for the award.

Universities will typically have press offices who co-ordinate this type of thing.

If your research is 'sexy' enough they will do a press release which may or may not create media interest. At other time, journal publications or conference presentations will create interest.
Other times, stuff goes 'viral ' on social media (e.g. CERN guy with comments on women).

I would write something generic about your three audiences: public, policy makers, other researchers.
You could say that will liaise with press office.

Not many that publish muniscripts!

Lots that publish manuscripts, but unlikely to be open access.
Impossible to advise without knowing discipline and quality of journal you are aiming for.

Given the question was posed 8 years ago, suspect the OP has made their decision by now!

I am not sure I understand the point of either of these study designs.

The example by tudor_queen sounds like something between a glorified before-after study and a rather pathetic interrupted time series.

The example by abababa sounds like an extremely poor/ basic stepped wedge design.


Both approaches seem to have extremely significant limitations!!

You don't have to change the world- just make an original contribution to knowledge. You can be very niche.

For example, if you are interested in Charles Dickens, you could do a PhD about his moustache length.