My supervisor has told me, that it is not her problem to motivate me. At the moment I'm spending too much time on the microscope and the project is going a little bit pearshaped. I am motivated, but every now and then I just get a bit down about an unclear result. It's my PhD, my life and my project, but a bit of encouragement from my supervisor isn't too much asked?? Any opinions out there?

Yeah I do agree that your supervisor should at least do her bit and be there to help you out. You should be able to talk to her! It's not going to kill her and doesn't make for a very good working relationship. Is she good generally?

Although it is fair enough of her to say that it isn't her job to motivate you. Support and encouragement, yes, but you should be self-motivated. As for your experimental results, if you can't derive anything at all from 'bad' results then something is astray.

I agree with Karen. A PhD is more of a 'journey' then just a plain thesis. Relationships with the supervisor is all part of it. You are not studying a PhD for your supervisor, so why would she spending time just on motivating you? It's up to you to kept interested in your research all time.

I think it is a two-way thing - you equally have to enthuse and motivate your supervisor about your project. She should be there for you to talk to though but dont worry about it - the working relationship with my supervisors change every week! sometimes theyre are great sometimes i feel they couldn't care less.. remember you are just a small part of their job and look for help with motivation elsewhere too from colleagues or other staff.

I agree with most of these comments. My supervisor is hardly around, and the postdoc I work with doesn't get on with me. (I was told from the start that we wouldn't get on as we are two completely different people.) So, I looked elsewhere for encouragement and have managed to make good friends with another postdoc (who is only a year older than me) and is actually proving to be more useful.