Have you considered widening the geographical area or going for studio instead? Anything to increase your options really...

I wonder if there's a dearth of properties due to the pandemic and people moving less... :/

That's unfortunate. Could you try contacting them until you get a satisfactory response?

I've never heard of this actually. Does the course say it is required for admissions?

If you want to stay in academia then you could apply for linguistics teaching roles or postdocs. You could also apply for psychology roles, if there is overlap with your area of linguistics. And speech and language science too - such as roles in speech andanguage therapy / communication departments.

It's different for everyone, you know because if someone (like me) who desperately had wanted to do a PhD for years was offered funding, it'd be a no brainer... take the opportunity! But if you aren't that desperate about doing one, I'd say why bother... unless you can't find a job and so it is an opportunity to keep you occupied and learning and (possibly) help your job prospects later... And the opportunity would probably come around again if you wanted to do one later...

It really just depends on what you think you want right now.

Is it really self doubt you are feeling (ie. lack of confidence in your abilities) or just uncertainty about what you want?

I don't think it's a terrible idea to start when you aren't 100% sure. You'll find out whether you like it or not as you go on :)

Also have you tried things like Gumtree and spareroom.com and also the university's own online database? There's bound to be some that are a little more flexible, especially if you call them and they like the sound of you.

You can only ask... ask the ones that say 1 year only if they'll be willing to consider 6 months. And ask the ones that only accept professionals if they'll be willing to have a PhD researcher (and say you can provide evidence of income - ie your stipend if you have one). Some will say no but some might say yes - especially given the uncertain times we are in.

OK, I thought that might be the case. You can ask him for his feedback and if he would like to be a coauthor. Or you could ask him for his feedback and when you submit ask if he is happy to be in the acknowledgements section. If you want his input and ckathorship, ho ahead and ask. The worst that could happen is that he says no. :) good luck

Hey there,

It's very normal. I think they call it second year blues or something.

It sounds like you're doing enough work. At that stage I didn't have an accepted publication from my PhD and hadn't written much apart from the first year continuation report and a draft paper for the first study (of my three planned studies).

Is your progress in line with your planned timetable for the 3 - 4 years?

Will there be more work you can do soon, or is there something else you can get involved in? Sometimes when things are a bit slow and boring it can be motivating to get really busy - it kind of gets you going I find (and then you usually regret taking so much on!).

Maybe take a break and come back more motivated?

I always find it really hard to set things up before I am properly into something and know what my workload is like. I guess for now you could make a timetable for doing some reading? I know some people who tried to just stick to a 9 to 5 during their PhD. So that could be a good guide (although during busy times you would probably go way beyond that - and during quiet times you might do way under that!). Sounds exciting anyway - hope you have a good start :) Just out of curiosity, will there be in person things to attend or is it all online still due to the pandemic situ?

Yeh, try and get your supervisors on board - ask for suggestions about who you could contact. If it is going to be a big part of your project then you might even want to consider inviting another supervisor on board - or perhaps even switching so that they are your main supervisor. Try and talk about stuff with your current supervisors so you know they are on board with anything you do first.

Hi!
It'd be totally fine to say to her what you've said here :

So, some supervisors have a project idea that they want a student to do. Some students come up with their own. If you would prefer the former then it might be a good idea to ask around the department and find a supervisor like this. The one you've already spoken with could potentially be a cosupervisor. Or, if you are OK with the former, then it'll be a case of you coming up with an idea and discussing that with her. She should be able to give you some guidance on reading and developing your idea. But yeh, you need to establish what specific things you might be interested in doing, read up a little more on them, and see what things might be interesting and novel to address.

Re the grants part. That's a separate issue really. And I remember how confusing that was at the time. Basically yes if you do this, you need to check out what she's sent you and apply for funding. If you do the other thing I suggested above, where the supervisor has a project and is looking for a student, they often have already identified the grant or award, and they put you and the project forward for the funding (so it is supervisor led rather than student led - you still attend the interviews etc but you apply to the supervisor in the first instance and then you go from there together). Not sure if I've explained this well but hope it helps.

Yep it's allowed. I've seen it in textbooks too I think.

To me it is a no brainer that a high IF paper is worth something. At any uni, US or UK or elsewhere. But it isn't everything. Not at all. Just read what pm133 says on the matter!

By the way, I think a first authored paper of any impact factor will carry more weight than a high IF one where you are somewhere in a list of authors. So I'd be focusing on trying to get a first authored paper.

OK so you can ask to speak with them about it and ask what you can do to make it worth a PhD. If they are not willing to support you to do that then you can appeal once it is a formal decision.

If you don't agree and feel that there were issues and you can make a good argument, then appealing might work. But on the other hand, even if the appeal were successful, it might not be a very good situation to be in (to have supervisors who you know don't actually support you or believe in you).

I think I would want to remove myself from the situation as quickly as possible by completing the MPhil and having that award under my belt. There are people who have done an MPhil in one place and then gone on to do a PhD somewhere else. You can still pursue a new PhD after having got an MPhil, so it isn't the end of the world in that sense (although I am sure it feels like it is now). I hope this helps.