Great! Thank you all for your help! and what do you think about contacting supervisors within the same department but in different research groups? I noticed they are in very close contact with each other as they have joint publications in their history. Shall I tell one that I'm also in contact with another one? Would not it come across as mass-contacting?

Hi All,

I spent two years in industry after finishing my masters and I would like to do a phd starting next year. I have identified several potential supervisors at different universities and research groups. I am going to meet one supervisor this week to discuss a possible research proposal.

The area and the universities are extremely competitive.

My question is: Can I contact multiple supervisors from different universities at the same time and discuss possible research topics with them? I feel very uncomfortable doing that so I have only contacted one supervisor so far and want to see how the meeting will go. But even if it goes well it wont guarantee getting accepted and funded.

Is it ok to have discussions with several supervisors at the same time? What is your opinion?

Thanks in advance for your help,

Peter