Please reach out to your university counselling service. They will listen to you and provide you with a document to request extenuating circumstances. Go see your doctor as well and get a sick note for 2-3 weeks due to anxiety/depression. Not being able to read and process a line is a sign of a mental breakdown. Get proof and the challenge the university for not giving you time off. Also involve the students union or official authorities if need be.

Hi,

I've been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and it's given me a tough time. I don't know if I can cope with the PhD and the constant fear and worries. I have sought help and seen the university's counsellor, I also informed my programme leader. He offered me to take an interruption but I continued as I was getting better on meds. I have not informed my supervisor. I just can't get talk to her about it and feel like I'm letting her down.

I want to quit but one of my biggest fears is that I'll need to repay my bursary. The bursary conditions say that the uni reserves the right to ask back payment. I'm in my 3rd year, have two children and given up a good job for the PhD, I don't have any means to pay back the bursary as I spent most for childcare anyway. I feel trapped and like the only reason I'm still in the program is because of the fear of debt I have to pay back.

Can someone please advice if my university can enforce a repayment if I quit because of my mental health?

Thanks

Hi all, has anyone got access to this article

The Integration of Psychological and Network Perspectives in Organizational Scholarship
T Casciaro, SG Barsade, AC Edmondson… - Organization Science, 2015 - pubsonline.informs.org

Thank you for your experience! What motivated you six years ago to leave Academia if I may ask?

Anyone else wanting to share their experience?

Hi all,

is anyone considering not continuing research after their PhD but moving onto the management side of the university? I have worked in communications and management before commencing on the PhD and now with a family to feed I am seriously considering whether moving into a more stable job after the PhD isn't a better choice for me and my family. I've always enjoyed working with students more than the actual research, so am thinking something in international marketing or student advisory would suit me. I like having a structured day and certainty - all of which my current research is not giving me. I love working at a university, the environment, the international vibe, the desire to learn (which I could given most uni offer their staff fee free studies)! The pay (at least here in the UK) seems to be decent and most unis (at least for staff) are family friendly. I also have developed some degree of anxiety since the PhD - I don't think I want to live with this continuous level of anxiousness on whether what I'm doing is good enough, will my paper get accepted etc. for the rest of my life. But then I also wonder if I should give it all up (i.e. all the hard work to do a PhD and then not working on the Academic side)...

Is anyone working on the admin/management side at their university? What do you do and are you happy not continuing the Academic route? Was it difficult to get a job and justify why you don't want to continue as an Academic? Was it taken negatively by your university? Do you think you could always go back to teaching etc or is it a career dead end...?

Thanks,
Ann

Dr Jeckyll, thank your for your post. What was the basis of your standardisation? Where did you get the original characteristics from?

Hi all,

I hope someone can give me some insight on the following issue:

For my survey I need to generate some categorical data that participants just need to tick off. These are not massively important for my research but function as descriptive statistics or possibly moderators should I find them to be influential on my main constructs and their relationship.

Initially I wanted to carry out a big qualitative research study to generate those items/categories including its own research design. That would have made my study a mixed method study and obviously would involve a whole lot of approval and work. However, I don't think that this is neccessary only to get a few items and it will not stand equal to my actual quantitative study.

hence, I stumbled upon a paper that carried out a pre-test to generate items. It wasn't mentioned in a big fashion, just the facts were stated. So my question is: Do I need to develop a whole separate research design for a pre-test? Has anyone good examples or some literature that would help me clarify what a pre-test consists off and how I can place it as part of my bigger study.

Just wanted to mention that with pre-test I don't mean a pilot study. It would actually entail its own set of questions but on a smaller scale than my large survet that will follow.

Many thanks,
Ann

Thank you kikothedog, just sent you my email address via pm!

Anyone can help please?

Here it is:

Hi,

has anyone got access to:

"An integrative model for knowledge transfer between new product development project teams"

Alejandro Germán Frank and José Luis Duarte Ribeiro

Knowledge Management Research & Practice 12, 215-225 (May 2014) | doi:10.1057/kmrp.2012.57

Thank you!

Ann

Hi, first of all you shouldn't feel guilty over your depression. It's an illness and you are receiving treatment and hopefully it'll pass.

I think before you decide to suspend or continue you should aim to understand the reasons for your depression. Do you think the depression has been caused by anything PhD related? If that is the case it wouldn't be a bad idea to take a break, but if you feel that the PhD is actually giving you an escape from your depression don't suspend. However, working from 8am-2am 7 days a week is not healthy. Medication is one way to make the symptoms of depression pass... getting counselling, doing CBT, looking after your body and mind (exercise, Yoga, meditation, mindfulness,...) is the next step to work on the root of the problem. Could you consider going part-time for some time which would allow you more time for yourself while stilling being involved with your uni?

... most important thing is to accept that things won't go according to plan or that family life/ work life is always "perfect". If you can do that or are willing to embrace the chaos then by all means go for it!

However, do consider to create a strong support network around you: Have you got affordable childcare? Can you afford childcare at all? Have you got family around you? Have you got friends with children (not the kind of friends who will tell you everything is "easy and perfect", more the honest kind of friends that you can talk to when things get tough)? Does you partner help in the house (I am all for equality between men and women but 'mums' do end up doing the chunk of work baby related so it would be great if your hubby is hands on).

Hope this helps x

Hi Annabelle, you may have seen my earlier post on how to cope with a PhD and baby. I think there are two sides you need to take into account here: The career perspective and the actual managing the PhD perspective.

Career perspective: I think having a baby right in the middle of a PhD is the best time (I am in my second year). I have done enough good work to have built good credibility with my supervisors and enjoyed all the flexibility of time to do teaching and get involved in lots of work etc. The PhD topic has been finalised and the lit review is taking shape so after coming back from mat leave you've got something to work with. After my PhD I doubt that anyone will question why it has taken me one year longer, i.e. you don't have to explain it was ML. Everyone understands a PhD can take longer than 3 years.

Managing the PhD perspective: OMG...I had no idea what torture it could be to not sleep for months :p Pregnancy/baby brain is still full on, but it is getting better. You have to be super disciplined and go to bed early to "sleep when the baby sleeps" cause otherwise you might end up going to bed at 11pm/12am just to find that baby decided to have enough sleep after 3am and wants to eat/play/poop/... I've come to the realisation that I wouldn't be able to meet the same expectations like before. I've got a baby now, all I can do is give it my best shot. You will find that people without kids don't understand what it means to have a baby (although most people think they do and tbh I was just like that before I had a baby). A child really turns your world upsidedown, but for nothing in this world would I change my little baby! Being a parent is the most rewarding thing you can do.

Hi,

I had a baby a few months back and am now back into my research but really struggling. Has anyone got ideas on how to get the focus back and what helped them to pull through?

Thanks,
Ann