======= Date Modified 31 Jul 2012 21:24:47 =======
Hi, I recently found out that somebody at a different university is doing a PhD on a topic related to mine and am worried about originality in my work as there is potentially some overlap.

My supervisor suggests contacting the other student to find out exactly what they’re up to and perhaps being able to help each other and work around each other's topics. On the other hand I am thinking it might be best to just work independently.

I'd really appreciate any thoughts on what would be the best thing to do. Thanks :)

if you know the topics are close, then I would contact them. There is always the possibility that someone will happen on the same topic, but you are quite lucky really that this has happened before you are well on the way with your research. If you find out what they are doing then you can make sure that you are either looking at something different, or can start with the knowledge that you need to make your work show some differences. The real nightmare is if you hadn't known about this and you come across it when you are just finishing writing up, that would be a real problem.You never know there might even be a chance of producing some papers together :-)

This happened to me. I did approach the student but told her too much. She is now researching the exact same title I was doing with a similar approach. She also refuses to communicate with me and never mentioned me to her supervisior. Whilst I ceased my PHD, not for that reason, I am still continuing with related work.Otherwise I would have gone to my supervisor. Best advice is to log your work with a solicitor .It is a shame people will not work together or trust one another. I will help anybody. Even when my ideas have been taken, I have offered them my key references. I would still actually have been prepared to assist this person and would never take anybody's ideas or refs- there is no satisfation in that; I have enough of my own.

Thanks for everyone's insights into this! Having given it some thought and especially after reading about your nightmare experience (poor you!) @Tim, I've decided not to contact the other student for now just incase it doesn't turn out as wondefully as I might like it to - perhaps a bit of overlap isn't that bad, it's not as if the topics are exactly the same. Thanks again :-)

Try copyright registration; not too expensive. There are companies online. Essential for all PHD work and publications. Thanks.