hi

thanks for the reply to my earlier thread on payment for teaching. Can i now ask is there is a norm for the amount of weeks holiday per year?

regards

f

It should be stipulated in either your uni PhD regulations or the info from the funding body. Or both.

hi

Only found out on Friday i had been successful so haven't received any info yet! i was hoping to get a feel for what was normal but it get the feeling the answer will be 'there is no normal!'.

thanks for the reply

f

If you will be funded by a named funding council the information would often be available on their website, perhaps in a downloadable annual guide for award holders. Or you could ask the council what their regulations are.

hi

i'm being funded directly by the university.  I didn't want to phone up say, 'what's the pay rate' and 'how many holidays am i getting!' one day after there offer , just curious as to what everyone here takes,

regards

f

What you are entitled to and what you take could be very different amounts of time! I'm funded by the AHRC and the allowance is 8 weeks a year. However, in the two years I have been studying I have taken one week of proper holiday - ie going away abroad. I've had days off here and there but there is no way I could have taken the full 8 weeks every year without getting really behind on my work.

That depends on your workload I think as if you have loads to do holidays are a luxury! Especially if it involves labwork (depends on the type you do!) but generally takes ages! I think most places allow upto a month and sometimes 2 months with supervisor's permission but then it depends on fast you want to get it done! I found that there are not enough hours in the day! You have to play it by ear! Sorry couldn't be of more help!

hi, i'm funded by the BBSRC and we are also entitled to 8 weeks a year. i'm just over 7 months into my project, and so far i think i've taken about three weeks (2 weeks over xmas + 5 or 6 odd days here and there for illness/appointments etc). however i can't see that in future i will be able to take an entire 8 weeks a year, there just doesn't seem to be enough time to achieve everything! i think i will prob end up taking only 3 or 4 weeks a year, and even then i bet it won't be real holiday time as i'm bound to end up doing some reading/writing during my time off!

I don't really know what our regulations are (I'm ESRC funded), but just tend to play it by ear - make sure I get away a bit but base holidays on how much work there is to be done. I seemed to have slipped into taking a few extra days off at Christmas, Easter etc rather than going on 'proper' holidays. It might be a good idea for you to write all thes types of questions down and raise them at your first supervision meeting; some of my friends here are expected to tell their supervisors when they are going on holiday and how long they'll be gone. Mine couldn't care less. But it is always a good thing to get this sort of stuff ironed out at the start.

I'm funded by the University and I was told they "think it's about 6-8 weeks" (btw - I'm in my second year and they still haven't been able to confirm this!)

I disagree that holidays are a luxury. I would argue, if you are the type who enjoys and regularly takes holidays (as I am), that they are essential. I have taken at least a month off each year to go away. As long as you are on top of your work it's fine. I could not however cope if I had taken 8 weeks off. The most important thing is finishing your PhD.

A

My sup is like many fairly laissez-faire. Holidays are negotiated when I have things going on - moving house, visiting family, physically going away. It is simply a case of 'this chapter will take an extra week as I'm busy week X', as long as I don't take a huge block of hols, no-one seems to mind! Although I totally understand how lab-based projects are completely different.
Obviously when teaching you cannot go away during teaching/assessment periods but I'm sure someone will tell you about which deadlines are fixed and cannot accommodate breaks etc.

I'm funded by the university. I don't know what the holiday policy is and we've never discussed it. I take holiday when I want and don't inform my supervisor as I rarely see him. It's entirely up to me to manage my time. I'm not sure how much hiliday I take - probably about 4-6 weeks/year.

I'm funded by the ESRC and the guidelines state 8 weeks, although I believe that nobody takes that much. I'm 5 months in and have had just over 2 weeks so far, a week and a half for christmas and 4-5 odd days (a couple for illness and the rest for haircuts, shopping etc, hehe).

My department are very relaxed and we are left to manage our own time. I plan to take a week to ten days to go abroad over the summer and was even told that it may be possible to have my end of year panel a little earlier if I want to get it out of the way before I go away.

I know I won't end up taking the full 8 weeks though, I reckon it'll be more like 5-6.