I just got back to uni today, and have basically done nothing over the holidays. I have tonnes to do as it is, and my supervisor has emailed me wanting to meet up and has more things for me to do. As I haven't even made a dent in the stuff she wanted me to read from last time, I'm tempted to just ignore the email until I can catch up a bit - is this really dumb?

i have to admit. i've done that once or twice ;)

Unless your supervisor receives a delivery notice when you read the email, jsut pretend there's a server error, computer failure, RSI from too much typing, etc.

You could reply to the email and say you're ill, use that time to catch up and then she can't accuse you of ignoring her!

Sorry if this sounds harsh but you wouldn't like it if your supervisor ignored your e-mail. I totally understand being underpressure but it's not very professional to ignore a request to meet from someone who is essentially your boss. I would advise that you arrange to meet your supervisor so that you can explain any difficulties/time pressures and perhaps get some very useful advice. Good luck

I think the best thing to do is the pretend your sick and give yourself a couple of days to catch up. Or cant you set a date to meet up in about a week, when you'll have done some work?