had my first meeting with the prof of our group this week. is it just me or do they expect you to know stuff!? know thats a bit of a stupid question but im only getting familiar with my topic of research and hes expecting me to have all the experiments i need to to in the next year planned, written up and the materials i need ordered. thing is no1 else in my group is having to do this because their phd's are based on topics that have been running for years while mine is a new topic and needs a load of new methods to start it up?! im spending a LOT of money and afraid of mucking it all up...also not being able to answer all his questions as he doesnt know my area of research very well....think im jst rambling now!haha

Hey. I know the feeling. I found my first meetings with supervisors quite scary. I'm now a year on in my PhD and my new supervisor has told me to go away and read other literature. Now I feel like the work I have done so far is a waste. But I try to stay positive. Plus, sometimes I think having a supervisor who is more structured, with high expectations, means that they keep you on the right track.

same here Soda... also in my second year. hopefully this new supervisor will be more structured..

Hi there. I know how daunting it can be when designing your first experiments, but the best thing to do is to formulate a hypothesis and methods, (methods at this point can be vague). Then when you have a meeting with your prof, speak to him/her about your initial ideas and methods. At this point raise the fact that you are not too sure about the complete materials you need and you would like to work through it together or with a post-doc.

Thats great guys...at least i know im not alone...have my second meeting tomorrow and ive just made a list of the main elements of my experimental designs and the companies i can use to get them...hope itll all be ok!haha