Hi there,
Please can somebody settle an arguement that i've been having with my friend. She says that as a new PhD student starting in a few months time, i won't be completing research over the summer as uni will be closed.
I however, thought that the i would be in uni over the summer when the undergraduates are on holiday.
Can anybody help me on this?
Thanx :-)

Awww, bless! Your friend is conpletely wrong. Having a PhD is the same as having a job. Universities are indeed open all summer. My PostDoc boyfriend will back me up here. We're entitled to holidays, but err, not 3 or 4 months!

Thanx Bobby,
I didn't want to ask my new supervisor because i didn't want her to think that i'm totally dumb! My friend was convinced that a PhD was the same as undergraduate study and had set term dates and time off over summer. I just presumed like you said, that it was in a way, like my full-time job at the moment.
Thank you! Really appreciate that!

how i wish she was right and we did get that long off... sadly not!

Depending on your subject and who funds you, it can be as rigid as a full time job - i.e. some Research Councils only allow you 24 days holiday per year etc. I know some people working in labs who have to book their holidays off and be in the lab by 9am every day, and some people who just seem to disappear for weeks on end...

It seems frankly ridiculous that some PhD students have to be in at a certain time each day. Some people work best at night, and tend not to do as much in the morning, while some are the opposite. I think that if people are made to do something as ridigly as that, they tend to be less willing to do things in their spare time.

i have to be in before 10 and stay till 4 ' core hours' technically we work flexi time but when it comes to taking the time off accumulated apparently there is no rule here to say they have to honour it for students. im 'allowed' 8 weeks holiday... would my boss let me take 8 weeks..er no!

Yes, in the people I know it doesn't exactly inspire a good work ethic because they spend most of their time moaning about it!

I think that, with the majority of people, and I assume that PhD students are included in this, having completed a degree successfully, giving someone freedom pays off when they give their own time for something. Impose silly restrictions, and they'll become resentful and not contribute anything above the bare minimum.

We have basic hours of about 10-5pm, you don't have to be there, but I think its just to help give us some structure. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter when you do your hours, but I don't think you're going to get much done if you're not putting in an average of about 40 hours a week! Or that's how it seems to me!

I wouldn't worry too much about that - most probably the library and other campus resources will be open all over the summer although with restricted hours. If not, it is still likely that as a PhD student you have access through a card, pin code or something like that. So yes I guess that it is possible to continue research over the summer - at least if you are in a non-lab subject, don't know if PhD students get access to their labs during the holidays.

Our uni is open almost all year around, there's a brief period over christmas and new year where it's shut for a week to 10 days or so. Some facilities such as the library operate shorter hours in the summer but that still covers most of the daytime