I like my supervisors, they are really nice people but I don't rate them that highly as supervisors. I do believe I'd have enjoyed the PhD experience more without having to wait on them, do their topic and I don't really think I've learned anything from them. Actually, I think had I been allowed to study my own interests but without supervisors I'd have learned more and possibly even be finished by now.

Hey Delta. Well my second sup doesn't really have much involvement with my PhD, but my primary sup has been both a massive help and a hindrance to my project. She is great in the way that she is so efficient, always giving me feedback on my work within a few days, encouraging me to publish my PhD as I went along and providing useful comments on several drafts before submission, and helping me out financially so that I could present at really big conferences. At the same time she can also be so rude, nasty, impatient and insensitive that at the moment I do not feel very tempted to consider working with her post-PhD (although we do have an application for funding already submitted). I think it would be naive of me to think that I could have produced a PhD of the same quality without her support and guidance (but I'm not saying this is the same for everyone!), yet she has also been the source of many tears and a lot of stress especially over the last 6 months or so. So very mixed feelings on that one! KB

Wow, it took me 18 months to get my first feedback and that wasn't comprehensive feedback, in my opinion. However, to be fair, my supervisors are always nice which I do like.

I was largely in charge of my part-time history PhD. I defined the research topic myself, applied for funding myself, decided what sources and questions I would explore, and decided on the structure of my thesis. I even decided on all the deadlines to get me to completion.

But, and this is a big but, I don't think I could have completed without my supervisors' help and feedback. They gave me extremely helpful suggestions on improving my writing near the end, and how to tease out more issues and make it a better piece of work.

That's fantastic - I really do find you very inspiring. I set my own deadlines and meet them, I determined the structure of the thesis, was automatically awarded the funding with the place but it was essentially a set project and I feel my supervisors had a clear idea of what they wanted but I've not needed my hand holding and have been mostly independent.

I like my supervisors a lot but I don't find them inspiring and I don't think they've had a big role in shaping me as a researcher. I would actually say I found one of my previous employers very inspiring and I learned much more about research from them and partly because they just let me get on with it.

Dear Delta,

I am about to start a PhD this September so can't comment too much. However, I have had a chance to meet my supervisor during the interview and he has also rung me up for a chat during the application process. All I can say is that I am really looking forward to working with him over the next few years. His research interests are closely related to mine and he seems really enthusiastic about my research project; so I think he will be a great source of inspiration and encouragement throughout my PhD!

Best
Si,