Hi, Just registered for PhD programme in epidimiology.Any tips on how to work with supervisor and devloping of thesis.

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Question 1: Thats really hard to answer because supervisors vary greatly and PhD students vary greatly, so how they interact will be difficult to predict. It also depends on the project. General rules, to begin with briefly discuss what they expect from you and what you expect from them. You need to find a balance between expressing your opinion and listening to your supervisors opinion. Despite officially being called your "supervisor' their opinion is not paramount. You need to have confidence in yourself and your opinions (self-confidence can be difficult to maintain during a PhD) However, you also need to recognise their expertise and to take advice from them accordingly. This will vary greatly depending on the project itself. Often supervisors choose PhD projects which expend on their field of expertise, and hence explore ground that is unfamiliar to them. In which case, you should try to look to them as a peer rather than a supervisor.

Question 2: I would suggest write as much as you can as you go along, and start writing early! Writing a thesis takes so much longer than you imagine! Editing stuff that is already down on paper is easier than writing it all in one go, so the sooner you do that the better (i didnt do this, but really wish I had!).
Record all your results, save all figures as these may end up in your thesis, even if they seem rubbish or irrelevant at the time. Respond to feedback from your supervisors. Thesis writing is something they WILL have more expertise than you! Even if there is dispute about the content, how the thesis is layed out and the style of the writing is very different to written stuff at Masters or undergraduate level. A common piece of advice is to plan your thesis from an early stage (I imagine most unis will makes this a required milestone for Phd progression) . While this works for some people, it didnt work for me because the nature of my research changed so often. The thesis I submitted was virtually unrecognisable from the thesis that was originally planned. I found plans i had spent valuable time preparing were made redundant a few weeks later.

Hope this helps

Thanks, will try to follow your advise. I dont want to be discouraged with what i might meet but rather accept challenge especially if i become aware of some common challenges PhD students encounter. Thanks again

Have a quick glance at my blog I wrote now ages ago (PhD is a distant memory for me). Whilst I did an engineering related subject, the blog should give you a few pointer.

http://www.wearthesis.talktalk.net

For a smile have a look at the 'PhD Game', which is an update of one on the Cambridge Uni. website at http://www.wearthesis.talktalk.net/phdgame.pdf (the lad who did the Cambridge one is aware of this one too).


Ian (Mackem_Beefy)