Overview of rewt

No. I only had introduction, aims and methods.

I am sorry no one else has answered this. I applied for a fully funded role in engineering, so what I say might be wrong.

Getting the funding is the harder than getting accepted for a PhD. The PhD application will probably be a formality, ie do you meet the entry requirements and have a realistic research project? Having people interested in being your supervisor is a good sign and they can guide you if there is an interview.

Your university might have some information on what they expect a critical review to include. I would have a quick search as some universities expect different things.

Otherwise, a critical review should critique the logic, methods and findings of a piece of work. Ie is their methodology slightly flawed which might skew results or did they ignore important concepts/literature to find the answer they want. You could probably critique each section individually and in depth, to complete part one. Then part 2 is making connections between your comments on different sections, to give an overall summary.

Hope that helps

Congrats on minor corrections! It must such a relief.

I wouldn't worry. Justify your original reasons for using sulphuric acid and then say why you choose not to investigate other acids. I think you just need to acknowledge that he might be right but that his is also missing the point.

Take a break! Take a few days off to relax and de-stress. You will come back with a better perspective and your quality of work will improve. Burnout is a real thing and you should learn to recognize if you have it.

I haven't changed university or supervisor so I might not be the best person to answer this. However have you considered who you want as a supervisor at another university. You might be able to swap university but it sounds like you primarily need a better supervisor which you will not automatically get at a new university. I would consider what you need from your supervisor and start talking with other academics inside and outside your university.

I would give it a month before emailing him again and apply elsewhere while waiting. He probably doesn't have the funding yet and it is nearly a year away, so he won't want way to say anything now. It sounds like you have made a good impression and you have a good chance but be patient. There is nothing wrong applying for Master's or PhD elsewhere while you wait if you want more security.

Congratulations on finally passing. Your story made me feel that getting resubmission at the viva is not the end of the road. Your advice is very helpful and wish you all the best!

I think there is also the problem that UK universities are poorly regulated. There is a grade inflation problem where universities are encouraged to accept and pass as many students as possible. If there was a potential visa attached to your university degree universities would have to be regulated to a higher degree. The universities will never agree to more regulation and so national governments will never give PhD students an automatic to citizenship.

Depends on the details of the funding. The money should be spent on your research but usually the the money is at your supervisor's discretion with minimal way to appeal. As eng77 said, talk with your government about the details and can you change supervisor.

I completely understand your how feeling. I use BioRad Aminex columns for sugars/organic acids quantification which are about 2K each. The bed can easily collapse if cooled too fast especially if left to dry and guess what I have broken 2! I left the first one to cool overnight with a small flowrate and there was a power cut on that floor!!! Next time is used the column I saw the typical signs of bed collapse and I lost one month of my PhD gone waiting for the replacement to get approved!

The second time I collapsed the column bed all by myself. I was trying to rush some experiments and thought I could cool the column faster than the manufacturer recommended. Nope, that way doesn't work. Then I made it worse the next time I used it, when I turned up the flowrate too fast during start up and saw the pressure spike to over 120 bar (normally 40 bar). That was another 2K down the drain as the column went from slightly broken to full blown dead.

I have also broken a microwave reactor by not reading the instructions, dropped 2 glass desiccators (I now have a plastic one), broke a water bath (still don't know how) and broke a 1K piece of glassware while cleaning it.

Each time I felt gutted and that I shouldn't be there. Though breaking things is part of a PhD. One of the technicians told me I wouldn't be working hard enough if I didn't break things. You learn from your mistakes it is okay because a PhD is supposed to be a place for you to learn and from your mistakes. Everyone has set backs during their PhD and no-one's PhD ever goes to plan. I think the trick is to always look forward and not what could have been.

I completely agree with this. Even though I am one of the lucky few with dual British/EU citizenship I can see this problem. It is stupid that you can come to a country, get a PhD, become a specialist in a field and integrate into society to be told to go home. I wish there was some automatic mechanism for postgraduate students to get a permanent visa and pathway to citizenship. However if that was the case the universities would have to tighten up international student requirements. Unfortunately the UK appears to becoming one the worst offenders with tight immigration and I don't see it changing any time soon.

I have been to a couple of other labs in the UK for short periods. I have always went to do a specific test or experiment but I enjoyed every visit. I got to learn new methods and experience different working environments/styles. I had a purpose to be there and that purpose forced me to interact with other students. You are associating each lab with a supervisor but a lab is really a place to do work and if you don't do much work you aren't getting the maximum benefits. Though if you don't enjoy the work, you can still learn from the experience. What I am trying to say, find the positive parts of the visits otherwise you will be bogged down in the sheer futility of the whole PhD thing.

Can't you do something you enjoy? Forget the supervisor, the lab environment or even the university and think what field/subject/topic you want to spend several years working on. I think if you enjoy the project everything else becomes bearable.

Sorry for the delay as I had to look through your old posts and I suggest other people to do so as well.

I think you should take the job and worry about him later. Getting a lecturer is hard enough, so don't let him harm you any more by jeopardising your career. Regardless of anything else, accept the job.

On what to do with your former supervisor, I think you should get something in writing so if he ever does anything again it will easier for his next victim to complain. It is sad I am saying this but it usually takes multiple allegations to stop someone and you shouldn't let this be brushed under the carpet. You can pursue it further if you want or help the next victim.

I also don't know how big your department is but avoiding him in the long term might be awkward. You could talk with a counsellor about him and how to eventually normalise your relationship with your former supervisor. I am not saying be friends with him or forgive him but learn be cordial back. As there are plenty lecturers in my university that do not get a long and avoid working together. You kinda work out who doesn't like who and plan around it, I don't know even know why half dislodge each other. There are literally two technicians who refuse to speak with each other and eat lunch at separate times to avoid each other at all costs. Academia is full of old grudges, grievances and quarrels, so you won't standout however most of them can be friendly when absolutely necessary.