Overview of rewt

I must apologise for my broad tone and should not have made such a generalisation. However I stick to the point that some fields have far lower expectations of published work than others. It is not to say they are any less valuable but that fields have different opinions on what is a significant contribution.

I don't think you will have much of a problem if you have already secured a scholarship and a supervisor. Check on your offer if they have a minimum GPA, if not just submit both scores. They must see potential if they have offered you a PhD in the first place.

Make sure you talk to someone about all this. Be it a friend, therapist,, university counselor, times like this can be very stressful and you shouldn't go through it alone.

I would take a leave of absence. Your final months with your Mum is precious and you can always come to your PhD. All universities will give you an extended leave of absence in your circumstances which will not affect you work too much. This is a legitimate reason to take a break, don't be too hard on yourself and other academics will be very supportive.

I am sorry to hear you are going through this and I wish you and your Mum all the best.

It can vary on your field. I am in engineering where it is assumed you will get 2 papers out before finishing but other fields (cough*** Humanities) no one ever publishes during the PhD. Have a look round your colleagues and see if publishing is necessary (though it is always desirable)

If you find it hard to motivate yourself, remember you can put published work in your thesis which will make your defense a lot easier. It is harder to criticise peer-reviewed work that has published during your viva. So if you have over a year left publishing would be very valuable.

I am fortunate that my project is contains 4-5 smaller projects that can all be turned into papers. Try to identify bits of your work that answer a clear question and publish them. Those papers than can then form the basis of a chapter which will make writing your paper easier.

You can only do research with data can you can obtain. What you want sounds difficult to get and you don't want your work to fail just because you couldn't get data.

Though have you tried talking with multi-national companies that have Indian divisions. If the HR in India will listen to you, they might help you get data from another division in the same company. Also to get companies to help you have to explain to them how you are helping them. Just asking for help is difficult but if you are selling them some useful data in return for access, that is easier to sell.

Also privacy laws in Europe will be very strict about this, so I doubt any European company will share any data.

I think it depends on the field. I know in mine it is 1-2 postdocs then up or out. After 2 post-docs to get a lecturing job you need to either be; amazing, in a hot field or know someone in the uni. It is all about how you sell yourself to the university and whether or not you add something.

To the OP, if you think you can sell yourself, you can definitely get a lecturer job. If you think you have the skills to do research and can show a university your skills/experience, you have a good shot. You probably have a special method/concept/approach that is interesting and don't let that get lost in your supervisor's work. I would go for a post-doc that give you some lateral movement in research (I know hard to find).

Do you have any papers? Do you have any major results? How much data do you have?

I would say work out how much data you actually have and how much you can use in your thesis. You can probably plot 2-3 chapter by now (preferably more) and then decide how much work you need to do. You will probably realise there is less work to be done than you think. From their you can make a plan for your final year so you are not constantly panicking.

For the second question, write about what you have data on. A thesis can be a collection of smaller works that together solve a bigger problem. If there was any coherence between the smaller projects you can easily find a problem that you helped solve.

I agree with kienziebob, be honest with you supervisor and everyone else. Simply ask what exactly entails and say you didn't realise what you signed up for. They would rather know now than later.

Also is full lecturing or supporting tutorials? Because you can teach completely random tutorials if you have supporting materials

Do you have the interviewers names? I have heard that Cambridge interviews are very technical and can focus on the interviewers research history/interest. Maybe research their work and form some opinions that you can debate/defend.

You are a university lecturer?

If so go for it. The university will help you and you might be able to get some work time allocated for research. Also if you publish a few papers you probably could get PhD by publication.

Yeah I agree with pm133, age won't be a problem with most supervisors or unis. They don't really care about you being too old. Though as you said funding might be the limiting factor.

Authorship is fun issue and I can feel the frustration. You also have the added fun of being in a multi-disciplinary linked PhD project with no clear leader. Your position would always have authorship issues, so not your fault.

Though has the other student got any first name papers? I mean this is their PhD as well. If this work/paper is key to their thesis it would look very bad if they don't have a first name paper. Even if you did all the work they still need to write up the biochemistry side and defend their work, which is very hard if you have both first name papers.

Honestly, I think your supervisor shouldn't have promised you that. He should have known this and your problems. In hindsight there should have been a more equal division of work for a linked PhD, which is not your fault. You probably have made this clear and can potentially leverage this to "politely" ask to get your name on a side project.

Since day one my supervisor has made clear that I shouldn't share my raw data until authorship has been decided. I think that might be applicable for you. If you are clear about your future work that you want first authorship they might be willing to do more of the grunt work. As the person who controls the raw data controls the paper. But this is only applicable in future.

Write this paper yourself. Seriously, if you write the first draft with all the data and your name first. As you have taken the initiative and are leading the work, they have to argue against you which is harder. I would recommend making it clear to the other group that you are unhappy and want a better authorship split with regards to lab work.

BTW, if you have no intention of staying in academia and don't care about relations. You can email the journal and make a complaint about authorship. Most journals will immediately freeze the process until authorship is fully agreed.

Rejection can be really tough especially after putting so much effort in. I can feel for you. Also the experience problem happens to all graduates and is utterly frustrating.

It is only been a few months, I think up to a year is fine even then it doesn't really matter. Though you might want to figure out what you really want. If you are writing tailored letters for every job you can find it is time consuming. But if you are applying for similar positions it can be a lot easier. Also are you willing to move or want a specific area? Being more flexible with location might be better if you want the dream job.

Gaps between jobs/studies is normal. As long as you working towards something bigger it is fine. A lot of people are jobless for a few months after a PhD but most people find a good stimulating job in the end. So the possible temporary unemployment is worth it in the long run. In my opinion.

I am glad you went the doctor and have been seen. Listen to professionals and don't focus on the viva. It is literally making you sick!