Thanks for the advice everyone, it's all very helpful - I think I have enough ideas to tide me over until the lab work starts.

I guess the expectation is one I'm kind of making up in my head - it's never been said as such that I should be in all day, I just feel like that's what I'm supposed to do! It probably doesn't help that there's not many other PhDs around me to gauge by. Maybe I'm just overthinking it! I think the ideas people have given here have been good ones, I think I'll try those and try not worry about sitting at my desk unless someone actually tells me it's a problem.

Thanks for the advice Tudor. It seems really paranoid, but do you think anyone would mind my doing that? Just focusing on background reading/programming/etc. for some time during the day but not always being in? Half of me feels like I'm expected to be in all the time and the other half thinks that people really won't notice or mind all that much if there's not any specific things I'm meant to be doing.

That's a really great idea - do you know any resources where I could get started with something like that at all?

I've on my fourth month of my PhD, and due to some technicalities I'm finding myself at a bit of a loss for what to do with my time. I'm doing a lab-based PhD but it's taking ages to get through all the paperwork necessary to get the tissue samples we require, so I can't do anything practical until that happens (we have done some practice with the methods, but we've used all the spare tissues we had available for that now). I mostly spent the first three months doing reading and writing my literature review, but now I've submitted that I feel a bit stuck. I am still reading but there's only so much of that you can do day-in day-out, and all the other bits-and-bobs (admin, health & safety, lab meetings, presentations & outside lectures, etc) just don't fill up the hours.

I feel like I should be in every day doing full days and essentially treating my PhD as a job, but I feel like I end up sitting there not really knowing what to do with myself quite often. Does anyone have suggestions for when they had quiet periods during their PhD what sort of extra or other things they found to do? I don't want to waste my time, I'd like to do something productive with it while it's quiet and I have the chance. It's maddening not having things to do! I'd ask my supervisor but he's away for a month in New Zealand at the moment (and I also feel a bit nervous kind of admitting that I'm spending a lot of time not really getting much done). Any advice is appreciated! :)