PhD Discussion Forum

Thankyou for the reply Dr Jeckyl.

The project that my Supervisor is requesting funding for has nothing to do with me. He is hoping to apply and get funding for the university. There is no guarantee that I will be funded. He has not mentioned this. It seems at the moment he is preoccupied with wanting me to get him well connected in the industry, write his journal paper and make a business case for his project. Is it reasonable for one to have done completely nothing in just over a months duration of having started the PhD. I am paying for my PhD and as mentioned earlier, I feel its not worth travelling a 2 way journey each way to uni only to cover my supervisor's work. For him to tell me that I have a long time to complete my PhD is taking the mick. I expect to get my money's worth and get better supervision. He will not even consider discussing my research, each time I do, he interupts and brings in his research interests. I thought this was my PhD not my second job (to do his research).

Morally I think its wrong for him to expect me to do his work, i.e make a case for why he/the uni should get funding, thats why he is getting paid.

I know of other students who started at the same time as me, who have already started working on their introduction and literature reviews. They have set targets with their supervisors and are busy with their research now. In the mean time I am being told to go and read up on my supervisors area of interest (which by the way has nothing to do with my research). Apart from all this there is a language issue - I struggle to understand his english. He has a strong accent. What is one to do???? By the way I am not English and am not against anyone who is not, but this is affecting my studies.

My MSc supervisor did not have the same research interests as me per se but he was able to supervise me especially regarding the application of research. I would have thought this would somehow be the same. Why employ people when they cant supervise students or speak decent english.

Sorry if I sound unreasonable. It seems this has been a waste of my time and money. How do I deal with this tactfully??

I don't know if you should move away from your area of interest- this is really up to you.

I can say, however, that if you decide to stay with your current supervisor, working on his funded project will actually be great for you. You will have money for equipment, fieldwork expenses etc that you wouldn't have otherwise being self-funded. He will care more about your work, because he will depend on you.

Good luck with your decision.

Delta

Thankyou so much for the response. I was thinking of requesting for a different supervisor based on the above facts, but I don't know what impact that would have on my future in the department.

Coincidentally I received an acceptance letter from another uni that I had previously applied to and they would like me to start on 1st November. The offer is in a department that is related directly to my research and both supervisors are familiar with my research area (there is also a research group in that area), which seems ideal. The only disadvantage is that it is 7 hours away from where I live. I have children, so I would have to think of relocating at some point if I were to take up that offer. My husband however has been quite supportive and is willing to move.

I would be interested in your thoughts regarding the first option of changing supervisors, do you think that would have a negative impact in the future??? I would appreciate anyone else's thoughts on this, I know most of you have got a lot of experience in this area, please share your thoughts.

Thanks again

Chelsea

Hello everyone, I aplogise for writing a long one.

I started my PhD (part time) end of September 2012 and have met with my 1st Supervisor 3 times since I started. The problem is:

1) In my first meeting he was not interested at all in my proposal, just put it aside and said "a proposal can be changed at anytime", he seemed keen on getting me to change my research area. Basically he told me all about his PhD journey in this first meeting, and nothing else regarding my research was discussed.

2) In the second meeting he told me to go and think about the area I want to research, again I reiterated that I was keen on my research area (health service mgt) and again I explained my research, what and how I wanted to carry out the research. He insisted I go and have a think about the area I wanted to research. I was advised to go and read on a specific area which is one of his interests. I was told to apply this area to my research. The thing is his research area has nothing to do with my research area at all.

3) Third meeting he said he is writing a journal paper and wants me to write the paper too. Thats when I realised thats the reason he was trying to get me to change my research focus. He then said he is applying for some funding (grant) for the university, showed me the paperwork he is supposed to do and ASKED me to write one and a half pages of the project proposal for him. Literally he wants me to cover all his work for him. Furthermore he has been asking me for contacts and introductions in my industry.

I travel a couple of hours each way to get to uni, and I feel like I have made all these journeys to uni and meetings for nothing, as nothing has come out of it, no discussion about my research at all, but being coerced to go into another area and total disregard for my research. I am self funding.

On the other hand I met my second supervisor once, we discussed my research and said he was very happy with my proposal and happy that I knew what I wanted to do. He approved of my research proposal but the only thing is my 1st supervisor is the one who has a final say it seems. Furthermore my research is qualitative and my second supervisor specialises in qualitative research WHILE the 1st supervisor specialises in quantitative.

Can someone please help me. Why is my 1st supervisor trying to get me to do his funding proposals, why does he want me to move away from my research area to his. Why was I given a 1st supervisor who specialises in quantitative when my research is qualitative. He doesn't seem to understand much about qualitative research, observations, interviews etc. He is only interested in quantitative methods.

What can I do. I would be very grateful for any assistance as I feel so discouraged and I dont know how to deal with this. It also turns out that I am the first student this lecturer (1st Supervisor) has supervised as he recently got his PhD, am wondering why he is doing this to me.
Please help.
Chelsea