Heres how we adjusted, How to get what you need from your Ph.D. or postdoc supervisor, How to navigate authorship of scientific manuscripts. Also, don't forget to read recent papers of your future adviser so you can discuss with them their own research and where you could fit. Ask your new supervisor. You may see it as not wrong, but I reiterate to you that it seems quite rude to me. These are all factors to consider. Someone really knowledgable in your subject and fitting your character? Should we have a canonical question about degree revocation? Lost your password? This will be the beginning of a new phase in your grad school career, and the people skills youve learned will be useful wherever you go next. My supervisor openly claims that he is a great researcher and expects students to worship him. So if you are cut out for some sort of mathematics, I reckon it will come to you in time. mention that you can add or exchange members of your thesis advisory committee at any point in time during your PhD. So in conclusion, in most cases it is possible to replace a supervisor. You should choose your future adviser from the faculty he cannot influence. Strange behavior of tikz-cd with remember picture. During that time, the PhD candidate could barely run experiments for her PhD project, since practically nothing in the lab was working, causing a huge delay in her PhD process. You got more freedom, I read. But working with PhD candidates over the past 14 years, weve also encountered some for whom this is not the case. However, I did wonder whether before closing the door it might be worth investigating whether I could change supervisor and work on something different (still in Algebraic Number Theory). I think this is a much, much larger undertaking than just having a few broad subcategories in the canonical question. Your well-being comes first. Is "What background do I need to do research in specific field X?" Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks? The reality is that, in the long term, a reference letter from a well-known professorand a degree from a top-notch universitycan give Ph.D. holders a boost when they're searching for a job. The reason for the move is that I have become increasingly interested in the formal verification of mathematics and have devoted all of my spare time to writing a proof assistant. With all this in mind, I decided recently that I will leave the PhD and do something else (I actually have no idea what yet). Some universities or graduate schools have formal proceedings for an exchange of supervisors anchored in their PhD regulations (or elsewhere) which are publicly available. How can the mass of an unstable composite particle become complex? A stroke of bad luck in your life or that of your P.I., a failure of the system, a lack of management Lets be honest, it sucks. It depends on his relationship to his colleagues and position within the department if he can make good of his threats. But it's possible that we need several different questions: intra-field, STEM to STEM, STEM to humanities, humanities to humanities, etc. I have no doubt that this post will almost instantly be marked as "off-topic" - however I really think that it is difficult to obtain the opinions of professional mathematicians on other forums whereas (quite often) they respond to questions of this type on this site. How to get the closed form solution from DSolve[]? We should consider adding such a reminder/warning to all of our canonical questions. Rejecting a PhD offer after giving promise to the supervisor to work with him, Changing Phd topic in between because of lack of 'usefulness' of current research. I think the most straightforward solution would be to have a single canonical question that covers all fields, but I'm open to the idea that we might need multiple duplicate targets because some fields have fundamentally different considerations. For one good example that sets out clear guidelines, see Griffith Universitys (2019) Code of Practice for the Supervision of Higher Degree Research Candidates. What are the challenges in changing a PhD supervisor after 2/3 of PhD is done, We've added a "Necessary cookies only" option to the cookie consent popup. Hopefully youll be able to get the support you need within your institute to get passed this bump in the road. The most you should say about your adviser is that your working styles clash, and you would need a little more freedom to chose methods and explore your own ideas. I am doing good in my Ph.D. but I do not like my supervisors. But the latest research on the topic points to things to look for when making a decision, as well as pitfalls to avoid. Practical aspects -- how to change subfields between PhD and postdoc? In such a case, there is transparency around the process and you will be able to find out what you have to do and who you need to talk to in order to change yours. Has Microsoft lowered its Windows 11 eligibility criteria? 1. Im talking bullying, sabotage, retaliation, discrimination Unfortunately, a lot of PhD students who find themselves bullied by their supervisors struggle getting out of these situations. This is not novel or ground breaking but it is good to keep repeating it. PhD candidates often wait too long before they initiate the process of changing supervisors. See our blog post no. Even if your supervisor is ok, you can often do a lot to improve your overall supervisory situation. Talk to Your Bad Academic Advisor. This question does not appear to be about research level mathematics within the scope defined in the help center. As reported by the Helmholtz Juniors (2019), about 20% of PhD students mention a supervisors lack of expertise in the field of their PhD as one of their problems. Your adviser, knowing his personality, won't let you go easily. Shibayama recommends that prospective Ph.D. students look for advisers who let their students play a role in study design. You'll have doubts about yourselfabout your research ideas, about many things." If your relationship with your supervisor is good and if (s)he is not too super-specialized in one sub-area, you might be able to just move to a different sub-area while continuing to work with the same supervisor. Take note of the topics you should follow up on, and their . National Health and Medical Research Council Australia 2019, Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science (2014), Griffith Universitys (2019) Code of Practice for the Supervision of Higher Degree Research Candidates, blog post no. Any disadvantages of having a PhD supervisor who is working only part-time at the institution? Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers. The most progressive or advantageous of PhD regulations will e.g. For your supervisor, there may be a conflict of interest between the success of that project and your PhD. If a law is new but its interpretation is vague, can the courts directly ask the drafters the intent and official interpretation of their law? I see that the question has been created and tagged with a new tag. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Sign up for our feature-packed newsletter today to ensure you get the latest expert help and advice to level up your lab work. Can I switch fields?, How do I switch fields?, Is it a good idea to switch fields?, When to switch fields?, or all of these? Science and AAAS are working tirelessly to provide credible, evidence-based information on the latest scientific research and policy, with extensive free coverage of the pandemic. Not all of these are horror stories and quite a few reported a very positive denouement (even if, obviously, it can still be a very stressful process). In the second blog of this series, I have endeavoured to compile some advice from the brave individuals who reached out to me, in the hopes that current or future PhD students may find some help on these pages. Be part of an amazing group of academics from all over the world! Thoughts of an academic career are completely beside the point. . But perhaps something roughly like: "Please consider carefully whether these canonical answers consult a question before using this canonical question as a duplicate target.". rev2023.3.1.43269. For example: "How do they work? Then, the researchers asked students about their experiences with the people and support networks that immediately surrounded them in academia: namely their advisers, departments, and peers. The problem is more motivational: it turns out that I just don't have any interest in my particular area and so I spend most of my time either worrying about working or worrying whilst working - very inefficient! Also, there are still PhD candidates who pursue individual projects and have only a single supervisor, which increases the dependency on that one person. There are plenty of reasons why a PhD student wants or has to exchange an advisor. But still I struggle with just quitting and changing the advisor, as I think that she wont be happy about that, and I fear that the loss of a PhD-candidate would surely be understood as threatening at face-value for her as an advisor. Katie Langin is the associate editor for Science Careers. Is there any field-specific advice (about changing fields post-PhD) that we would want to preserve / curate / generate / leave placeholders for? In my experience, she is not of the understanding or empathetic kind, but rather resentful. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. These range from the most collegial of agreements to the extremes of bullying. In the event that your PhD is financed by a third party funded project of your supervisor, or they are in any other way financing your PhD, a change might be tricky. Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee. A few reactions: (1) Most answers to the historical questions have not provided field-specific advice, even when such was requested. (2019), cite it as one point of dissatisfaction with supervisors. I had a talk with the Dean. What factors changed the Ukrainians' belief in the possibility of a full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb 2022? Now I do exclusively software engineering. Less of an income, probably. It may be tempting to think that you already know what you want in a new advisor someone devoid of the negative characteristics your current advisor has been endowed with. I have more say in what I wish to do and where I want to publish. Many Higher Education Institutions, funding agencies, or governmental bodies have developed codes of good scientific practice (see e.g. @FourierFlux Based on your history of questions, I suspect you don't really care what people think so I don't know why you keep asking here. This is not because I am "stuck" - I am not really at a point where I have been able to engage enough with the work to even become stuck. Does that justify some committees leaving their students to their own devices and not supporting them during this transition? I have no responsibility to continue and don't see any obligation. There's no single formula for choosing the right Ph.D. adviser; the factors will vary for each student. From the bottom of my heart, thank you. One comment: In many departments, if you have another advisor lined up, there is very little your former advisor can do to keep you from switching. Learn how your comment data is processed. It does not help me. Another PhD candidate had to help their supervisor move to another university and establish a new lab from scratch. There are fundamental character traits or ways to work that do not match well, and are a reason for perpetual annoyance often on both sides. Do they check up on you a couple times a week, or do they give you a task and they're OK not hearing from you until you complete it?" Answer (1 of 4): Of course it is. The Bully It seems like some professors were picked on a little too much when they were kids. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you dont fall into the next category. My second year, however, didn't improve despite making another breakthrough. Vary for each student you go easily to improve your overall supervisory situation whom! Should choose your future adviser from the most progressive or advantageous of regulations. Latest research on the topic points to things to look for when making a,! Part-Time at the institution possibility of a full-scale invasion between Dec 2021 and Feb?. Always superior to synchronization using locks of luck and hope that you dont into! You get the latest expert help and advice to level up your lab work not them! 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