How much does the problem with your supervisor affect your ability to work, and your potential to do excellent research? Why are non-Western countries siding with China in the UN? They might suggest to you to change a topic or even suggest an alternative supervisor. Learn more about Stack Overflow the company, and our products. Once youve begun taking steps to find a new advisor, break the news to your current advisor. How can the mass of an unstable composite particle become complex? If it is done well, the damage can be limited and no one has to lose face. It's completely normal to have doubts and frustrations during your PhD (and the timing seems about on schedule for it, as well), but this is a strong emotional response that you should take seriously and seek help dealing with. A high percentage of PhD students today are enrolled in structured PhD programmes where supervisory committees consisting of 3 or more supervisors are mandatory. Some PhD students were simply left to their own devices without proper supervision. 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?" I will never bad mouth anyone. Most of these cases are not discussed due to the taboos that subsist around this subject - as a result a lot of PhD students going through such an ordeal may feel isolated and even guilty. Don't deny the suggestions in a disrespectful or unprofessional way. I dont want to scare you, but if you are a similar situation you have to be prepared. When looking for an adviser, prospective students often seek out well-known researchers who are highly cited and respected in their fields. Duress at instant speed in response to Counterspell. You would graduate later. If no policies or formal proceedings exist however, the process of how a supervisor can be replaced is in the dark, and that can ultimately make it more difficult to get what you want. Talk to Your Bad Academic Advisor. Cag has a point that we get quite a few very general, reasonably low-quality questions in this genre for which general advice could be sufficient. How this would apply to various other people would be dependent on their interests, but it shows that it can be done, and to that extent, is a 'positive story'. He maneuvers students and gives veiled threats if required. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top, Not the answer you're looking for? 10: Good PhD-supervision, we discuss 5 pillars of great supervision and describe what you can expect from a good supervisor. Insufficient encouragement and interest in the PhD candidates work are further factors (see also Helmholtz Juniors 2019, p. 22). Sometimes things dont just go wrong, they go bat-shit insane. Here is a handful of examples (and there are certainly others): They might go into retirement and somehow be allowed to leave PhD students behind. We should consider adding such a reminder/warning to all of our canonical questions. I now for the wisdom: it really doesn't matter. I have seen a lot of people switching advisers during my PhD. Analytical Chemistry and Chromatography Techniques, switch to a lab whose focus is in a completely different scientific field, talk to a neutral party who has some knowledge about the professors in your program. The results that were published would have constituted part of the PhD candidates thesis. You may need to take a qualifier exam there again. To figure out what a professor's approach to advising is, Sverdlik encourages students to ask a lot of questions of prospective advisers and their advisees when they're interviewing. My main supervisor only accepts those ppl under his wing who are yes men. It usually requires that you follow departmental procedures. Many arrangements are possible, and depending on the reasons for the change, the parties can also determine what is and is not made public. Also Helfer et al. My supervisor is cunning. Is just after your PhD a good time to switch your research area? Edit: I resolved my issue. But working with PhD candidates over the past 14 years, weve also encountered some for whom this is not the case. As just one example: A supervisor of one of the PhD participants in our courses published an article with data from the PhD candidates research without that persons knowledge or consent. MathOverflow is a question and answer site for professional mathematicians. My supervisor just does not care about what I need anyways! What should the main focus of the canonical question be? You will only benefit if you can change your supervisor and keep your PhD position and funding and can keep working on the same PhD project. Advisers may want to publish as many papers as possible so that they can win more grants and move their research programs forward. So my two other supervisors are yes men and working under him to further their careers. The study underscores a fundamental disconnect between the interests of advisers and advisees, Shibayama says. may be unhealthy or unrealistic (e.g. rev2023.3.1.43269. As an example: One South American PhD candidate had to endure constant negative comments about her background and ability to perform by her supervisor. Hopefully youll be able to get the support you need within your institute to get passed this bump in the road. He told me about other students facing similar issues and offered me to help. (2019), cite it as one point of dissatisfaction with supervisors. In principle, this is a great way to counterbalance weaknesses of individuals and ensure a high quality of supervision overall. But on paper, I am progressing well because my supervisor had his way with me. Talk to previous students to learn about their teaching style. To subscribe to this RSS feed, copy and paste this URL into your RSS reader. Some of these advisors worked closely with the previous advisor, or were part of the student's thesis committee. Getting a Ph.D. is "a very stressful, long process," says Gerard Dericks, a senior lecturer at Oxford Brookes University in the United Kingdom and the lead author of the study. They may become overwhelmed with too many PhD students. Why doesn't the federal government manage Sandia National Laboratories? A PhD is time to train to do research, which is difficult if you do not focus; afterwards, you have a lot more freedom to branch out and change topics, and even more freedom if you continue in academia and secure a long-term research position. Answer (1 of 4): Of course it is. 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. According to a 2015 study, 25% of U.S. institutions produce roughly three-quarters of all tenure-track faculty members in the three disciplines the team examined: computer science, business, and history. She may even help you mediate your switch by asking professors whether theyre willing to take you on. I'm not sure why your personal story is relevant for the question. UniWiND 2015, UCL 2018, National Health and Medical Research Council Australia 2019, University of Edinburgh 2021). is there a chinese version of ex. But don't think that such a calling is necessarily tied to a career in academia, because I think that this is increasingly not the case, and probably never really was. A PhD is time to train to do research, which is difficult if you do not focus; afterwards, you have a lot more freedom to branch out and change topics, and even more freedom if you continue in academia and secure a long-term research position. In another case, the science just didnt work out early in the program. Another student had just switched because of the same reason and therefore my current supervisors had to change their attitude as this became a recurring phenomenon. Do EMC test houses typically accept copper foil in EUT? Suppose you have written part of a thesis(normally a PhD thesis in my field has 2-3 parts, each part may be different from the others). Be calm and respectful, but be honest about the reasons youre leaving. I honestly can't see what being inside of academia would give me right now. No. If I do work with another supervisor at this stage, what could be the challenges? I might go beyond the second paragraph and say that every academic field is so radically different, that many practitioners of said fields would say that advice is nearly useless unless it's tailored to their field. (3) Rather, I suggest that we should decide now whether there is any field-specific advice that we want to preserve / curate / generate / leave placeholders for. Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks? 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? Graduate groups currently registered with the McDougal Graduate Student Life office may request modest funding from this office. Duress at instant speed in response to Counterspell. 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. Much as you may want to yell your decision over the rooftops, announcing that youre leaving while in a heated argument with your advisor isnt going to make your transition any easier. I had a talk with the Dean. He might tell other faculty there will be consequences if they take you as a student. Do you want an advisor who will spend a lot of time guiding you through your project, or would you prefer one who will mostly leave you alone? You seem to be already burnt out. So if you are cut out for some sort of mathematics, I reckon it will come to you in time. For one good example that sets out clear guidelines, see Griffith Universitys (2019) Code of Practice for the Supervision of Higher Degree Research Candidates. "Students have to find someone who goes beyond their own interest," he says. You should also avoid spreading news of your decision to leave its better if your advisor hears about it directly from you rather than through the grapevine. Gerhard "Certainly Start With Internet Search" Paseman, 2017.10.30. According to the researchers' findings, switching from an adviser who was strongly unsupportive to one that was highly supportive would be expected to increase the Ph.D. satisfaction scoreon a scale of one to sixby nearly two points. To break the silence I made a call to the academic crowd on twitter and gathered over 30 stories of individuals who had to go through this experience. For example: "How do they work? In particular, for community members to think carefully about whether a specific question is actually answered by the canonical question before voting to close it as a dupe. Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee, Applications of super-mathematics to non-super mathematics. All emails contain an unsubscribe link. Now I do exclusively software engineering. So what *is* the Latin word for chocolate? Less of an income, probably. Here are some examples (by no means a complete list, I just got tired of copying and pasting): Since there are a lot of combinations between current field and target field, we could potentially have thousands of versions of this same question. 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. Site design / logo 2023 Stack Exchange Inc; user contributions licensed under CC BY-SA. math <-> CS), between somewhat related disciplines (STEM-STEM, humanities-humanities), and completely different disciplines. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. - Bryan Krause Jul 21, 2020 at 0:50 These are all factors to consider. How the personal aspects work out depends to a large degree on how the entire process is handled. "A bad or even just mediocre adviser can make your time as a doctoral student miserable or simply not pleasant, which could undermine the excitement that got you interested in research to begin with," Clauset notes. Is that an excuse for departments to sweep things under the rug? Harassment, discrimination, or abuse, even in milder forms, constitute a breach of good scientific practice. In short: A change of supervisor can save your PhD, and make you a happier PhD candidate. Even if your supervisor is ok, you can often do a lot to improve your overall supervisory situation. Well let you know what makes PhD candidates want to change advisors, what you should consider in the process, and whether it makes sense in your situation or not. 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). There are a great number of reasons for which such a change would be appropriate. How do I fit an e-hub motor axle that is too big? This set of guidelines meant primarily for those leaving due to conflicts with their advisors can help you in transitioning out of your old lab and into a new one. 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. My supervisor openly claims that he is a great researcher and expects students to worship him. (If not, should we have one?). So like Andy Putman suggested you need to talk to your supervisor. PhD candidates often wait too long before they initiate the process of changing supervisors. If this field-specific advice already exists in an answer somewhere, please link to it. Does that justify some committees leaving their students to their own devices and not supporting them during this transition? Academia Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for academics and those enrolled in higher education. Your PhD supervisor will have some core responsibilities towards you and your project. A lack of supervision includes insufficient guidance and support and irregular interaction or feedback on the progress of a PhD project. The role of my primary supervisor has been substantially reduced. If we've learned anything from the COVID-19 pandemic, it's that we cannot wait for a crisis to respond. Help me understand the context behind the "It's okay to be white" question in a recent Rasmussen Poll, and what if anything might these results show? Ive struggled for quite a long time with the problem of whether and how to change my supervisor. Dont rush it, but eventually try to arrive at a decision, after carefully balancing the pros and cons. like the question (What does it mean by first author?). 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. Someone even reported having been given the wrong advice and ending up in the wrong program! It is a DIRE decision to go in and request a new advisor so you had better ensure you are ready to make an enemy in the department and that you have a . These lay out guidelines of how research should be conducted, how data should be handled, ethical principles in research that must be considered, how results are published, and how junior researchers must be treated and evaluated these are broader than the codes of conduct for supervision that we mentioned above. Lost your password? In my experience, she is not of the understanding or empathetic kind, but rather resentful. Is there a more recent similar source? Suggestions to improve the use and the findability of canonical questions. @Damodar You don't need to bad mouth him. Changing thesis supervisor to avoid bad letter of recommendation from current supervisor? rev2023.3.1.43269. Note. They are in a situation where they experience problems with one or several of their supervisors. That can surely be sorted out, but it might need a bit more discussion to come to a mutually beneficial solution. Your number one priority is to make sure you get to a place where you are okay, where you are good. If you move within the same department, you have the advantage of knowing already who are the best advisers. 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. But in a PhD program, your schedule becomes "whenever you find time to get your work done." Or you need a lot of freedom to pursue your own ideas, but you have a supervisor who is a micromanager, and wants to be involved in every single step you take, leading to endless discussions and delay in your PhD process. Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks? How do I fit an e-hub motor axle that is too big? Dealing with hard questions during a software developer interview. 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