- user21264 Aug 6, 2017 at 6:21 1 1) When choosing advisor When you apply for your project, make sure you enquire about your prospective advisor. If youre interested in benefiting from our support as well, check out the PhD success Lab. If you need to switch to a very different field, you should expect another 2-3 years as a beginner. "Some professors are interested in producing good students, so choose those supervisors. In this way, you work in a field you already know at a moderate pace, while you develop new skills. I wouldn't recommend starting with an advisor you don't plan to finish with (and doing so is incredibly rude), changing advisors is for situations that cannot be salvaged. Now you have get to get your passion back. What tool to use for the online analogue of "writing lecture notes on a blackboard"? You are not making progress towards your degree and you would like to be more independent as a researcher. 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. 1. Talk to Your Bad Academic Advisor. Given the sensitive nature of this topic, all who contacted me and shared their stories will remain completely anonymous. 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. PhD candidates often wait too long before they initiate the process of changing supervisors. Adopt the art of " principled negotiation ," which is composed of four steps: 1) separating the problem from the person; 2) focusing on interests, rather than on positions; 3) creating options that allow for mutual gains; and 4) using objective criteria. Also, there are still PhD candidates who pursue individual projects and have only a single supervisor, which increases the dependency on that one person. You can ask for a 10 minutes appointment via email if they seem to be busy, but in my department, I used to just walk into professors offices. Are you okay with continuing to see your current advisor on a regular basis? So what *is* the Latin word for chocolate? The team measured student satisfaction by asking the survey participants to rate the degree to which words such as "good," "happy," "terrible," and "disappointing" described their overall Ph.D. experience. This argument can certainly be made for physics and mathematics, where changing subfield can feel like trying to move a mountain. Is there a canonical answer about selecting a journal for publication? At what point of what we watch as the MCU movies the branching started? I guess my question is whether others on this site (PhD students or PhD supervisors) have had a similar experience or have any advice regarding this situation? Is "What background do I need to do research in specific field X?" Australian Government (2007), Danish Ministry of Higher Education and Science (2014), Swedish Research Council (2017), German Research Foundation (2019), UK Research Integrity Office. 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. (2019), cite it as one point of dissatisfaction with supervisors. 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. Grad school is hard enough as it is. If you want to know more about how to overcome difficulties and have a happier PhD process, sign up to our free webinar for PhD candidates. You will receive mail with link to set new password. These will normally include meeting to discuss your work, reading drafts and being available to respond emails and other forms of contact within a reasonable timeframe. Answer (1 of 4): Of course it is. 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. Less of an income, probably. Talk to previous students to learn about their teaching style. Take note of the topics you should follow up on, and their . I can say this because I have interacted with very good and humble professors from top universities and seen the depth in their knowledge. Good supervision is extremely important, so overcoming some obstacles in order to replace a less than good supervisor can be absolutely worthwhile! 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. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. I am forced to continue on previous PhDs, which I did and have satisfied. Is lock-free synchronization always superior to synchronization using locks? At what point of what we watch as the MCU movies the branching started? But the latest research on the topic points to things to look for when making a decision, as well as pitfalls to avoid. Don't deny the suggestions in a disrespectful or unprofessional way. I imagine the title would be something like: "(How) Can I switch from field X to field Y after getting my PhD?" Physics PhD switching fields after short career break? Please make a tax-deductible gift today. My supervisor is cunning. If you don't, talk to their students and postdocs before switching. Is variance swap long volatility of volatility? Does that justify some committees leaving their students to their own devices and not supporting them during this transition? The area in which I work is also quite small in the sense that very few (in fact, only one that is comprehensive - as far as I am aware) textbooks have been written on the basics and even my supervisor admits that these few books are exceedingly dry. Stack Exchange network consists of 181 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow, . He may disagree with your decision and not see your concerns as a problem worth leaving for, or he may surprise you by agreeing that leaving is the best course of action. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. That's not fun, he says, and the lack of autonomy doesn't help them learn what it takes to be a successful scientist. How can the mass of an unstable composite particle become complex? This would be a much better question if you deleted the entire enumerated list, which is largely irrelevant for the question asked in the title. None of the other factors consideredincluding age, gender, years of study, country, and department and peer qualitieshad such a strong effect. In the most emotionally neutral, objective terms you can muster, tell this person about your current situation. mention that you can add or exchange members of your thesis advisory committee at any point in time during your PhD. 68 for suggestions on how to pick the perfect co-supervisor. In a stereotypical "9-to-5" job, when the workday is over or the weekend arrives, you can generally forget about your work. 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. If I recall, Timothy Gowers wrote a year or so ago that mathematics is a calling. Regardless of this persons level of involvement, her advice will undoubtedly be helpful in your switch. But working with PhD candidates over the past 14 years, weve also encountered some for whom this is not the case. In some cases the expectations of you P.I. Academia Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for academics and those enrolled in higher education. See our blog post no. 2023 American Association for the Advancement of Science. If I do work with another supervisor at this stage, what could be the challenges? The United States, Australia, and countries in Europe yielded the most survey responses. Include one or two sentences summarizing the agenda and what you want to get out of the meeting. 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. Are there conventions to indicate a new item in a list? 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. I will finish the project I started, but I won't continue after that in this area. Other students can also be valuable resources, since they work more closely with professors and likely know information your program director doesnt. Supervisors may also be relieved that they can end a supervisory relationship with a PhD candidate they knew was unhappy with their guidance, and are glad that a colleague will take over. How does a fan in a turbofan engine suck air in? Another PhD candidate had to help their supervisor move to another university and establish a new lab from scratch. 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. If a supervisor engages in behaviour calls into question these commonly acknowledged practices, or violates them, this will negatively impact the PhD candidate, the quality of their research, and their relationship. Once youve begun taking steps to find a new advisor, break the news to your current advisor. Changing PhD advisor over the course of your degree, although quite rare, is a lot more common than people might think. A reasonable PhD advisor wants their students to enjoy the subfield they are working in and will be happy to either suggest alternate directions or arrange a change of advisor if necessary. Is email scraping still a thing for spammers. My supervisor openly claims that he is a great researcher and expects students to worship him. 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. Maybe it was when she changed your project for the sixth time in six months, though your thesis proposal deadline was rapidly approaching and you had nothing to present. Besides, nobody trains committee Chairs to deal with bullies and ill-natured actions. Research topics restricted to students at top universities? Some have tried to intimidate students by telling them lies, e.g. If that is a clear yes, then a change of supervisor is on the agenda. So, I need your advice in handling the situation. There are surveys that back-up this overall observation. Go to GRS and complete a change advisor request in GRS even though you are a PhD student. Sign up for our feature-packed newsletter today to ensure you get the latest expert help and advice to level up your lab work. rev2023.3.1.43269. Good supervision is extremely important, so overcoming some obstacles in order to replace a 'less than good' supervisor can be absolutely worthwhile! Edit: I resolved my issue. We'll 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. For one good example that sets out clear guidelines, see Griffith Universitys (2019) Code of Practice for the Supervision of Higher Degree Research Candidates. Heres how we adjusted, How to get what you need from your Ph.D. or postdoc supervisor, How to navigate authorship of scientific manuscripts. Many Higher Education Institutions, funding agencies, or governmental bodies have developed codes of good scientific practice (see e.g. hyper-organised and your supervisor is the chaotic one, coming up with new ideas for your research in every meeting, dwarfing any of your attempts to maintain focus. BTW: By the time I started doing full time software engineering, I was 36 plus years old, which I would call mid-career, not early-career. Strange behavior of tikz-cd with remember picture. You should choose your future adviser from the faculty he cannot influence. Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search. However it is sometimes necessary and in the best of cases this is resolved professionally, without any bad blood. Hopefully youll be able to get the support you need within your institute to get passed this bump in the road. Adviser supportivenesswhether an adviser was caring, considerate, encouraging, and sympatheticwas the most important factor for student satisfaction. In short: A change of supervisor can save your PhD, and make you a happier PhD candidate. Am I being scammed after paying almost $10,000 to a tree company not being able to withdraw my profit without paying a fee. @FourierFlux That's not usually how a PhD works. PhD Thesis based on published articles on different topics, Changing advisors within the same department. At the end of that year the powers that be in my department agreed to giving me some time off in order to put my finances in order. In addition, postdoctoral groups, such as YPA, may . Quotes like you are a latino, they usually work hard, but you are an exception, where part of the regular communication. Many universities and research institutes or governmental bodies have set out codes of conduct for PhD/graduate education that describe roles and responsibilities of supervisors (see e.g. 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. If this field-specific advice already exists in an answer somewhere, please link to it. The role of my primary supervisor has been substantially reduced. Help News from Science publish trustworthy, high-impact stories about research and the people who shape it.