Hi everyone
I am hoping you can help me. My boyfriend is in his write-up year of a biology PHD (I won't be too specific to protect anonymity).
Because he isn't being paid for this year, he looked for another job and got a really good one. Unfortunately it is full time.
His sole supervisor has always been a real bully; he is very negative and gets his students to do all his management responsibilities, makes veiled threats along the lines of 'I don't know if you're going to be able to finish if you don't work even harder'.
In the past my boyfriend has pulled 60 hour weeks in the lab and worked at the weekends. He has supported several placement students while his supervisor completely abdicated responsibility.
Even though my b/f is working full time he is going into the lab after work; he is completely exhausted, but very afraid that his supervisor won't let him submit if he doesn't tow the line. His supervisor knew this would be a full time job and accepted, at the time, that since we have no other way to survive, my b/f would have to take full time work and work the lab around it.
I understand that this was always going to be a stressful year; however, the supervisor makes him do things which are completely unrelated to his work, makes him make samples for other students/other labs in order to further his (the supervisor's, not my b/fs) career.
My b/f is so under thrall of his supervisor after 4 years of being bullied by him; he is scared that the supervisor won't let him submit and will keep him there for years. Personally I am scared that my b/f will burn himself out on all this other stuff he has been given and have a breakdown before he even gets to his own thesis.
I am also worried that the supervisor will not be giving b/f accurate advice about his PHD because 1) he doesn't care 2) he seems to want to keep b/f there indefinitely and 3) he seems pretty incompetent.
My b/f has been to HR, student services and the head of postgraduate research who have all been worse than useless. He does not want to rock the boat by making any public complaints etc...
Personally I think he just needs to remind his supervisor that the agreement was that b/f would do what he could towards his own PHD research, not continue to work full time to do the jobs the supervisor can't be bothered to.
Can anyone give any advice? Been through this kind of thing? Know anywhere else he could turn to to mediate?
I am tearing my hair out...