GOGSoc Episode VIII: I'm a surviva!

My supervisor has returned! Instead of being away for 2 weeks as initially predicted, she was away for 2 months. Unfortunately I can't go to campus now, as she returned just in time for UK lock down! Luckily I'm already working from home, so can just continue as is for now.

Has anyone been negatively affected in terms of their PhD thus far? Does anyone foresee any issues in the near future?

As a psychologist I’m worried about getting participants to travel across London to come to uni for experiments. Hoping all is blown over by next academic year but not holding my breath

Yay for supervisor though!

It's really frustrating how open-ended this all is. I know that no one can help it, but it starts to trigger questions like "will my university take these delays into account?" and "will I complete on time now?"

From talking with someone at my uni who had a similar experience - basically her supervisor left 8 months in, she was given 8 moths at the end of the 4 years with no extra fees

That's what I will push for. At least I can have regular phone meetings with my supervisor now.

I wonder if any PhD students will ask for refunds? Those that require labs/rooms/equipment may be at a disadvantage. A friend of mine requires eye-tracking equipment, and another needs access to the MRI scanner (which also requires a technician to be present).

Just checking in from my fully locked down country ... It's strange, for once I am home but still cannot meet family or friends. Husband, cat and me are in good health and we have plenty of food, and even loo roll, and for now, we're not losing our jobs, either.
All my teaching has moved online, which in theory is great, but in practice a nightmare - neither the university nor the students or staff were prepared, so I am spending most of my time working on a mountain of panicked emails and trouble-shooting for students and colleagues.
I've also encountered a rather unexpected problem: The hard copies of my thesis have still not been delivered, and once I have them, I am technically not permitted to leave the house to post one to my university, as I fear I won't be able to argue this is "essential" on the same level as getting food.

How are we all holding up, peeps?!

My uni has assured us we can have time added on the end of the 4 years depending on however long this thing lasts for all those who need to use labs/human participants

and you TLG? how are you holding up uni wise?

Oh that must be a relief to hear! Phew! My uni is being much less clear about everything, tbh. They're bloody useless

I'm doing really well, thanks! I'm trying to use this lockdown time to focus on PhD work while my brain still decides to cooperate! Gonna try and do a lot of writing that I've been putting off

Ah sorry to hear that. Hopefully everyone will clarify what is going to happen soon - it’s so unprecedented.

Hope you can be productive

How are we all holding up, peeps?!

My productivity has taken a dip, but I'm getting back on it now - writing a plain-language summary of my MA research for a stakeholder charity, so while not directly PhDing, I still feel like I'm doing something worthwhile.

I'm also meant to be going to a conference at the end of June (at a university near London), but the organisers aren't committing to postponing/cancelling it yet. I'll still make the poster just in case the situation suddenly improves and it definitely goes ahead.

My supervisor has also postponed our phone meeting so she can get her son sorted (as he's now off school and needs activities etc.), so I'm just plodding along for the moment.

Understandable for things to take a dip Plain-language summaries are SO hard (that's what I'm working on atm) Def worthwhile to be doing that

Hope you do get to speak to your supervisor soon and that things become clearer re: conference!

I'm so used to writing in academic speak (lots of technical and complex sentences), and now I have to get into the head space of someone writing something engaging that could appear in say, a magazine! It's so much harder than it seems. They said I could also include charts/tables, but they would be too difficult to explain to a lay person without using my whole word count!

Finally had my first (video) meeting with my supervisor! Feel so much better now I have a plan of action - I have to send her parts of my lit review every 2 weeks, each on a different theme to help draft my chapters. She also managed to remotely register me (as I've only been online-enrolled up to this point), so I am *officially* a PhD student now and have my own committee organised!

This also triggered my doctoral loan payments which I'm so happy about, as I thought I'd have to wait until September (or even later ) to register in person to get paid. Just need to work out when/how to get my student ID card now...

Finally had my first (video) meeting with my supervisor! Feel so much better now I have a plan of action - I have to send her parts of my lit review every 2 weeks, each on a different theme to help draft my chapters. She also managed to remotely register me (as I've only been online-enrolled up to this point), so I am *officially* a PhD student now and have my own committee organised!

This also triggered my doctoral loan payments which I'm so happy about, as I thought I'd have to wait until September (or even later ) to register in person to get paid. Just need to work out when/how to get my student ID card now...