Is my PhD supervisor taking the ****?

Your supervisor is NOT the one who is paying you. Your funding body (be that the university itself or an external funding body such as a research council) are the ones paying for your research.

Your supervisor supervises as part of their duties within the university according to their role as a lecturer (or similar).

An ideal student/supervisor relationship should be one of professional friendship, certainly I did the odd bit of work for mine and should I ever supervise myself will ask my students to do the same for me. However you absolutely should not be performing your supervisors menial tasks on a regular basis, your funding source would not be happy that you are using the time THEY have paid for in that way at all!

All universities have procedures in place to obtain confidential advice as to how to best manage the student/supervisor relationship. I would suggest you seek that out within your institution as it sounds as though yours is abusing their power somewhat.

Also, as has been said, you need to push to be allowed to do some teaching during your time as a PhD student, it looks great on your CV and really offers you a good insight into the world of academic teaching should you wish to go this way in the future. Personally I did it for 3 of my 4 years and found it invaluable (as well as a good source of petty income to top up my grant). A supervisor who does not encourage this is, frankly, not seeing the larger picture and does not have an understanding that their role is to mould a well rounded academic, not just churn out a thesis and a result.
 
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D.P. said:
Agreed 100%. In many universities in many countries no one cares at all about the final thesis. I have known plenty of people that printed off their papers from the journal website, put a short introductory chapter on the front and literally stapled the lot together. (I didn't do this BTW).

The research and documentation is really a small part of the PhD. Really, a PhD is to put you on the path to being a Professor.

All of the useful things I have learned were completely outside the realm of my PhD. Doing scientific research is relatively easy, you learn that at a under undergrad project. Tasks like project organization, time management, rapidly learning new skills/programing languages, teaching, assisting students, writing funding proposals, writing patents, selling your project to venture capitalists or the head of an EU funding body, reviewing articles, managing project funds, general people skills, etc, etc.
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That stuff sounds good to do for both yourself and your CV.
Spending 3 hours finding a coffee machine is a waste of my time.
 
Jack Bauer said:
tbh to many of the replies indicate that the point of a PhD is to do a thesis and pass. This isn't really the case and you will end up with a poor PhD if you just work 9-5 on your thesis and don't develop in other ways. You might as well have stuck with your undergrad degree.
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As per usual... I completely agree with "Jack Bauer" :p

D.P. said:
Agreed 100%. In many universities in many countries no one cares at all about the final thesis. I have known plenty of people that printed off their papers from the journal website, put a short introductory chapter on the front and literally stapled the lot together. (I didn't do this BTW).

The research and documentation is really a small part of the PhD. Really, a PhD is to put you on the path to being a Professor.

All of the useful things I have learned were completely outside the realm of my PhD. Doing scientific research is relatively easy, you learn that at a under undergrad project. Tasks like project organization, time management, rapidly learning new skills/programing languages, teaching, assisting students, writing funding proposals, writing patents, selling your project to venture capitalists or the head of an EU funding body, reviewing articles, managing project funds, general people skills, etc, etc.
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100% this... I know lots of people who are no longer doing research in the area they did their PhD in. Ultimately a PhD shows that you can do (the things in bold above).

To the OP... Don't let people walk all over you (I think spending 10% of your time looking for coffee machines is a bit of a waste) but also, don't gimp yourself by telling the people who can really help you to get lost when they ask you to do something (I know this is extreme and you probably wouldn't do that).

Also... Don't **** people off in the university... It's all politics at the end of the day and come the end of the PhD if you need X or Y and you have ****** people off on the way, it might harm your chances of getting X and Y!
 
4 hours is only ten percent of your time because you're doing so few hours.

For all your supervisor knows, you don't mind doing a little to help the lab run smoothly, someone has to do it after all. How many of the other students and the post docs have spent time helping you with problems? Not all of your time as a PhD student is for you to do your research, you are part of a research group to which you have to contribute, do you complain when you have to take a journal club? Your supervisor spends some time giving you guidance doesn't he? Some of your time seems fair in return, and before you even go there, his time is worth more than yours.

You're just getting all whiney on the Internet before he even knows there's a problem.

And also, if you're just reading papers then do it at home or in a library rather than in your office where there seems to be a party going on?
 
Disco Boy said:
4 hours is only ten percent of your time because you're doing so few hours.

For all your supervisor knows, you don't mind doing a little to help the lab run smoothly, someone has to do it after all. How many of the other students and the post docs have spent time helping you with problems? Not all of your time as a PhD student is for you to do your research, you are part of a research group to which you have to contribute, do you complain when you have to take a journal club? Your supervisor spends some time giving you guidance doesn't he? Some of your time seems fair in return, and before you even go there, his time is worth more than yours.

You're just getting all whiney on the Internet before he even knows there's a problem.

And also, if you're just reading papers then do it at home or in a library rather than in your office where there seems to be a party going on?
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Of course his time is 'more worthy' than mine. He is the Prof and I am the student. There is one other PhD and she gets nothing extra to do. The supervisor insists on PhDs being in the office 9-5 hours.
The purpose of this thread is not for an internet whine, it is because I know there are many people who are either on a PhD or have done one and know far better than I do what the best course of action is.
 
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Disco Boy said:
And also, if you're just reading papers then do it at home or in a library rather than in your office where there seems to be a party going on?
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Completely disagree... It's a place of work not somewhere where a party should be going on. I have changed my office for this very reason. Open plan offices are never the best (in my case) and if you can't be constructive due to the environment around you, kick up a fuss (many people will help you if the workplace is being disrupted) and move.

Why should the OP (not that I can see where he referenced he was having problems with noise) have to put up with others being disruptive?
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
Of course his time is 'more worthy' than mine. He is the Prof and I am the student. There is one other PhD and she gets nothing extra to do. The supervisor insists on PhDs being in the office 9-5 hours.
The purpose of this thread is not for an internet whine, it is because I know there are many people who are either on a PhD or have done one and know far better than I do what the best course of action is.
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Anyone who isn't completely socially retarded will know that the best course of action when you have a problem with your boss is to speak to your boss. People's experience of PhD supervisors is irrelevant.

sbi5ar said:
Completely disagree... It's a place of work not somewhere where a party should be going on. I have changed my office for this very reason. Open plan offices are never the best (in my case) and if you can't be constructive due to the environment around you, kick up a fuss (many people will help you if the workplace is being disrupted) and move.

Why should the OP (not that I can see where he referenced he was having problems with noise) have to put up with others being disruptive?
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I didn't say that he should put up with it or that it is acceptable. But one reason why it could be a good idea for him is that he seems unable to speak to others about things with which he has a problem.
 
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Disco Boy said:
Anyone who isn't completely socially retarded will know that the best course of action when you haves problem with your boss is to speak to your boss. People's experience of PhD supervisors is irrelevant.
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It would be daft speaking to him without speaking to people who may have been in the same situation or know people who have been.

I will speak to my supervisor, but as his people skills are quite lacking I need to decide how to go about it.

If you are going to continue to add posts that in no way help, please don't just don't bother.
 
OpenToSuggestions said:
I will speak to my supervisor, but as his people skills are quite lacking I need to decide how to go about it.
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I know the position you are in as some one I know is in a similar situation... It really does suck when a supervisor has zero people skills. :(

Eughh.... Still working on PhD stuff at this time of night. Trying to get a presentation done for next week when I head off to Sweden to give a lecture and do some work with a company (every PhD cloud has a silver lining though :p )
 

Are you going to the university poster competition?

I'm 6 months into a Computer Science PhD and I'm expected to do at least 9-5, but I usually work 9am-9pm most days with a few days more relaxed to make it bearable.

I'm a lab supervisor for 2 modules and I do some programming contract work too, my supervisors are happy with this. Other than the odd bit of lab material prep/checking I don't get given any mundane jobs!
 
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