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Original poster

Anyone doing a PhD?

117 replies

Klio · 12/01/2006 11:00

I'm six months pregnant with first baby, work part time and trying to do a PhD (early church theology) part time (no funding as arts based grrr) as well so all feels a bit of an uphill struggle at moment!! Have major guilt feelings all the time as not done any research for ages now as always too exhausted to even contemplate opening my books. Just wondering if anyone has any good tips, especially for once baby arrives on scene, or just fancies a general rant about the whole thing!!

OP posts:
AbiGilby · 14/01/2006 19:09

Hubby's doing a PhD, we're due our first baby on 4th May - have you found any help with funds? That's our big issue - we can't get help from the LEA, nor from the Social, as hubby's not unemployed but nor is he paid!

Original poster
Klio · 16/01/2006 09:14

Sadly no help with funding at all so can't point you in any kind of useful direction. I work part time, 3 days a week, to help make ends meet which at least will give me some maternity pay but I sometimes feel like everything is conspiring against me finishing the damn thing!! Only trouble about working part time is that it eats into my research time which really annoys me. As to what happens once baby arrives in April is anyone's guess.

Re: funds, the only thing I could suggest is to see whether he could do some teaching within the department (but always a pain as not amazingly paid and loads of unpaid prep involved) or some A level or GCSE tutoring which is always a useful little cash injection an not same amount of prep involved. Sorry I can't be of more use Abi

OP posts:
AbiGilby · 16/01/2006 10:22

No worries - it's nice to know that there is someone out there who is a similar position as me.

When's your baby due?

I?ll contact you with my e-mail address if you fancy chatting.

Abi

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AbiGilby · 16/01/2006 10:24

I can?t CAT you for some reason.

CAT me if you want to chat.

Abi

Ellbell · 16/01/2006 23:35

Hiya

No real advice, as I had finished my PhD before having kids. Dh hadn't finished his when I had dd1 (and just scraped in his viva before dd2's birth!), but I was working full-time by then so it wasn't so bad. I just thought I'd say hello. How close to finishing are you Klio? I'd try not to get too bogged down with the guilt feelings. When your baby is first born you are unlikely to feel like doing much. 'Allow' yourself that time away from your research, and you'll probably feel much more like coming back to it when your lo starts to sleep a bit better and you have a few hours to yourself in the evenings or whenever. My dds are now 5 and 3 and I am still working full-time, but I find that the only time I get to do any research is in the vacation or else late at night (usually between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m.), which isn't ideal, but I am surviving by the skin of my teeth.

Your topic sounds interesting. I work on Dante, so there are points of contact!

Good luck with it all, anyway.

gingernut · 16/01/2006 23:51

Does your uni/college have such a thing as a hardship fund? I got some funding from ours but `twas way back when so they may not exist any more (did my PhD ages before children arrived on the scene).

Good luck.

Highlander · 22/01/2006 16:06

I'm still trying to finish mine off. Final corrections now before I submit, but it's taking forever with a 16mo toddler in the house. I can't imagine what life will be like when it's all done..........

Original poster
Klio · 25/01/2006 09:59

Arrgh, internet been down and then we've been away for weekend so only just managed to get back online!! Abi will attempt to CAT you in a bit. Good news is that my supervisor has given me an 18 month suspension period (3 semesters) so that takes the pressure off me a bit and I've only got a month before I go on maternity leave (hurrah) so that should give me some time to get things sorted before baby arrives.

OP posts:
anyamy · 26/01/2006 21:26

as far as funding is concerned ( i am not doing a phd i'm barely managing to get my head round applying for my ma!) but have you tried the arts and humanities board, they give bursuries for people studying for MA's - i'm not sure about phd but i cannot see wht not! try it and see.

Ellbell · 26/01/2006 23:12

AHRC doesn't fund part-time research, unfortunately. Good luck with your MA application Anyamy.

roosmum · 01/02/2006 10:01

hi klio...i'm a fellow phd mum.

my ds turns 1 tomorrow
i've only just returned to my phd tho, as thankfully have ahrc funding. you may not feel like it (i certainly didn't) but try to do as much as poss before baby arrives - i had visions of my small baby having lots of naps, leaving me time to read...was SO wide of the mark i can only !! the break has done me good tho, i think, & i'm really keen to work now!
like ellbell, i'm keeping a few strange hours atm, but no choice to do otherwise.

actually if you're still reading this ellbell, i'd love to ask you about combining motherhood w. being an academic? obv. lots of academics are also mums (my supervisor for eg), just wonder how well you think it works iye? no worries if you're too busy to reply tho, sound like tough going for you atm!

roosmum · 01/02/2006 10:02

klio, how far along with phd are you?

i'm into 2nd year, working on C18th women's writing.

Ellbell · 01/02/2006 14:06

Hi Roosmum

Quick break!

Well, it works, just... There are advantages and disadvantages of being an academic, as with any job, I suppose. The flexibility in terms of time is good (I tend not to teach after 4.00, so I can mostly avoid getting home too late), but the downside of that is that you end up bringing a lot of work home with you. Likewise the vacations give flexibility. But it really gets up my nose when other parents ask me if I'm 'on holiday' in those weeks when I'm not teaching. I try to explain that I get 5 weeks' Annual Leave the same as everyone else, and that just because I bring work home or do it in the middle of the night, that doesn't mean I'm 'on holiday'. On the other hand, I'm passionate about my subject and that makes it worthwhile. You need good support (from dh - mine works shifts, which can be annoying but does allow him to do some of the drop-offs/pick-ups - and/or family and/or a good childcare provider), but it can be done. On the positive side, Universities tend to be quite good on Equal Ops things. I've had a few stupid comments, but can't say I've met any real discrimination.

Got to dash now, am HoD now too, so things are hectic, but will check in again now and again. Good luck to you all.

Original poster
Klio · 02/02/2006 23:36

I'm in my fourth year part time roos, but that doesn't quite equate with the amount of work I have actually got written 2 chapters and an apendix in some kind of basic draft. Been Difficult generally as we had to relocate owing to dh's job so have had added hassle of two moves, (first to totally unsuitable and tiny rented accomodation and then buying somewhere) in the last 14 months. I absolutely love my subject (early church theology and architecture) but find it so hard to carve time to actually sit down and do any work on it what with working, all the upheaval and now a exhausting pregnancy where I spend every spare minute asleep. Did apply for ahrb funding but sadly because I span three differnet disciplines within my research I didn't get funding. I have decided to take maternity leave from 7 weeks before due date in the hope I can actually get work done and things in some kind of order before life changes forever!! I suppose my biggest problem is that academic research, especially when done from home is not considered as being a "real" job and so I find my precious research time constantly eaten away by tasks that need doing or people popping round to see me. I know I need to be more disciplined but that has never been my strong point. Hey ho I'm confident it will all come together somehow

OP posts:
Highlander · 08/02/2006 18:36

today I submitted my intention to submit. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooo excited.

harrisey · 08/02/2006 19:26

Klio, I'm not doing a PhD but I am hoping to be a theology student come the Autumn. Nice to 'meet' another theology student esp one so much cleverer than me (I'll be an undergrad again in October). I will be picking your brains for my courses lol!

JuJuMoo · 22/02/2006 13:17

Hi everyone, I'm very seriously thinking of doing a PhD starting Sept (I know I'd better get a move on!) Hoepfully funded by the ESRC. Does anyone know if you are permitted to work part time too? It would be a full time PhD. Seriously, (I know sometimes there are "differences" of opinion about this between awarding body, Uni, and student) but how much time realistically will be needed every week - the guidelines say 37.5 but will it require more or less than this. I know its hard to definitively answer this: but how much time to do spend per week on study? How much of this is spent at home working and how much at Uni working? I'll be looking at Refugee intergration. Thanks.

Blackduck · 22/02/2006 13:26

I have my PhD - did it part time and took FOREVER - You have to be kind on yourself (but realistic) I think. Try to do something when you can - even the 'boring' but necessary stuff (putting the bibliography together - that kind of thing).

As for amount of actual time - I couldn't qantify it. Dp did his full-time and pretty much did do f-t hours....

roosmum · 10/03/2006 10:54

for ellbell...

just wanted to say thanks for getting back to me - not on MN much atm (trying to get some work done Wink) & forgot about this thread!

think my problem is a lot to do with confidence - i just dunno whether i'm good enough' & so not sure if i can see it happening. ho hum.
but have no better ideas, so will plough on!

Ellbell · 11/03/2006 20:06

Hi roosmum

Confidence is a perennial problem for me too... but I have always forced myself to trust the opinions of others. If it was up to me, I'd never have actually submitted anything, but when others say that my work is good enough I make myself believe them! Paradoxically, I'd have thought that being HoD would be a nightmare, but actually I find it quite confidence-boosting, rather than the opposite.

Good luck!

roosmum · 25/03/2006 00:21

hi ellbell!

does the confidence thing not go away then??
or do you just get used to it..?
would love to be one of those super-confident networking types, but it'll never be me.

am trying really hard to finish a chapter atm, & it's not going well tbh. my prof. just sent me an essay she's written - it was SO good, almost makes me feel there's not much point in my little chapter iykwim!
anyhow, i've decided not to go to bed til i've written something i'm happy with - needs must, & i've not tried this strategy before!

slapcabbage · 19/05/2006 21:00

Hi everyone

Just joined and found this thread and thought I'd say hello. I've been back part time for a month now ds is 7 months old. My PhD is in Geochemistry and I'm writing up at the moment which is quite hard but at least no more long hours in the lab which was quite tough when v pg. Anyway glad to hear there are some more people out there trying to get over the nappy brain. As for money, I am funded by NERC and they have been v good but was appalled to discover that I am 'not working' as far as the child care element of tax credits goes. What a cheek! Yet again PhDs fall between the cracks.

muminaquandary · 25/05/2006 13:12

Hi everyone and Highlander Good Luck with your submission. I am doing corrections to my PhD which is approved pending the submission of corrections ... am pg with no 2 so am crossing all fingers and toes hoping it goes through OK this time!!

Only problem is my mush brain which prefers spending time on MN to checking and re-checking corrections!!!!

muminaquandary · 30/05/2006 10:01

www.mumsnet.com/Talk?topicid=2240&threadid=55246

this is the old PhD mums thread if anyone is interested, which I started a vvv long time ago ... and have since updated my name to muminaquandary because I was having a work conundrum ... which I have since solved by not working!!!

muminaquandary · 06/06/2006 12:33

I will I will I will finish!!!

Just realised have spent 2 days running errands rather than using precious childcare time to finish off corrections.... AAAgh.

I blame my pg state, but knowing how hard it was last time to do anything AFTER baby, I must I must I must get back to work!!