Toxic PhD Supervisor? Effective tactics for dealing with a bad supervisor!

In this video only to be talking about how you can best deal with a toxic and bad PhD supervisor.
0:00 - introduction
0:21 - disclaimer
2:49 - supervisors
4:47 - completely unacceptable things
8:44 - poor leaders and communicators
14:32 - a personality clash between the supervisor and the PhD student
17:38 - conclusion
Let me know in the comments your experience with your PhD supervisor!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Master the art of selecting the perfect PhD supervisor and avoid years of frustration and setback with my NEW course: academy.academiainsider.com/courses/smart-supervisor-selection

[@user-bk1ub4hi4g]

my phd supervisor is extremely rude and toxic. I went to him to meet him once. He literally told me that he is a very busy person and not to disturb him and to never come in his office ever again. One of the most disgusting people I have ever met.

[@mcsszes6246]

I am currently in Germany and I am at a loss for words. My supervisor plays favorites with the locals while constantly belittling the international students. It is Incredible that people like him still exist in this day and age! I cannot wait to finish to return to my country.

[@pousalimukherjee6719]

This happens in Germany also ? I have faced in Japan

[@LogainLbue]

Italy as well, extremely toxic environment

[@zohramartini9425]

They feel "their people" are threatened and may resent you to be at this level. It happens everywhere unfortunately

[@helloyou9533]

Not just internationals, I have an epsrc icase grant in the uk under equal supervision of two accomplished academics and a third industrial supervisor and honestly the trauma will never leave me.

[@helloyou9533]

Everyday this last two weeks I’ve been drafting an email to say I’m withdrawing because of x number of bullet points. Tonight by my boyfriend, I’ve been convinced that if I leave, these three years will be for nothing. Withdrawing will only make me feel like a failure and the trauma will still be there safely despite quitting.

[@abramswee]

i just quit my PhD.. as a part-time student, i went over and beyond what is required of me, but my supervisor was either too lazy or didnt bother to read my thesis draft for more than a year. I keep chasing her for my final seminar with only less than 6 months to go toward the end of my 6 year study journey. she pulled a fast one and state that my thesis failed her expectation. what? after 6 long year, i submitted it to her constantly for review and this is the stunt she is pulling on me right now. I just had enough of the mental gymastic with her. After achieving 13 publications with little or no help from her, i even paid for some of the tier-2 conference fees out from my own pocket. Nothing ever meet her expectation. that is it! i quit

[@poojasinha6629]

Oh my god... That is heart breaking 💔. I can relate to such professors.

[@harackmw]

Can you change to another supervisor?

[@mau345]

Damn. Maybe consult someone in the higher up first? Change advisor then get that degree.

[@jessicageller320]

heart breaking

[@hirarauf422]

Extremely heart breaking going through a similar situation 😢

[@LogainLbue]

Here's a story for you: My supervisor was so toxic and resentful that I ended up securing my own grants and funds just to be able to run the minimal experiments I needed as he was intentionally blocking them with excuses. Needless to say, he was very infuriated with me when I actually financed myself, and even more when after the Ph.D. the work turned out to be a base for a Startup. the situation escalated so much that he used funds from my "Ph.D. student budget" to buy consumables for the lab, and when I presented the documents to use these funds for a course.....was forced to borrow from other professors to repay it. Ah....the intellectual honesty of academia

[@sashanealand8315]

exact same thing happened to me

[@mau345]

Ewww😩

[@rosesmiles2384]

This is why I refuse to do a phd. Profs are so out of the real world enveloped in their useless research and academic prestige

[@VickyLoras]

Unbelievable that these people exist. It took me ages and numerous rejections to find my supervisor but he is absolutely AMAZING: helpful, patient, humble, kind, always willing to and very fast to reply to emails, messages and so on - it was really worth the wait!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Well done for finding an amazing supervisor - They are rare but worth the wait!

[@VickyLoras]

@@DrAndyStapleton Thank you so much!

[@nadagh3235]

I am happy for you :). I haven't personally found healthy supervision during my study

[@VickyLoras]

@@nadagh3235 I’m so sorry about that 😞

[@nadagh3235]

@@VickyLoras Thank you!

[@sonpollo8995]

My narcissistic supervisor from a SA university is about to be a hit with litigation for fraud, bullying and sabotage.

[@sashanealand8315]

yay! hope to see more of this

[@hack2science945]

My PhD supervisor didn't gave me any topic or setup to perform experiment and started demanding papers without any guidance ... I eneded up in complaining against him

[@meichan171]

I have meetings with my supervisor and other group members and it still doesn't discourage my supervisor to bully and harass me in front of everyone. It's beyond being a bad supervisor, it's about being a terrible human being.

[@raveenjohn6283]

Some supervisors lack knowledge as well, and yet when u go to discuss, that affects their ego leading to personality clashes...supervisors are just mess at times... Again not all supervisors are like that...but specially when u have a problem with ur primary supervisor - then it's definitely a problem which none can really solve...not even co supervisors as due to politics involved...

[@adrianafayad6774]

My supervisor barely knows I exist, he gave me wrong instructions regarding the sending of my project to the ethics commitee (I'm an immigrant and didn't knew the way people here work at academia). He wrote a paper on my project and only told me about it after it had been published. Tomorrow finally we are going to talk in person and I hope sort things out between us. Let's see how this goes... Thank you for the great content! 😊

[@cryora]

I brought up my supervisor to our ombudsman, but since my supervisor is also the director of my program, the ombudsman was basically said my supervisor is too powerful for him to change, and gave me the impression that he prefers that I handle it without getting him involved. Basically the ombudsman was like, oh crap, this sounds scary, screw this.

[@zeinabtashi2980]

The part you mentioned threatening! My supervisor believes that this threats push me! And make me a better phd student, while now I feel I have no mental health! I constantly crying and afraid of him. I’m an international student, first he said if you pass this course with B it’s ok, then he said A, now, I got an A in the first exam, he is saying I can’t work with you this way and you aren’t doing things right (right means that classify everything as I say, make your ppt as I say, you font, style, everything should be the way that he is comfortable, even small details!) I constantly threatened to kicked out of the program or he won’t offer me a contract. Huge amount of force and work hours (9AM-8 PM) I really don’t know what to do.

[@discover685]

The exact same thing is happening to me now and I don't know what to do.

[@tenzindolma9957]

Same with me😢

[@Trolltastically]

My advisor was the poor communicator type, which was maddening for me because I felt like he didn’t care about me or my work for years. What I didn’t see was how truly distraught and burnt out he was in general. He took his life while I was writing. So, I couldn’t agree more with the sentiment that you should never assume anything about someone. What I took as personal rejection, was really him just trying to scrape by each day. He was a superstar in my area, published maniacally, but he rarely co-published even with his students. What’s scary for me is the closer I get to his age and progress in my career, I understand more now on an emotional level what he was miserable about with the system (although it’s likely much more complicated what happened with him than the system being terrible) how pointless it all can feel. Like an endless treadmill that makes other people money while you give your life away. I made it to tenure and chair, and I’m about to be part of a mass layoff to be replaced by adjuncts. And with the way things are going in academia, I know this is the end of my academic career. I don’t have the pedigree to move on to another place like nothing happened. Was it worth it? Shrug.

[@satk4211]

I’m in the process of finishing my dissertation for my BSc and my supervisor has asked me to do a PhD but he is boasty as f. It has really put me off with what he says and how he gloats and makes me uncomfortable and led me to look at other PhD programs. I put him as a reference and he said I would be stupid to leave his world leading research of four people. My gut feeling tells me to be wary of him no matter how good his work apparently could be.

[@NatureIsAbsolutelyCalling2023]

A great and important topic! Unfortunately, academic narcissism does exist. I think having knowledge about the different narcissistic personalities, why and how they operate and behave, helps to better protect oneself against narcissistic and emotional abuse in academia, at the workplace and in interpersonal relationships. Because this repetitive behavioural addiction goes far beyond just being an asshole (according to experts on narcissism, e.g. Dr Craig Malkin, Harvard Medical School). I've had my share with narcissistic abuse, and when I can identify one, I walk away as soon as I can. They might have high IQ but not so much EQ.

[@samuelsze556]

One toxic supervisor has just given the thumbs down!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Haha!

[@gulnazlaghari2530]

😭

[@alexperoff-investingessent8367]

Great video! I completely agree with you, I've seen all these kinds of behaviors from PIs and it can create a tremendously toxic environment. I would say that one thing I would add is that you need to have the confidence to talk to your advisor in a professional manner. Honestly, I think so many students are a little afraid of their PhD adviser. I know I was. I was co-advised and one of my advisers was very moody. Sometimes he would be doing great, other days he would be doing terribly. You were always on your toes when you were around him because you just didn't know if he was going to be helpful and encouraging, or just nasty for no reason. But not being afraid of your adviser and picking an adviser who is truly approachable is a complete game-changer when completely your Ph.D.. Like-12

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Thank you, Alex! Yes, I think academics are seen as some sort of higher being by students. As you get to know them you realise that they are just people and asking them for more help and direction is perfectly acceptable.A moody and unapproachable PhD supervisor is tough.

[@marohs5606]

what to do with moody supervisors? knowing u cant change him ?

[@alexperoff-investingessent8367]

@@marohs5606 This is just my opinion, but I eventually learned that no matter how moody my adviser could be, they couldn't dispute facts. I really boned up on my knowledge of the literature (particularly of groups my adviser respected) and when I proposed something and my adviser thought the idea was bad or something, I would reference all the other groups doing the same thing, and that changed his mind. I also tried to avoid my adviser if he was in a bad mood. I hope that was helpful.

[@PhD_Author]

I have had monthly supervision from the start and it works well. I can’t imagine anything more frequent. I’d feel micromanaged which I hate. But I was an experienced project manager before so this suits me. He has 10 PhD students I think it suits him. He will always respond quickly if I need information, normally within 24 hours. I’m progressing very well.

[@stateoftheart9542]

My advisor (ex) started bullying me after my dissertation lol. I didn't have a great experience with him anyway... You've an excellent point, the academia/system rewards some selfish and arrogant behaviour, which just complicates even more the postgraduate journey.

[@jean-pierrecastillejo5477]

Always keep emails. Convert them to PDF. Contact the program coordinator as well as a solicitor.

[@fuhodev9548]

My Prof kept telling me that he can't work with me, and said that I can not go out of my comfort zone, but I don't feel any obstacle when talking with other labmates, I just do not want to involve in any activities that have my Prof presence because he is kind of a dominant person, he always want everyone follow his order, even in sports, I played football with him 3,4 times and everytime I played with him, he always want me to do this, to do that, and he never recognized his faults, he even scold other teammates, I can not argue with him in the match because he is my Prof, so I decided to keep silent and stay away from him....I don't know if I should stay anymore???????

[@kaydenakh8205]

A student's (my) thesis can evolve and end up taking shape outside of their advisor's area of expertise, through no fault of their own. So, outsourcing mentorship certainly proves important for helping to identify and answer the big questions. Your videos are incredibly insightful -- thanks so much for your hard work here!

[@ovidbowie3929]

Bro I needed to hear exactly that. Sorry but I gotta vent. It started with what are you interested in. Then became well okay the PI will like it but it isn’t the very particular thing I do, but let’s see if the PI likes it…he did…then it became radio silence…then it was you’re independent so you can do your thesis on your own…now it’s “I’ve never liked your project and it’s very likely you won’t get a job with what you are studying” and a comment of idk if you’ll be getting a good rec letter for grad schools. Without the help of other advisors who are just nice people who I happened to approach I would have lost hope and quit my dream career before it even started.

[@dachinoloko7624]

A lot of PhD and Masters Research Students don't know this. You have the right to FIRE your supervisor. Yes...no where else in the world besides in the academic world where you can actually faiya ya boss ;-)

[@nonee915]

Not applicable in India 😊

[@aquamarine2239]

How ?

[@ahmedomaia7032]

Thank you Andy for the very useful videos. In my opinion, supervisors are the reasons behind all complications during PhD journey. Some students can be lucky and find very supportive supervisors, but this is rare unfortunately. At the end of the day, this is the typical academic life, and we have to admit if we want pursue a PhD.

[@sammienguyen3758]

My supervisor is great as a person. Very supportive and responsive. But as I work with her, I realised that she is incompetent and can't give me helpful advice. She gave me almost zero guidance. Whenever I send her my work, all she critiques is grammar mistakes that is not what I expected. It really affects my progression. I have tried very hard to work on my own but I can't solve all problems by myself or sometimes I can't even see the problems. Unfortunately she doesn't give me any advice. I feel extremely stressed and have been thinking if I would progress better if I worked with someone else.

[@sashanealand8315]

yes I was surprised at this also then I realized she has spent her time reading recycled ppt slides for the past 10+ years and not much else and it made sense

[@hanemellethy9036]

Incredible video, you have mentioned all the bad behaviors and challenges of the PhD student relationship with the supervisor. Thanks

[@Stevo5397]

As always, your videos are above and beyond with how helpful (and detailed) they end up being!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Glad you like them! Thank you so much for watching them and supporting the channel!

[@Re-eh6wz]

My postdoc supervisor bullies me, insults me, embarrasses me and say really nasty things to me. I've been forced to share first authorship with other postdocs who did very little to get the publication ready.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Sorry to hear this, Re.

[@Chris-or7it]

Once you go to the dean or someone else, you're screwed. You can no longer use that advisor as a job reference or letter writer. These relationships have far reaching implications.

[@sashanealand8315]

not to mention that the dean and or chair is probably their cronie and probably doing the same stuff themselves

[@nuramohammed480]

I am so grateful, my supervisor has weekly meetings, and then there is also a monthly meeting which has to be done as a regulation by the university. I think that it would be helpful if you could speak about colleagues in the team and how to establish a good relationship/ how to work well as a group.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

And please you have regular contact with your supervisor - that is very important. I'll add your recommendation to my list of videos! Thank you for the recommendation

[@janswanton3631]

Thanks for the support, Andy. I am going to go with the first supervision and then make my mind up whether I can work my way into this chap's working world (I think it is probably a case of getting him to take an interest) or not. I have joined a research student Facebook group and am exploring how they might help. It is very early days, but as you say, establishing the rules early is vital. The problem is that the academics still see themselves as doing you a favour, there is absolutely no concept of themas service providers! Thanks again for your kind help. I'll let you know how it goes once I've finally had my supervision with this guy. Your videos are really helpful, I'm looking forward to what is next!.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

You're very welcome, Jan. Let me know how it goes.

[@os2171]

I’m about to finishing my PhD after dealing with 3 supervisors in two different and international institutions and you won’t believe what a had to live through (and even before that I was research associate at UPenn and lived and witnessed the worst PI behavior… he was removed from his position years after I left but he damaged the mental health of several research associates, PhD students, even Postdocs… I could expand… but you know academia is ultimately a mafia unfortunately…

[@lindsay3917]

Great advice! I have an awesome supervisor but communication is still key. Focusing on what you need is really helpful, then you're not critiquing them or their style, you're just letting them know what does or doesn't work for you

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Absolutely! I'm so pleased you have an awesome supervisor. Good luck with your PhD!

[@jasoncrozier2575]

Hi Andy my name is Jason I recently was excepted into my PhD and today I had an interaction with my PhD supervisor where I told her that I wanted to discuss employment opportunities we have been discussing me working with my masters supervisor at another university for two months now she seemed OK with it but today she sent him an email filled with abusive language she also seems to forget when we’ve had key conversations about me becoming a teaching assistant for his class I feel very unsure of what’s gonna happen in tomorrow’s meeting thank you for producing videos like thisAll the best Jason

[@VC_333]

I needed this so much right now.

[@coolshan2173]

Awesome video... You have hitted the bulls eye. This is the least talked topic but exist very commonly. Make more videos for awareness..

[@DrAndyStapleton]

More to come!

[@ahmhmd1990]

Thank you very much for making this video!

[@DrAndyStapleton]

My pleasure!

[@Skorpi00007]

Thank you very much for this video!

[@retroSTAAR]

My supervisor threatened to drop me out if I don’t make drastic improvements in my work when his expectations are unrealistic. I am now on the verge of quitting

[@ThePunisher014]

You are not alone, hang in there.

[@raveenjohn6283]

The first line was the best✌✌- you can't live with them and you can't live without them...wrong supervisors can be killers!!!

[@frankservant5754]

Great advice well thought out

[@markheines8703]

I've been following my supervisor's instructions for the past year and im yet to achieve any meaningful progress! draft over draft, always asking for different things and there always seems to be something wrong and the need to re-do it all over again or yet, change the fuckin topic, and they wouldn't even sign my thesis! always delaying that although i've been putting all my time, money and attention into this, but i've been so deeply invested in this that i cannot just pull out for my own sake, this sucks!

[@narutobullock]

I am sorry you are going through this situation.

[@tapashyarasaily1373]

My supervisor lashes out and is totally out of control. Shd I quit?

[@grillfindor]

Awesome video as usual Andy, more important especially for a person like me who is waiting for the admission results for Fall 2021. I just want to add one more "completely unacceptable" situation as not giving credit. I have been to the EU and US for various labs for work on chemistry and I can say that most of the labs were toxic AF. One of my PI is now waiting to publish a couple of papers that I have been working on them for the last 1.5-2 yrs. He is waiting for me to start another lab so he can exclude my name on the paper. And this happened to me before in the US -one of the top 20 uni- they actually waited for me to went back to my home institute to exclude my name even I have made 100% of the experiments, get and process data, check reliability and reproducibility of 2 figures that I have created for the paper. They used ALL of them without adding my name on the paper. Still, I don't have an idea about how to choose PIs for my grad admission, but I feel confident that even I have accepted, for instance, to MIT or CALTECH I cannot tolerate another situation even closer to the ones I have mentioned above and I will quit without thinking for a second.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Thanks for adding that, Grillfindor! It is absolutely unacceptable that you have been left off the paper despite doing all the work. If you find out where it has been published you can get in contact with the journal editor and, with evidence, as for the paper to be retracted until your name has been put on it. Speaking to the academics before submission of the paper and telling them that you are going to challenge its publication may be a way to get your name on that paper. You won't make any friends and may annoy them but it is an option for you.

[@grillfindor]

@@DrAndyStapleton You are absolutely right and thanks for the advice Andy, the point is if you are an undergrad your words might not as important as others. And showing the evidence is quite tricky, things get ugly very very quickly. You will end up as your words against professors (especially if they are friends of the editor) etc. For now, I'm keeping my head down and focus on grad school. *Fingers crossed* Love your content, by the way

[@pepaxxxsvinka3379]

@@grillfindor how is going on, Griffindor? Is you supervisor okay?

[@Laura-cv4ey]

Thank you so much for this video! It's so good to see that this sensitive topic is being addressed in a constructive manner. If I may ask you a question, what would your advice be on a situation where you sometimes don't seem to find agreement with your supervisor on your project & scientific approach, and you don't feel like your ideas are being heard? So a work-related issue rather than supervisor-student relationship issues (although these further complicate the work-related issues, so you can't completely separate the issues I suppose)

[@DrAndyStapleton]

My pleasure, Laura. That's a tricky one… It all comes down to negotiation and trying to understand the other person's perspective. If you are able to iterate back to your supervisor why they feel like a certain approach would be better they may feel heard, listen to, respected and therefore more open to your ideas - give it a go!

[@SiyueSong-gb8xk]

To be honest, I have got this type of supervisor. I am a PhD in my writing up year, the first 3 years, my supervisor was almost completely hands-off. None of any technical support for my experiment; none of any detailed discussions related to my application papers, just ask me to submit the paper to the international conference! In terms of one application paper, he just add two comments on the abstract part and told me to add him as the corresponding author.... Currently, he does not want to make effort to read my thesis and provide any comments related to it, although the director come to be involved in my team as a co-supervisor, nothing changed. They kept asking me to make presentation slides to explain my research which was already approved and confirmed by the annual review. Then tried to challenge my research, I would like to go to the top to report it!

[@digitydog1234]

Love the beard man! I'm inspired to grow one.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Go for it!

[@nadagh3235]

Thanks for the video. I have some confusion about the role of the PhD supervisors. I heard a lot of people saying that as a PhD you are the only one responsible for your work. You need to set the plan yourself and find solutions for all your problems. This gives excuses to get bad supervision. I agree that being a PhD, you should be an independent thinker, but I also expect to get guidance from experts in academia and the field when I am stuck with my work for a long time. What can you do if you feel that supervisors are not supportive in the work because of the lack of experience?

[@HS-hi6wc]

This is so helpful.

[@danishkaurpannu691]

Thank you very much for your videos! I have a question: do you think there is space in academia for people who are not competitive and just want to enjoy research at their own pace?

[@sabeehamehtab6954]

Hi, your video is really good. I am in a strange state in the PhD. My oral exam has been successfully completed with very few amendments suggested. But my primary supervisor who is the third category type as you descriptions, is asking for major changes in my thesis because of some ego issue with another supervisor. He did remove all my results published in papers (even after citation), all figures and tables from thesis, only few pictures are left. He wants me to accept it. On not doing so, he is making issues signing the amendments completed form. Very disturbed because of it. If I escalate the issue, it will take time and of course no a thing at this stage.

[@karolmurgrabia5562]

this is an interesting topic for a PhD thesis

[@aaronjclarke1973]

Yes I had issues with my supervisors. I believed I was gaslit by one. As I suffer from schizophrenia they didn’t know how to treat me as an MPhil student. I questioned the teaching methodology for creative writing as well as other things. I talked with my student psychologist who helped me. As I’m led to believe JCU never investigated my claims nor was I given a written apology for the mental anguish I experienced. Besides the best justice is the possible bankruptcy of James Cook University.

[@fatimaalkharsan9747]

Thank you indeed !

[@DrAndyStapleton]

You are welcome!

[@johannamartinez5463]

So, the very nice relationships I found with other mentors were kind of broken for "you are in my lab, I am always the last one on papers" !! It stucks

[@janvisagie231]

I had a serious personality clash with my 'supervisor' (a PhD student) during my master's degree. He's literally is one of my best friends to this day.

[@dan-1617]

in my 2nd meeting I had so much negativity from my supervisor. Like "it's difficult/ extremely difficult, you don't know, how are you going to use it" stuff like that. I'm fed up of hearing stuff like that.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

I often had to remind my supervisors that we had to actually DO the experiments to find stuff out. Too often they think that what they think is reality. Sometimes they are right but often they are wrong.

[@digitalmadrasa4219]

I have a very helpful supervisor but technically he is not working on exact the same I am planning to do. There is a colleague from another department that works exactly what I am doing, and he asked me to get in touch with him and put him on my committee. Do you think is a good idea to rely on that colleague and report to the technical supervisor? I am just totally confused!!!

[@johannamartinez5463]

Very good video. My PhD supervisor is a gost. He is in the office and for money he is there but that's all. Is an atm. So I searched mentors outside that were veryyyy good and very nice. Working very well with me, and then for the authorship the gost always ask for the las place in the paper because is my advisor, buttt he didn't contribute significantly!!!!! What to do there ?

[@rosageorge2208]

My supervisor is using me.. he asks for publications and take money from other professors to put their names on my papers... He put his name first on my patent too.. when I asked for a clarification and to put my name first at least on one paper he scolded and threatened me. I really don't know what to do with him!! I just wanna drop out this scholarship and run away. I am trying to search for another scholarship in another college because of him but It's not going on well so far because they all ask for publications.. the ones stolen by him and his gang

[@RafalSB]

This is terrible. I'm sorry you have to go through this but unfortunately, it happens in academia. Please speak up, escalate it to the dean of your school or at least a confidential advisor and don't stay silent.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Hi Rosa, this looks like a very challenging situation. It is very common in academia for people to steal ideas and claim them as their own. It's not right but it happens. Scalding and threatening should never happen and irrespective of the academic ethical issues you should tell your dean about how you are being treated. If that doesn't work access someone in the University to help you navigate this difficult situation.

[@NidhiSinha4U]

@@DrAndyStapleton are you available for one to one counseling or advice session.. I am dealing with one of the bad phd supervising experiences.

[@DrAndyStapleton]

@@NidhiSinha4U I don't currently have any counselling or advice session plans. If a significant number of people wanted it I would think about setting aside a few hours a week to meet with people online…

[@sarumathiykulasekaran8841]

I think it's high time to break the scholar-guide architecture in phd and follow some other academic design ...nevertheless this would never end

[@rafgmcallister1566]

Andy can you give suggestions on how to stop supervisors stealing your work by putting their name on papers they are even not able to read?

[@IndranisKitchen]

My PhD guide is not ready to sit with a meeting with me. She says she is busy with the other students. Should I speak to the hod?

[@HS-hi6wc]

How do you go about finding mentors? My uni doesn't have programs and isn't well funded.

[@malinkata1984]

Funny(Sad) story here.. I went to do my PhD in a country which is on the other side of the world - literally. Expectantly, I did not have family or friends there and I have never met my supervisor in person before I started my PhD. The first time we had a meeting alone in his office he started openly staring at my breasts - I don't wear provocative clothes at work though. I have never felt so humiliated and confused in my entire life. Consider that he was also married.

[@frankservant5754]

Is it worth staying there?

[@malinkata1984]

@@frankservant5754 I got the degree and returned to my home continent. Lately, I started to regret I stayed to complete it though. It changed me in a ways I don’t like..

[@user-cg7ti3vh1t]

On my 5.5 year Phd. My supervisor liberated eveyone ~ except me! He keeps changing the direction of my research making it impossible to me! He doesn't help! And he claims he believes I will be a great researcher. I feel rather he thinks I am bad! He retired and I am his only prisoner left. I hate him! I hate my research and my university! I literally looked for poisonous plants to eat and end my life! I have 4.3 GPA !

[@giatasha2181]

I hope you got it done and are out :(

[@cameronbaird5658]

Mine is amazing. I could speak for 20 minutes about how amazing she is and everything she has done for me 💯

[@honaidaattaher4549]

My supervisor didn't answer my questions.. he said that his job is to correct what I wrote.. so I have to read, understand and then writing. Send to him by email and he gives me feedback on email too. I lost my motivation, he makes me frustrated.. he didn't say if I did anything at a good manner..

[@danillogaspar6556]

I know I`m not a PHD student but as a MSc student I`ve got a pretty uncommon supervisor… He keeps asking me research and presentations about other things that not even get close to my main research topic. Last week he asked me to upgrade my Linkedin account and use it to ask companies to join a Korean group at Canada I`m not even Korean. Well things are just going worst here he call me and yells a lot, I`m getting crazy here and I don`t really know what to do. I know he asked for good stories on the video but I just wanted to share how I ended up here.

[@xy4669]

I have had the poor leadership and communication lab demons, it ended in a total catastrophe. If you smell those, RUN! They will destroy your life

[@davidgayter5587]

Dear andy I have been doing a phd for 7 months, however I was not sure what my topic was at the start of the course and I have had no help developing one also other students who started recently have been given priority of the test equipment so my training has been limited however, breakdowns and corvid restrictions have played a part. I have talked to the director of of post graduate studies but nothing has happened now my project has been changed to something I do not what to study. My primary supervisor seems to fob me off and my secondary supervisor has decided not to supervise me, stating he was not sure if the industrial sponsor was my supervisor. I am coming up the transfer stage unsure of what to do and no one seems to be available to help. When I started in november the post doc who provides the training was not available due to corvid so nobody else has known what to do as he is the expert in the field I am studying. Is this my fault and could you offer any advise on what to do?

[@frankservant5754]

Do you know people who are in the research group, look for post-docs or people who recently defended their Phd they can help you tremendously

[@J.Barreto]

Had a supervisor bully me in front of the class, because them didn't agree with what I was saying about racism and the war on drugs. I haven't been able to really go back to finish my masters since almost 2 years. Still trying though. The worst part, they didn't have any support to their claim, while I have the UN and most of the biggest scientific community on my side. They were just being racist themselves. That's Gatekeeping in its glory

[@bhagyamadhushani8590]

My supervisor(assistant supervisor) always follow me everywhere. I can't even do a mistake in my first month. He complained it to my head. Even small things.ex. range of a graph etc.within one and a half months he complained six times. I can't say I don't understand this. Then he complained she can't do that,this.

[@mahmudaislam5428]

Hi Andy How do I spot a toxic supervisor before I start the PhD?

[@somnathdas8530]

True.

[@chippydolphin]

Andy, love your channel and advice… is this unethical - forcing your PhD student to revise a paper once they have submitted their PhD?

[@DrAndyStapleton]

It's up to you whether you want to do it. If you are not looking to enter academia you can decline the revision. However, I know of plenty of people who write papers after the PhD is over because they want to finish up their work.

[@chippydolphin]

@@DrAndyStapleton thank you so much 🙏

[@robertmazurowski5974]

I noticed there is one correlation with toxicity. It is poeple. I think getting rid of poeple would make our lives better. I mean it. Give power to AI

[@MultiSudipta]

Come to India. I will show you the HR office in our university. It is built on air. 😂😂

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Oh no!

[@Ayesha_F]

Haha fellow indian says hi! (got a shitty supervisor who isn't involved at all)

[@MultiSudipta]

@@Ayesha_F hello there 😀

[@LeeSeungrhee]

My supervisor is a good professor however he is just very rude for me. I really wanna quit

[@vanajamk7840]

My supervisor is toxic one..some how i completed and know this guy doesnt give any referance while going for post doc ..and im stuck as most of the university ask for phd supervisor reference..even though other referees are good

[@bigsprucerabbitry6238]

I had two supervisors in grad school. The first one was an extremely bad match. They were the black sheep of my department due to a scandal I was unaware of but was common knowledge to the powers that be and made everyone else in my department suspicious of me when I started grad school (the prof offered me a funded place in his lab to do a Ph. D and I jumped on it having just graduated undergrad and thinking I had just won the lottery - two years before this same prof got up to some monkey business totally unrelated to my position, but I sort of ended up a pawn in a standoff within my department over the fall out). I got out the situation in my first year but it left me with a handicap and extremely nervous about getting an adviser. The second adviser was outside of my department got me through although we had a tepid relationship, but I mastered out and we harbor no ill will toward each other. I do not claim to be great as a grad student, but I finished and my adviser successfully got me through on time. I did have a lot of meeting with my second adviser that left me in tears due to a personality clash (they tended ask questions about my life to be friendly like "did you do anything fun this weekend?" and then place judgement on anything that was not research related and the snide comments could really bite plus I made some dumb mistakes when writing computer programs and got raked over the coals for not being good enough), but thankfully there was a professor on my committee I went to for help to when things were rocky with my primary and became super professional with my primary supervisor not even mentioning I was getting married over spring break to diffuse the issue that I knew they would make it into and would only serve to upset me and was not detracted from my research since my these was in the process of being published in the school library and I was just waiting to sign final paperwork. I got through and did not make horrible mistake like getting a Ph. D. so no complaints. At least I don't need to wonder what might have been if I had not taken a shot at academia.

[@omniaelfedawy1424]

Mein just likes to stress the students and listen to others rumors it is hell in my lab

[@BronEager]

'Daily meetings' (!!) You do realise that some academics get zero hours allocated to them in their workloads to perform supervision. I love supervising students and will offer them whatever they need, but some understanding of the additional stressors academics face in their roles is necessary for a realistic expectation of what a supervisor can provide. The majority of us are trying to do our best in a broken system :)

[@sashanealand8315]

so why do you take on a student to supervise if you dont plan to have the time to do it?

[@shreyabera1995]

What do if your PhD supervisor suddenly tells you to change the topic in your final year, without any previous indications that the topic is a failure?

[@frankservant5754]

So it happens elsewhere too

[@shreyabera1995]

@@frankservant5754 unfortunately, yes. It's a battlefield I want to run away from. But I know I will have to pursue it till the end.

[@dhirajsrivastava4180]

My masters supervisor was amazing .

[@nonee915]

I wish I cud give u a call for suggestions in this crisis time of mine

[@emmalola2885]

I just got placed with a shit supervisor. When I say shit, she’s freaking brutal and doesn’t even know how to mark (she does not follow the marking standard). This is for a MSc course and I am really unhappy about it. I’m not sure what I can do regarding this situation as I’ve been told we can not change the supervisor

[@Trolltastically]

Whatever you decide to do, I hope you’re able to heal from such a bad experience

[@mjsinghk.1178]

You can live without a supervisor. Just don't be stupid enough to pay for college tuition to become someone's slave for 6 years. Use your skills and start something of your own. Anyways, researchers use Google scholar which is open to anyone and supervisors give little to no technical help

[@sashanealand8315]

My supervisor writes and talks about herself in the third person and thats not the weirdest thing by far.

[@jessicageller320]

mine does not respond to my emails

[@Barkha_Scientist]

I witnessed toxic Korean professor who was hard to tolerate; very complex, impatient and scientifically unempathetic.

[@usedec8678]

Before starting PhD, everyone warned you of difficulties. You may mistake it as the difficulties of research but it turned out mostly the difficulties dealing with Bad supervisors. I say this because I saw MANY unproductive PhD students got their degree when their NORMAL supervisor said so. Yes, a normal supervisor would let you finish even you are bot productive! but a bad supervisor would FAIL you even you are Einstein (because of jealous shit maybe)😂 Do SEARCH before start!!!

[@samial-jabar9861]

My Masters supervisor is not from Computer science background although my research is related to that background. Also he does not know much about what work I did. He only cares about project tasks being done or not because those are for a company. He also does not let me talk to other professors or cosupervisors. So when I face a problem, he cant help as he is from nuclear background and I am always suffering. Now I have 2 publications of my thesis work, still I am not being able to schedule my defense as this is my final semester. How do I deal with such scenario?

[@Jaime-eg4eb]

Most people on this planet have the integrity and maturity of a five year old. Don't get a supervisor or give that level of control over your life to anyone if there's anything better for you out there. And there probably is, since academia has mostly turned into a money-making scam.

[@WittingL]

One thing to remember is that supervisors are just humans and supervision is not a critical part of becoming an academic. No guidebook covering all students exist. Matching up with your student is difficult. Dont judge your advisors too hard. Even if they do mistake. We are all humans so are they.

[@pepaxxxsvinka3379]

My supervisor is very good, always has time for me but I gotta go to another university and there will be another one. I feel dreadful about the change and possibility of bumping into a toxic supervisor that will leave me alone with my problems.

[@sciencefliestothemoon2305]

I have a nice guy. He kicked the stats guy of the trial and thought he knew better, then he bullied people into changing data into his narrativ otherwise he wouldnt agree to it being published.

[@meharihabtemariam3035]

The thing is ok let's say you report them for their unacceptable behaviour when you are in your third year. And what is going to happen for you if they stop helping you when you need them. They can pretend to help you but never give you a significant help. What do you do in this situation?

[@DrAndyStapleton]

Hello! I read your comment a while ago and been thinking about the best way to give you some advice - I feel like you don't have to do callout unacceptable behaviour on your own. You could seek support from other people who have experienced unacceptable behaviour and you could also decide to do anonymously. However, if you are genuinely being bullied and you fear that they will stop helping you that is a recipe for disaster for your PhD and I would consider getting a co-supervisor as soon as possible to mitigate any issues which may occur from a particularly problematic supervisor.

[@meharihabtemariam3035]

@@DrAndyStapleton The thing is how would you suddenly search and find a co-supervisor when you are about to graduate after few months. Another problem is what if you research interest is only to the abusive supervisor. So, my conclusion is it is never an option to report your supervisor; also think this way,,you are going to ask him a recommendation letter after few months in order you to get some positions, let's say a post doctoral position. Then, how would someone expect them to write a good and strong recommendation letter,,if you have tainted their profile by reporting them. So, I would say as long as they do not harass you sexually, reporting looks like a very last option. Another thing I would think is also confront them with their own words at the time of harassing and may be tell them in their face, you are not their slave almost like you did. Through this way,,may be they can restrain themselves from abusing you. But the thing is they are powerful and an advisee has only fewer options if not few. Well, what to do?! This is our world!😓😤

[@claudiamalacrida1337]

@@meharihabtemariam3035 same Problem here :/

[@pousalimukherjee6719]

@@meharihabtemariam3035 very true

[@discover685]

@@meharihabtemariam3035 true

[@galenseilis5971]

It is also a bad sign if the professor bullies the lab techs.