Dear english forum,
this is my first post here although I've been in Switzerland for a while. I was doing a PhD at the ETH and I wrapped up the research I've done for the past 4 years into a thesis. For context, I have 2 first-author journal papers in the biomedical engineering field and 6 conference papers, most of them as first-author. A further first-author journal paper is currently under review.
Unfortunately, my thesis supervisor does not find my research to be sufficient and I will not be getting a phd under him. I was told to put the thesis that I've written on a free online archive (arxiv) but I would like to submit the work elsewhere if possible as I do not wish to lose those 4 years of my life. Anywhere would do.
Any ideas would be welcome.
Further context: I won't be having visa problems as my wife lives and works here with me and she's EU. Money-wise, I have a full-time job already. I just do not want to give up on so much hard work.
Thanks in advance.
Wow, sorry to hear that.
Did he not provide feedback - on which things would need amendment in order for him to accept it?
Usually "normal" mentors wish their PhD students to finalize the graduation.
Or do you just have a bad relationship with him so he is refusing for reasons other than the quality of your work?
Not very likely that it would work, but maybe share your situation with some other professors around; and see if they would be willing to accept your work under their "wing"?
Smells fishy to me.
Typically supervisors bear responsibiluty for their PhD students. Any failure reflects badly on them. Maybe even more so than it does on you. It is also their job as supervisor to keep an eye on work in progress and give guidance as appropriate. If the supervisor thinks that your work is not up to scratch, he or she should thus tell you at an early stage so you can either take corrective action or terminate before you've lost too much time. A supervisor letting you jog along for four years only to tell you at the end that you did it wrong sounds like gross negligence to me.
I know it may not be exactly the same, but at EPFL our doctoral programs all have directors whose responsibilities include resolving conflicts like this. Is there someone in this role or a similar one that could help you?
I'm pretty sure ETH has that too.
But before escalating the problem, and potentially burning any bridges in the process, I would first try and seek a solution with the supervisor directly.
If this comes to light, it will reflect badly on the supervisor as well as on you.
Thanks for the replies. I have now contacted the head of doctoral studies to discuss this matter.
The supervisor who rejected the thesis is actually already a replacement for the original supervisor who hired me. He 'inherited' me earlier this year and had to assess what I have done so far on a relatively short notice. It made the most sense that I write the thesis and present it to him for assessment. I cannot really blame him as he is on a tenure track and, therefore, has a very rigid view of what is acceptable for him.
If there is someone to blame, it's either the original supervisor and/or me. I will bring up the whole situation in my meeting with the head of doctoral studies to see if anything can be done to rescue the phd. Thanks again.
You committee chair, talk to them asap. And make sure you know who has access to your work.
Sorry to hear this. I've no personal experience but a friend of mine in the UK, a few years ago, found himself in a similar position. It wasn't just a one-shot pass/fail thing like an exam. He submitted his draft thesis in advance to get an assessment and was told it wasn't sufficiently rigorous or detailed, and that it wouldn't cut it. But his supervisor was quite sympathetic and advised him how to beef up the work. He was given an extension and got on with it, eventually passing.
Not sure what arrangement you have with the university, or if the rules differ here, but as others have said, there must be avenues to explore either to have the decision overturned, or to be able to re-submit after further work.
Good luck.
Really bad situation. Like someone mentioned this is really bad on the supervisor. Submit as many peer review articles as possible. I think it was in Sweden you can submit a PhD thesis if you have a number of peer review articles submitted. Good luck. Don’t give up.
Don’t forget PhD stands for permanent head damage....
ETH and most of the other Unis here allow for cumulative dissertations, but it really depends on what the supervisor wants.
I've gone through ETH's graduate program and I have a lot of contacts/friends who've received PhDs or are in the process of getting their PhD there. To be honest, I can't name a single person I know who has had their dissertation rejected, and only one case where it was apparently a borderline decision. There were a couple who didn't have their contracts renewed after their first year or midway through left on their own, but that's not the situation here.
That said, almost all PhD students at ETH are also employed as research assistants or associates on 60-80% contracts, so I would be more than a little surprised if the original poster didn't see his supervisor's decision coming in advance.
In either case, English Forum isn't the right place to seek help for this problem.
That sucks. But it can't be just the old supervisor/your fault, there are PhD committee meetings for a reason. When did you have your last one and what did they say. A PhD student arriving at 4 years without being kicked out and then failing the thesis is a failure of the department too.
If you "wrapped up" the thesis maybe the story is not good enough and you could build a better one with an extension, but your professor must be constructive for this to happen I guess.
You should talk to the "ombudsman", I'm sure the
Ombudsstelle can help you finding the appropriate person to talk to.
From the experience of a former co-worker: when he had a conflict the Ombudsman made sure to point out that if worse comes to worst he could get a PhD from another advisor within ETH.
Good luck!
One goes to the ombudsman when a problem cannot be resolved, so he first has to follow the usual proces for resolving problems at ETH, if this leads to nothing he could think of the ombudsman.
The user has been banned for trolling, not sure he can see replies any more.
But before he left he declared that he is going to get his PhD after all, so perhaps he took some of your advice! Think thread can be closed now.
Did you read the entire thread?
a) OP is banned
b) You won't get marketplace privileges from posting fluff. https://www.englishforum.ch/forum-su...ish-forum.html
I didn’t fall for that sob story for the 30sec it took to read Been there done that (PhD student before “life” got in the way) and spend more time than I wish around those who supervise both very motivated and less-than-disciplined students).
If OP has a full-time job that isn’t the PhD position, before thesis accepted, isn’t that a clue?