Switching PhD Advisor: The “Good”, The Bad And The Ugly
Changing PhD advisor over the course of your degree, although quite rare, is a lot more common than people might think. Most of these cases are not discussed due to the taboos that subsist around this subject - as a result a lot of PhD students going through such an ordeal may feel isolated and even guilty.
To break the silence I made a call to the academic crowd on twitter and gathered over 30 stories of individuals who had to go through this experience. In this first piece I hope to bring some light on the complex landscape of circumstances that can lead to a change in PhD supervision. These range from the most collegial of agreements to the extremes of bullying. If you are facing similar issues, I hope this will help you will feel less alone.
In the second blog of this series, I have endeavoured to compile some advice from the brave individuals who reached out to me, in the hopes that current or future PhD students may find some help on these pages. This will be released on the 15th of November.
Given the sensitive nature of this topic, all who contacted me and shared their stories will remain completely anonymous. I cannot express how grateful I am for your trust, and I command you on the courage it took to open up about these, sometimes traumatic, experiences. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
The “good”
Let’s face it: it is never ideal to have to change your supervisory arrangements. However it is sometimes necessary and in the best of cases this is resolved professionally, without any bad blood.
There are a great number of reasons for which such a change would be appropriate. Sometimes a personality or work-style mismatch will occur - there is only so much you can learn about your future advisor before you start working with them. Some students in the stories I collected changed supervisor because of communication/management style issues or some disparity in expectations between the mentor and mentee. In another case, the science just didn’t work out early in the program.
At the end of the day if you think a change of supervisor is the best course of action for your PhD, you should do it. Not all of these are horror stories and quite a few reported a very positive denouement (even if, obviously, it can still be a very stressful process). In one case the P.I. even helped the student find a new advisor!
The bad
Sometimes things just go wrong - either in the circumstances that led to a change of supervision, or in the way this change was handled by the advisor and/or the department. Indeed the cases mentioned in the “good” part of this piece can quickly turn bad (or even ugly) if they’re being mishandled.
In all the stories I read, there was a forest of unfortunate circumstances that brought people to change advisor. Here is a handful of examples (and there are certainly others):
The P.I. gets sick or even passes away
They might go into retirement and somehow be allowed to leave PhD students behind.
They may become overwhelmed with too many PhD students.
They may be leaving research and be unmotivated...
You may have personal circumstances or mental health issues that must take precedence - you may need to take a break and change program or institute. Your well-being comes first.
Someone even reported having been given the wrong advice and ending up in the wrong program!
In some cases the expectations of you P.I. may be unhealthy or unrealistic (e.g. 70h/week including week-ends and holidays).
Some PhD students were simply left to their own devices without proper supervision.
A stroke of bad luck in your life or that of your P.I., a failure of the system, a lack of management… Let’s be honest, it sucks. Grad school is hard enough as it is. Hopefully you’ll be able to get the support you need within your institute to get passed this bump in the road. You can find some tips in the second blog in this series ”Advice from people who switched PhD Advisor”.
I wish you the best of luck and hope that you don’t fall into the next category…
The ugly
Sometimes things don’t just go wrong, they go bat-shit insane. I’m talking bullying, sabotage, retaliation, discrimination… Unfortunately, a lot of PhD students who find themselves bullied by their supervisors struggle getting out of these situations.
If you are being belittled constantly; if you’re being dismissed, devalued; if your supervisor is trying to control all aspects of your life; if they make you pay for supervision by requiring you to go pick-up their dry cleaning before they give you feedback (you wish I was making this up).... Then of course you need to get out - but this is not easy.
The bullies tend to retaliate. I don’t want to scare you, but if you are a similar situation you have to be prepared. Some have tried to intimidate students by telling them lies, e.g. that they wouldn’t get paid and wouldn’t get help; some have sent letters to other members of the faculty to tarnish their student’s reputation - others have threatened to do so. Multiple people I talked to were even harassed by their previous advisors, some were called names in collaboration emails, others found that their science results were in limbo and couldn’t get published as their previous P.I.s made claims over their work even though they hadn’t contributed.
Multiple people reported having P.I.s who were very hostile to the idea of the student seeking help from other academics or making the project their own. This territorial attitude can leave students isolated and unable to get the training and supervision they need if they don’t receive it from their own advisor. Not to mention the tremendous stress associated with the isolation and the guilt-tripping behaviour of some supervisors.
These extreme cases damage careers, they damage lives. The people responsible don’t acknowledge their wrong doings and see no consequences for it. In one case the advisor had not graduated a single student for 20 years. In another, where a supervisor went as far as threatening the student with sending defamatory letters to their potential new supervisor (amongst other things), that same student heard their Chair refer to the situation as “bad chemistry”.
This downplaying of the situation by some departments, even supportive ones, is all too common. Academic politics is complicated; someone pointed out to me that “students come and go” but these people have to keep working together, or next to each other, for years. Besides, nobody trains committee Chairs to deal with bullies and ill-natured actions.
Is that an excuse for departments to sweep things under the rug? Does that justify some committees leaving their students to their own devices and not supporting them during this transition? Hell. No.
In fact, this desire not to rock the boat is exactly what allows perpetrators to foster. Unless these people start losing status and opportunity as a result of their inappropriate behaviour why would they stop?
But unfortunately, this is the reality that some students may face. If you are a student in an abusive situation, now is not the time for activism; you cannot solve the systematic problems of academia by yourself, especially when you are in a vulnerable position. Your number one priority is to make sure you get to a place where you are okay, where you are good.
If you are going through this, I am so, so sorry. The road ahead may be long, and your journey will be unique, but you are not alone.
With love,
Heloise
PS: if you need a spark of hope just know this… Nearly everyone I spoke to finished their PhD ;)
Thanks again to all the people who contributed these stories. Thanks for breaking the silence.
May this only be the beginning.
Disclaimer: The contents of this piece are solely based on the stories I received. This will not reflect the experience of all PhD students who change advisor.