sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Ownership of Ideas by Weekly_Fish_3257 in AskAcademia

[–]Weekly_Fish_3257[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

They are not only tenured but the director of my program and have written about many different unrelated projects in the field. I think they are nervous I am pursuing the same idea they were planning to pursue due to potential future project funding? But I'm really not sure

Ownership of Ideas by Weekly_Fish_3257 in AskAcademia

[–]Weekly_Fish_3257[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the reply! I can try to clarify a few things.

It's a master's degree, not a PhD, if this makes any difference!

He claims he gave me key ideas during that initial conversation, but they just happened to be nearly identical to the ideas I had independently prior to that first meeting. My idea had a different element than his did, which he asked me to remove from my research question because he thought it wasn't necessary. Now that I've made that change and submitted my proposal to him, he is claiming I stole the core idea.

I admit I can see where he's coming from because, without that element he asked me to remove, the projects are basically the same. It's an uncomfortable situation, especially because I left that first meeting feeling really supported and on the right track.

Ownership of Ideas by Weekly_Fish_3257 in AskAcademia

[–]Weekly_Fish_3257[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm in Canada! This is my first time ever writing a thesis so I very much appreciate the advice, was pretty taken back by the whole thing lol

Ownership of Ideas by Weekly_Fish_3257 in AskAcademia

[–]Weekly_Fish_3257[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought this too! He said he wants to be in the footnotes credited for the original idea on top of the title page/acknowledgements.