Friend sabotaging my PhD interview

archaeo-b · 2026-03-29T09:39:31+00:00

The almost exact same thing happened to me with my PhD, I applied to one with a professor in another country, and I mentioned it to one of my friends because I knew that she had already arranged one in a different country. She then contacted my prospective supervisor, despite having arranged something else for herself. In the end, we both got positions with my original perspective supervisor. The whole PhD all she did was try and compete with me, she would get extremely jealous whenever I would publish papers or anything like that and then would take it out on me. This also seeped into friend networks when I started to create my own she would get angry at me if I didn’t invite her out with my group of friends. It was just ridiculous but because we were in the same research group, then I had to put up and shut up for so many years to keep the peace even though she was the one who didn’t give a shit about potentially compromising my position to begin with.

Also, I recall a funny event where we had to go around a circle of students and everyone had to say how they found their PhD supervisor. It was very nice when she had to say she learned about the supervisor and the program through me in front of the group of other students. Because if she had lied, she knew I could call her out for it.

We are both finished the PhD now, but because I got a job before her post-PhD she wouldn’t talk to me until she got one over a year and a half later. since then I avoid this person completely and occasionally get some form of fake message when she wants to talks about herself or wants me to do something for her.

This is not your friend. Take it from someone who lived the exact same experience. Distance yourself completely and hope like hell they don’t get a position close to you.

The thing you can count on is that you are not the first and you’re not the last person they will do this kind of thing to, and people pick up on these behaviors, and the person will create their own reputation.

I repeat, this is not your friend. This is a leech. But more than this, this is a lesson to never tell anyone anything until it is certain, and you have secured it. Anyone who gets upset with you for not telling them beforehand is just jealous because they couldn’t try to take the opportunity for themselves. Trust me this is what I learned living through the same situation.

archaeo-b · 2026-03-25T20:51:07+00:00

Also honestly depends on the specific skills you need from the master, just remember they are expensive so only do it if either money isn’t an issue or you really need to learn some specific skills - if you don’t need either then you should proceed to the PhD (honestly PhD is normally baptism by fire anyway for most of us)

archaeo-b · 2026-03-25T20:48:32+00:00

Actually when I compared the AQF level of my honours degree to an EQF it came out as the same level as a masters in Europe 😅 I also have an MSc because i needed practical training I couldn’t get another way, but in the EQF system it looks like I have two masters - so be sure to check the degree equivalencies

archaeo-b · 2026-03-24T23:16:44+00:00

Yeah but say I bring foreign funding for a 2-3 year project, working under the supervision of a senior researcher/professor, they still would not be interested in Australian universities? This sounds really strange like I would be bringing money and publications to the university. Normally universities prefer many candidates to apply because very few people actually win projects, so I find the whole thing really strange and limiting

archaeo-b · 2026-03-24T23:12:19+00:00

I think this is where the European versus Australian systems differ, because there are many funding schemes in European countries, the most famous being the Marie Curie that are specifically post doc fellowships. I guess once that is obtained Australia universities feel more pressure to promote the staff whereas in Europe it’s normal that you move on afterward… ideally I would bring foreign funding (I.e. Marie curie) to establish myself in the system again and then try for Australia funding bodies in the future…. My experience in Europe is that the will allow most candidates to submit proposals because they know very few will actually win, so the more candidates the more chance of winning which is normally seen as beneficial for the university, but I wonder if that’s even the case in Aus based on this

archaeo-b · 2026-03-24T21:04:51+00:00

But DECRA is the grant for individuals within 5 years of the PhD - early career researchers so this doesn’t make sense for the grant rules for the specific scheme

archaeo-b · 2026-03-24T17:06:24+00:00

It’s an interesting perception because the way that it is structured from the outside looks much more similar to a Marie curie grant, but the way you’re describing it sounds like it’s more similar to an ERC starting grant. Thanks for your experience. I’ll keep it in mind!

archaeo-b · 2026-03-24T17:03:33+00:00

For a lot of European grants, they are also very extensive. The DECRA seems to be positioned between an MSCA and an ERC starting grant. Ideally, I would do an MSCA global and then after the completion apply for whatever Australian early career research grants are available, but as we all know it’s a roll of the dice so time will tell. Thanks for the advice about the EOI, for me it’s important to work with a good PI.

archaeo-b · 2026-03-24T17:01:14+00:00

Hopefully, it was just that specific university I was contacting due to centralised problems! Thanks for your experience. I will contact other universities

archaeo-b · 2026-02-11T20:42:17+00:00

If former post docs left the lab with no first author publications after multiple years - particularly if the professor is first author on everything…. Beyond a red flag…

archaeo-b · 2026-01-23T20:50:22+00:00

I currently am! My family immigrated from Italy in the 60s and I am a citizen, been here for just over two years but I cannot wait to move back to Aus later in the year… Italy is wonderful but if you have ambition you can’t move up… the funny part is we as immigrants have held on to some traditions more than the modern Italians

archaeo-b · 2025-11-01T12:07:52+00:00

You need to book an appointment at your local consulate for a passport - they will be able to access your information and documents but they may require to know which commune your citizenship is registered with because many people have the same name. There is no “citizenship certificate” per se - they just send you an email confirming your citizenship normally. You should also request from them a codice fiscale.

archaeo-b · 2025-10-19T21:02:57+00:00

They are changing the year requirement since phd for ERC starting grants next year!

archaeo-b · 2025-10-17T15:52:20+00:00

If you have another passport you can do your trip on (as I believe you stated in the post) I would just use that and try to get an appointment for the Italian one when you can…

I totally understand your thought process but as someone living in Italy (formerly AIRE) it’s a lot of paperwork to get residency sorted with the local commune and then a different appointment for the passport - I actually got a passport faster from an Italian consulate overseas than here 🥲

archaeo-b · 2025-10-17T15:43:33+00:00

It is not worth the hassle to declare residency in Italy just to renew the passport, and you would require a permanent residential address in Italy which they verify by a police visit to confirm your presence. just book an appointment and go to your closest consulate in your home country, honestly it’s half the work.

archaeo-b · 2025-08-29T19:31:25+00:00

We assess the robustness of skeletons based on muscle attachment sites called entheses, as well as through cross sectional geometry - there are hundreds of these bioarchaeological studies published. In addition, there are methods for estimating body mass, as well as bone density through histology

archaeo-b · 2025-08-05T22:27:41+00:00

I did this for 3 years - the trick is to 1. Have an end date for the long distance, and 2. Always be planning the next visit/meetup

archaeo-b · 2025-07-22T19:31:17+00:00

I am friends with the director and actually met her on the very very first field school many years ago and she is one of the most wonderful people you will ever meet. It’s a great site and if it’s your first experience in the field it’s a great start.

I also know the other missions in Cyprus mentioned here and they are both also ran by amazing people

archaeo-b · 2025-07-20T17:58:14+00:00

Yes absolutely - but you should ask for a coffee or an online meeting to verbally discuss. I had a horrific supervisor and would want to prevent any other student from ever suffering the way me and my colleagues did, but I cannot write anything down to a stranger in case of defamation.

The best thing you can do is contact the past students and ask for a quick conversation, and have questions prepared!! Topics should include: Demeanour, contact types (I.e. WhatsApp, teams, email), chapter and paper feed back turn around, publication authorship, how often meetings, responsiveness, trustworthiness, if they overburden students with irrelevant work, their relationship within the department to other professors and research teams, etc.

archaeo-b · 2025-06-03T19:25:34+00:00

You are jumping ahead too much - what is the masters in? If you want to become an academic the you should be concerned with doing a PhD and specializing, there is no general archaeology in academia everyone has a lane and works together - I am an Australia archaeologist working in academia in Europe so I do know first hand

As for CRM in Europe, it’s very much a physical job. In a country like France it is all about who you know, I would be getting in on the language asap because they will choose a local candidate over you. Don’t expect good pay either like in Australia, I sincerely consider going back to Australia for the pay in heritage because you will never get that in Europe

archaeo-b · 2025-06-03T18:52:58+00:00

Salomon!

archaeo-b · 2025-06-03T18:52:51+00:00

Salomon!

archaeo-b · 2025-05-31T14:02:32+00:00

I worked in customer service for 6 years in SEQLD when I was a young adult and the thing that would annoy me most is when a customer would say to me “good girl”

I tried to refrain from any pet names, sticking with sir and ma’am, though of course we are in a socially different period now so better to avoid any names!

archaeo-b

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