Learned supervision

I'm worried that my new supervisor-student trial period will end with 'FAULTY GOODS, RETURN TO STORE'. Because there is no refund for the time I'm spending on this PhD.

Last week's lab meeting went something along these lines:

Brief description of my work to the group. I can see interest is low (this being a heart physiology meeting, and I'm the only neuroscience student), so I attempt a short and concise summary...

Sche-BANG! Can't get out of it that easily!

'Is that what we decided your experiments showed?' Laugh, laugh, cortle, look around at others for further laughs. (No one else cares, but this public humiliation must continue anyway.)

'This is difficult to explain to someone without a mathematics background.' Condescension, belittling, etc.

I attempt to hold in tears (mainly of anger and hatred) and pass them off as the sudden onset of the flu. Embarrassment, wishing for hole in ground. Time extends on forever into the distance.

Eventually the meeting ends. But the 'lesson' does not. Two supervisors approach my desk for further public conversation, as of course we only have open-plan offices.

I attempt some scientific questioning, to be told:

'That doesn't prove anything.' (Even though they haven't even looked at the paper in question). 'You need to learn these skills that will make you a scientist.'

'I can see you're getting flustered.' (So he went away and then came back for more.)

4 years stretching ahead...

I guess supervisors need to learn their supervisory skills also, and how these need to be applied to a particular student. This being a biophysics laboratory, I'm not sure that social awareness and communication are valued as they should be. Yes, I'm stereotyping. But I miss my old lab, where mistakes were minimised, results praised, and attempted scientific thought valued.

But in all fairness, I learnt a lot from this interaction:

Listen to your supervisor at the beginning, because they will know way more than you. Read up A LOT before you ask a question. Don't expect niceties from anyone. And if you think you have any cool ideas, keep them to yourself until you know what you're talking about!