Hey folks. I’m working on my lit review for my dissertation. In your opinion, is there any ethical AI program to use? I’ve found all my articles & taken lots of notes. I mostly just need help organizing my thoughts & streams into more clear sections.

TYIA

I’m not hating, but referencing every sentence seems a bit crazy to me. They continue in the main body with this as well.

EDIT: Thank you for all the replies, and in case anyone reads this and wants to know - the consensus is that while the advice is bad, it is up to me to decide whether to take my PIs advice, leave it, and/or push back when necessary, as part of a PhD is learning how to advocate for yourself.

I've posted here before but I'm looking for advice once again 😅. For context I am a North American student doing a PhD in Europe, and my PI is European. Overall my PI is very sweet and nice, and I really love my work, lab and personal life. However I've noticed a few things that concern me, and I dont know if my PI has my best interest or wellbeing in mind at times. A few things:

1. We were discussing moving samples from one city to another (2hr train ride). There were almost 100 falcon tubes that needed to be transported in dry ice; think 2 10kg boxes. Her solution was to have me transport them on train since I dont have a drivers license. I asked about someone driving but apparently no one could. I didnt think this was feasible or safe for either me or the samples, and I tried to negotiate down to taking 10-20 tubes over a period of days. Two other people (my co supervisor and a senior lab tech) were in the room and looked a bit uncomfortable but didn't say anything. In the end a lab tech offered to drive me when I told them about the situation thank God.

2. I am scheduled for an internship in Germany from November to January. My current apartment lease ends in January so I'm starting to look for housing, but it can be really hard in this city at times. Just in case the worst happens, I asked to come back in the middle of January so I would have time to house hunt again. She instead suggested I store my items while I was in Germany instead of finding a place, but that would leave me homeless if I came back with no lease lined up.

I think both of these could be chalked up to not thinking things through, but considering shes a physician clinician I doubt it? She also has a few other habits I dislike (like asking me simple questions such as "Do you know what a control group is?" in front of others, but I try not to mind). However the 2 issues I pointed out above have got me wondering if I should trust her in the future with information about myself. Everyone here is insisting that I should trust my supervisors but I've been burned by that before (my last PI kept asking about my financial situation and tried to convince me not to work as a TA and just try for scholarships I wasnt even eligible for).

Any advice is appreciated!

Not a PhD student, but I am an Econ predoc. I have undiagnosed ADHD, so sometimes I have a tough time staying focused while doing research. Especially when I am waiting for code to run or waiting for claude to teach me how to use bash or something 😂 I tend to find myself drifting to social media or some game on my phone due to lack of stimulation.  Afterwards, I have a tough time re-motivating myself to continue my research. 

What do others who have adhd do to stay focused? What do you fill your stimulus cravings with?

My baby has been gestating for 5 years and she's finally here. She's frying an egg because she got fried in the defense real good but also low-key she probably cooked (so say my labmates...).

Thanks to this community for your support:)

I’m graduating with a physics degree and have two opportunities:

A Quality Engineer position starting around $70k salary with opportunities for promotion.
Or
A fully funded condensed matter physics PhD ($22k stipend) researching solid-state batteries and quantum materials. The advisor expects students to graduate in 4–5 years, and many graduates go into industry.

If you were in my position, which path would you choose, and why? If you’ve made a similar decision, what happened?

I never imagined I'd end up doing a PhD. When I was a kid (around 2006), my dad came to the U.S. to do his master's degree, and our family lived here for two years. I loved it, when we moved back to my home country, I always dreamed of returning one day, but I thought it would be impossible because of how expensive it would be.

Fast forward to 2020, I graduated with a bachelor's degree in Geology. Finding a job back home was very difficult. I eventually found one, but I wasn't happy there. Then, in 2022, I was offered a fully funded graduate opportunity in the U.S. It was originally supposed to be a master's, but my current advisor told me she only had funding for PhD students.

My first thought wasn't, "I want a PhD." It was, "This is five years in the U.S., the country I've always wanted to live in." So I accepted without knowing what I was getting myself into.

Now I'm in my fourth year of a PhD in Energy Engineering. I don't hate research, but I've realized that I don't enjoy my specific research topic as much as I thought I would. Some people seem genuinely passionate about their work, while mine often feels like just something I have to finish.

To graduate, I'm expected to publish 4 first author papers. One is under review, the second is with my advisor, and I'm currently working on the third. Over the past year, my mindset has changed. My goal is not and has never been academia, I want to stay in the U.S. and build a career in industry. Because of that, I don't care about publishing in the highest impact journals, chasing citations, or building an academic reputation. I just want to finish my PhD, graduate, and move on with my life.

Sometimes I wonder if that's the wrong way to think. I'm still working hard, I'm writing the papers, doing the research, and putting in the hours and effort. But my advisor is extremely busy, doesn't seem very invested in my project, and my research is not in her area of expertise.

When I compare my experience with other engineering PhD students, I notice that many of them have advisors who say, "Here's your project, here are the goals, now go do the work." My experience has been way less structured, and I've had to figure everything out on my own.

Eventually I stopped comparing myself to other students. Instead of thinking about whether my research will have a huge academic impact, I started looking at each paper as a project that demonstrates technical skills I can talk about during industry interviews. That mindset has helped me keep going.

This year, my advisor also allowed me to claim my master's degree while continuing toward the PhD. I considered leaving after the master's, but because I'm on an F1 visa, it wasn't a practical option given the current visa situation. There are nights when I go to bed crying and wishing my advisor would just fire me.

The best part of this journey has been meeting my fiancé. He's also a PhD student in the same field, but he has a different advisor. He's doing really well and will graduate next year. We're planning to apply for the green card soon (under his profile bc it is waay better than mine), and hopefully everything works out. If I become a permanent resident while still in my PhD, I might just quit and go work in industry.

Has anyone else started a PhD just leave their country and for better opportunities? Did you lose interest in academia but decide to finish anyway? Or did you leave before finishing?

I'd like to hear from people who've been through something similar.

About me:

Male

Bsc economics from Copenhagen Denmark

MSc machine learning and Ai from Germany Darmstadt

1 year work experience in data analytics

I'm contemplating doing a PhD in AI and energy economics but I'm concerned I'd be too old and would fall into the "overqualified & inexperienced" category by the time I'm done with the PhD and that's making me reluctant given how fanatic companies are about corporate experience.

I also do not have a very good idea how transitioning to academia works, benefits compared to industry and how competitive it is to join academia.

Been stressing about making a decision for 2 months now. If being 36 inexperienced wasn't a problem I would definitely pursue the PhD but we live in a sick world getting sicker everyday and I do not want to end up stressing out about profession in my late 30s because someone thinks I would be overqualified & inexperienced

Hello everyone! I’d really appreciate if anyone with experience in fellowship in Danish university could clarify me how does it work the 4+4 scheme.

Some background info: I’m applying for a PhD fellowships at the department of Law of the university of Southern Denmark. The position will start in January 2027 and I’ll graduate from a double master degree in March. In case I’ll be selected in the 4+4 will I be transfered to employment as an employed PhD student as soon I graduate?

Last but not least, could you disclose how much do you earn generally as part of this programme?

Thanks a bunch in advance!

So I submitted a pre-print, which is publicly available online.

That paper has now been rejected.

I made edits and submitted the revised version to a new journal.

How do I list this on my CV?

Do I move the pre-print from “under review” to “published” and leave it labeled as a pre-print?

Do I leave it as “under review” just with the updated journal name?

Do I remove any reference to the pre-print and only put this new submission?

Very confused, and Google has not really had an answer I found…

Question for people that use reference management software and frequently deal with importing papers without DOIs, or where paper information does not autopopulate.

How do you handle this? It feels like such a pain in the middle of a lit review to stop and manually input citation information, but if I don't do this then my library quickly becomes unmanageable.

Lately I've been updating the citation metadata only before I use it in a reference, but this makes it difficult to relocate the paper when I need it; impossible even if the documents don't have OCR.

I am a STEM grad student, 3 full years in and currently in the middle of qualifying exams. In May, I switched advisors.

I am one of a long list of grad students who failed to be able to work with my previous advisor. (And I believe I will be the last, as he is now prohibited from taking on more students.) My department is being very supportive, and my new advisor is wonderful.

The problem is that no one at my university does anything close to the subfield my PhD project is in - so now I have a significant expertise gap on my committee and in my project supervision.

However, I love my project. It is what I came to grad school to do and the reason I didn't leave my advisor for so long. I was determined to stick it out. A key reason I decided to leave my bad situation was that several faculty told me privately that the department would support me to continue my project with other supervision (external if necessary).

But now that I'm talking to potential collaborators and looking for external supervision, I'm worried that it may have been wishful thinking. I think my department is familiar with my previous advisor's conduct and assumes everyone in his field is as well. But even if that is true, and I'm not sure it is, other PIs still may not want to get involved with me as it would cause significant tension with my previous advisor, and he is quite well known.

So here we are. My options:

- Quit/master out and start a new PhD somewhere else. I've had my master's for a year now through the same program, so I feel I would just be quitting. Starting somewhere else, I could be upfront about my extensive experience and desire for a "efficient" project. In the long run, it would set me back a few years, but I would learn a lot more. I'm increasingly thinking my old advisor may be a charlatan. He really didn't teach me enough. But I can't imagine starting a PhD over again at a whole new university. It is making me cry.

- Rush graduate with a PhD. Some faculty have told me that I am far enough along in my project that I could simply write up what I have done and graduate. It may not be a good dissertation, but it would be enough if what I decide I really want to do is GTFO. But I want a research career, and that means publications. Not sure that is feasible.

- Start a new project at my current university to add to my dissertation, strengthening it and my credentials. But like I have said, no one at my university is doing something close to what I want to do. I came here specifically to work with my previous advisor. This option feels like a waste of time to me right now.

- Continue on old project. Possibly with external leadership, but at minimum, I want someone on my committee who works in the subfield. My preferred option. I want to finish things well, tie up some loose ends, and turn my work into publications. Pipe dream? Possibly.

What would you do? Which of these options seem completely infeasible to you? Anyone have comparable experience? Please, I need advice.

I understand my career goals factor largely into this. I am looking to stay in scientific research, ideally a national lab setting. I don't want to become a professor, but I would consider working at a university in a research faculty position. No matter which option, I am probably looking to do a postdoc at an institution of greater standing than my current one.

Also maybe important to consider is that I haven't published any of my work so far or secured external funding (grants, etc.) due to my previous advisor discouraging or prohibiting me from doing so.

Previous advisor thinks I am a pawn in a political attack against him and is not cooperating (has not even agreed to meet with me since he was informed of the switch). However, I've been assured by multiple university admin levels that I have the right to proceed with my data and results.

I just turned 30 this year. And I've had the goal of getting my PhD since I was 16 in highschool. But... I had some stuff get in the way. You see, when I was 16 I got encephalitis. It caused minor brain damage and retrograde amnesia. I retained and regained at of knowledge afterwards, but there was (is) still a lot I hadn't. But, with the support I had, I still ended up graduating highschool top of my class, straight A student. Even had an opportunity to graduate early but wanted to graduate with my friends.

And then college started...

I started at my community college right after highschool. I loved it. But I didn't have the support I had in highschool and also lacked a decided path (also my jackass teen mind was more so focused on dating than school at the time too). It literally took me about 5 years going back and forth in my community college to figure out what I wanted to do. But finally I did and I got accepted to a university (barely met their requirements, but got in).

And then...

I almost flunked out on my first term.

I then looked into my mental health. I had suspected myself to have ADHD for a while - It runs in my family and I literally every sign of it - but finally decided to have my mental health checked after my trouble at my university. And turns out... Yup, ADHD. As well as Social Anxiety Disorder, General Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and OCD (I'm also likely autistic, but that topic came up relatively recently and I have yet to be diagnosed).

Now, this was great. Turns out my university has a program for coaching students specifically with mental health disorders such as ADHD. I was accepted to the program and my coach helped me excel for the next two years. But... For those two years I didn't take any courses in my major. I tool minor courses and other electives that interested me. I was terrified of my major because I had started to realize how behind I was in my knowledge of the subject. Very much thanks to the memory loss from my brain damage when I was 16. There were (are) literally elementary level, common knowledge facts and vocab in my major I have yet to relearn. Not because I can't, but because I'm embarrassed to admit what I forgot and don't know where to look to regain this basic knowledge (side clarification - I'm a biology major and I have a hard time identifying local common species in my area. Or my lack of knowledgeof the human body even. I couldn't tell you what a majority of our organs are, where they are, or what they do. These are just a few example of my lack of knowledge in my subject).

Then... almost four years ago now, I decided to take a break from school because of my mental health. It was only going to be one year, but financial issues got in the way and now it's been about four years.

Luckily though, over the past few years, I have got the mental health help I need. And found healthy solutions to my financial trouble. And now have the opportunity to start back at my university.

My one issue still is though, my social anxiety atop my memory loss.

I'll still be starting back towards my bachelors when I get back, but it is still my goal, FAR down the line to pursue my masters and eventually PhD.

And I think my biggest block currently is lack of reassurance from others who understand. Not necessarily someone with the same story of course, but someone who succeeded despite equivalent draw backs.

I need to know my goal is possible. I don't care how hard or long it is to obtain. I just need reassurance that it is obtainable despite my challenges.

So, as my title asks, is there anyone with equivalent stories who succeeded? And are there any suggestions to help me succeed?

Thank you so much for enduring through my short novel of a post and thank you for any relatable stories of your own and suggestions. I wish the best to all!

Edit: I will note, I have seen a few similar posts in my search, but I still felt I needed to share my personal story for a more definite sence of relatability.

Edit 2: After reading just the first comment, I realized my angst for this goal is far ahead of where I am now and my focus should be on my current academic standing (weather or not I can get even a bachelors). So I think I'll repost to a more appropriate sub. But I will keep this post here incase there are any suggestive or relating words for me here from other intelligent people. Again. Thank you all.

I know how this sounds and alls well that ends well. But I am am sick of wondering.

I rambled my answer for a few questions which may be okay. But then I was asked about something related to a statement I had made in passing in the motivation section but not really addressed deeply through the results (several other motivatons were addressed). It was one of those things where as you write you end up realizing that presenting the results some other way would be better but the motivation text still had a couple of references to the original ideas. Anyway, it took me a long time to get to the right answer. I had to think my way through it in real time, even though it was potentially a simple question. Now I'm wondering if my committee thought that it was strange I couldn't answer something so simple quickly. Eta: STEM USA

I'm about to start a PhD, and my primary supervisor wants me to have three supervisors: himself, another professor from my university, and one professor from a different university.

The external professor agreed to be a supervisor. He is a full professor and has been very supportive overall. However, he still needs to complete a simple supervisor request form required by the university.

I sent him a reminder yesterday, and he replied saying he'd fill it in. It's now the next day, and it still hasn't been done. The issue is that my offer letter can't move forward until this form is submitted, and I need the offer letter to arrange accommodation and my visa.

I'm trying not to be impatient, but it's frustrating because this paperwork is the only thing holding up the process.

Is this kind of delay just a normal part of academia? At what point is it appropriate to send another reminder or ask my primary supervisor to follow up?

If I got an acceptance of a three months internship in a Spanish research institution, is there any kind of Spanish scholarship scheme that can finance the visit?

I’m a first year PhD student in the Netherlands and in May I started having hyperventilation / panic attacks. It took me a while to realise it was probably due to burnout as I hadn’t really taken a break since starting in September ( I had 2 weeks off a Christmas but was very ill and 1 week in march but my cousin came and was exhausting to be around). In addition to that I was supposed to go on fieldwork in Greenland in May then directly after fly to Alaska for a summer school then stay there a bit longer for my first real vacation. For fieldwork I was very panicked as I had never done anything like that before and my supervisor had complained about an in-experienced colleague on her previous fieldwork. And for Alaska I needed to organise everything myself. I had to cancel both of these trips which I feel bad about because It took so much organisation and I feel bad about missing out ). I also had my first conferences and presentations in April/ May ( which went well but I did stress about them) and was supposed to start teaching a masters class in September that was new to me as I did a different masters degree( a lot of overthinking about this) . In addition to this, the lack of feedback from my daily supervisors added to the stress as I had no idea if I was doing good work or not so I was spending a lot of time thinking about if I was good enough.
Outside of work I had the usual stresses attached to moving to a foreign country and also having to move house end of September which can be difficult in the Netherlands.
Now every time I think about going back to the netherlands (from the UK) I get stressed/ panicked. I have friends in the Netherlands but no family so I do feel scared about being alone even though I have been doing that for the past 8 years of uni ( come to think of it I didn’t take a lot of breaks during uni either ). Sometimes I feel like I won’t ever manage to go back. But I still like my topic and am super interested in the research I used to do so I don’t want to quit.
Any suggestions ?

I moved to industry after my PhD. Recently I prepared the final paper to submit. However started to miss the research life. Immediately I have a thought: maybe I should go back academia starting from postdoc? Then my brain kept replaying the miserable moments during PhD like modifying and rewriting the paper again and again.

Is this sort of Stockholm syndrome? Do you have the same experience? Should I seriously consider to find an academic position?

I started PhD in fall of 2019. And I am about to defend on 30th. Also, I skipped masters thinking I would gain some years. I am 31 btw...

The COVID happened, bla, bla, we all know that.

I was without a lab for close to 2 years, so, if one wants to get technical, it is more 5 years than 7 years.

I am dealing with this GPCR deorphanization resrarch, of a freaking receptor that has no experimental or computational structure, no jnow G-protein coupling, no known similar receptro other than itself in other species, no known ligand of any kind. At the time I started researching it, there were only 5 papers available, and they all mentioned it in passing. Alone, so, if there will ever be a paper in the next decade, it will be me an my PI, and we all know if there are two names in a paper, the last name rarely does any sh*t.

The back story is, I got handed this research idea over from a supposedly senior PhD. Not really senior but it was his second PhD. And sadly, my advisor show serious partialities - it suffices to say I am at the bottom of the food chain in the lab. So, for about three years, everything I said was vetoed by the guy I got handed over from, and she juat agreed with him. That is where I will leave this.

I applied for a national grant with this research, according to my PI's. Donxt get me wrong, I wrote a currently 4 million something budget project myself, but her input consistently jeapordizing what is doable. And yet, I manage to write plausible enough application to get accepted. And I have recebtly completed the final report, and she became the poster girl, sending me this file about 'success storyx of her details and my project, but wanting me to adjuat the info and the data figures... And she did not even bother to tell me that the results were accepted. My analyeses at the time was not as rigorous as my thesis, but the numbers were the same back then as well, so for the curious ones, I did not coesmetically change my data. The ambiguity and the ridiculous standard deviations are visible from the results. Oh, did I mention she also did not spend much money from my grant to my project, I even recently had to pay 30,000 something from my pocket to progress... The only thing I managed to make it work arrived at my hand exatly 16 months ago as well.

My current, more rigorous results just gave me additional statistics on just how ambiguous my output is. There is a reproducible -barely- trend, that is for sure. But bc my dose response curve calculations in GraphPad does not automatically generate the parameter values at 95% CI, I should not be reporting any IC50 values.

Honestly, it is not even the failure of the project bc hey, sometimes a science does not science. I have ideas on how to support my current results for a paper.

My problem is, I spent 7 years, on something that could have finished in 5 at max. Luckily, moslty bc she did not pay attention, my thesis is to my liking in theory. Oh, did I mention I atopped trying to do some of the things she asked me and took a shorcut to make some things work? Anyways, moving on. I actually delived most of my specific aims. The only three paper relevant to the function of this particular receptor - one fully bioinformatics and two in vivo - have been available since late 2023, and only one can partially serve half of one of my aims, if I had reliable IC50.

I got distracted too much, apologies. The problem is I spent 7 years, with no other papers. Well, that is reaching. So, the summary is, there was another PhD graduated right around the time I started, she webt abroad for a deorphanization, in a pest - not a mammalian receptor, and there was a masters at the time in the lab, she continued her work, and she published in Nat. Comm. as first name - which is good for her, she is a hardworker. She then receive this colab offer from the researcher she collaborated with for her master's research, again another pest. And seeing my research is not taking me anywhere, I suspect she pitied my situation, to include me in the paper, and that has been submitted to a Q1. So, the only paper is that, and that is if it gets accepted.

I suppose another huge problem in freaking academia is, why on earth we can not publosh negative results? Like, I did something and it did not work, so, do not wats etime doing this bc it does not work.

I refuse to remove outliers or apply lenient constraints to my data. Bc if I manage to stay in academia, I do not want my qualifications to be questioned in the future.

But that leaves me, basically with nothing to be questioned for.

Apologies for the rant that is all over the place, my mother has health issues so I can not fully vent to her. The peraon in the lab I can vent to whereas can listen, does not understand bc of her publication - we also suspect some of the paper's success is bc it is a collaboration - it has in silico, in vitro, and in vivo. And she did work with a natural ligand and G-protein coupling established receptor. She actually can publish another paper from that research, but her hands are full so she does not want that at the moment. My closest friend has not stayed in academia, so, whereas he can listen to, he does not relate.

The difficulty of the OhD did not break me, really. A researcher's job is to research. But the stubbornness and stupudity I faced did. Bc I wasted 7 years, and have nothing to show to anyone. The more fruestrating part is, if she asks me to puclish it half assed, like, the in silico part only, I had that data completed for 2 years now. I could have finished this a lot earlier. And would have faced less chances to get scooped. Though, no sane person would study this receptor. Let me tell you this, when I began modeling this protein, AlphaFold was not a thing. AI did not exist.

Thank you, if you have read thua far.

I realize some will think I am exaggerating. It is alright, novody can be fully unbiases. There probably are some aspects I am. And it probably does not help my psyche that I am a week away from my defense. Oh, did I me tion that pest paper suvmitted to a journal, I was dealing with it's revisions and additional analyses until like 2 days ago, so, I am just now writing my thesis. Luckily my progress report were extensuve, and having written the grant final report gave me an outline overall, and outline for in vitro. My lovely asvisor even asked me if the revision will fonish by its due date. And I said, I quit my thesis, solely focusing on the revision...

My point of dramatizing was, I donxt think it is safe for me to give any firther details, as this is a niche are of research, and too much info can give away too much. On that note, I do still think my advisor is the only workable one in my university. So, the sad reality is, I do not regret choosing her per se. I probably would atill chose her, bc I think she is the best z of the worst. I do not regret my work as well, I am doing something I love. Now, choosing this uni, I might mildly regret that.

I also aplogize for the typos. I have been typing a lot these days.

I am in a wet lab, and we have several undergrads, all with varying levels of ability and independence. One is very involved and interested, but extremely slow with experimental stuff. A single reaction start to finish can take a week. I want to help them succeed, but something that takes me 3-4 hours taking them 20 hours is not a recipe for success. My method for mentoring has always been first time hands on, guided assistance/demo, second time hands on but the student does it, and after that they work alone. This student needs their hand held to an extreme amount, and even if I step away to force them to work more alone they will just piddle around, then ask me for help.

I do believe they are capable, and they could really succeed, but I think that it may be my mentorship style or that this student isn't confident. Any tips on how to guide them to more success? And force them to speed up a little? My mentor tossed me in the deep end a little, and often gave "higher stakes" stuff to do that meant messing up actually mattered, but I'm not sure how successful that would be to help.

I finished my PhD in November but unfortunately it was very difficult to finish it because of my supervisor. During my PhD I got very sick and I needed to get surgery and this coincided with the most heavy part of my PhD. In this period my supervisor convinced me to be part of a paper she did most of the work with, it was an old research she just left off the desk for years. I didn't agree but she insisted and I accepted at the end to do some new analysis and write the paper. I've been completely burnout during this period too, because of my health and because of the amount of work and at the end this paper we finished to have a really bad relationships. She was mad at me for not working as we wanted to and she never took responsibility for ANYTHING she has done wrong. She also left academia while I was writing my thesis and she hasn't replied to me for months, so I contacted the Union and she got even more mad.

During my PhD I had a main project which I follow but now since she doesn't speak to me and I'm terrified about the fact she will not include me in the paper I wrote. This will means I need more fights in the future with her, which I'm very tired of. The other paper was finally published and it opened a lot of wounds and I don't know exactly what to do.

Do you have any suggestions about this situation?

Hello everyone. I just started my PhD in Germany, to work on a government-funded project. It was extremely difficult for me to find a group that would take me on as a candidate, and I am extremely grateful for the opportunity.

Before accepting the offer, I of course spoke with my P.I. and the PhD students of my group, and they told me everything was good in the faculty.
However, once I arrived i got to know that there are only 4 active groups, a total of 7 PhD students (3 of which in my lab, myself included - one is almost finished). There is maybe one postdoc in the whole faculty, none in my group. We are so few that problems are starting to come up, like lack of support for the supervision of the practical courses.
I am the only one working on my project. I feel like that the previous students who worked on this left at a critcal point, that could make or break the whole premise of the project. My P.I. seems supportive, but she doesn't seem to want to give me any directions for advancing with the research. My opnion on her might change once I get to know her better.

From what I read here, it seems like wanting to continue to work in academia after the PhD is a terrible idea, but it has always been my dream, so please allow me to be naive.
Right now I am having serious doubts if I made the right choice accepting this position, as I am afraid to find myself being left almost alone in the faculty, and wasting my potential due to lack of support, while working on a failing project. I even fear that the faculty may shut down overall, with very few students doing their bachelor/masters here.

So if you were in my shoes, what would you do immediately to feel better about your choices? I'm not even sure what my options are at the moment. I really feel lost, and have no idea where to go from here. Any advice/anecdote is appreciated.

What did you do (or would you do) in the first days, weeks, etc. after defending? I need some epic ideas!!! 😎

I never thought this day would actually come. I was terrified throughout the entire program - too much uncertainty. Yayayayayay!!!!!!!!!!!!! 🎊

I defended my PhD and passed about two weeks ago!

I move for my job next week but my start date isn't until the 24th. What should I do with my free time? ​