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Hello everybody!
I didn't find any similar topic on this forum, at least at its first 22 pages, or not as precise information.

I am a foreign student who received Bolsa Individual de Doutoramento, contracted since february 2012. Is it possible that my supervisor didnt read well my plan of work , and didn;t measure his competences? Yes! My supervisor few weeks ago told me that he doesn't feel competent to handle my topic. And that I should change an advisor... or ... "do something"...

After all the struggle I experienced with FCT, (one year of waiting, injust treatment for foreigners etc - maybe you are familiar with all that by this forum..?) I really didin;t expect such problems...

I believe changing supervisor would be extremaly difficult in that case. So I was thinking of adding a co-supervisor to my thesis, and leave my supervisor calmly waiting for the work to be done, and just signing papers - but at least - not disturbing...!

And now the question for you, dear forumers - how can I proceed with adding a co-supervisor to my investigation? Can it be a professor from abroad? Have you ever been in similar situation?

I will be thankfull for any advice or information.
Have a good evening!

Why nobody wants to answeer or say anything about that??...

Hi.
I believe you will have to change the Working Plan, either to change for a working plan that is in the expertise of your current supervisor, or to add a new co-supervisor.
I believe that to add a new supervisor, the most wise would be to try to seek someone from your current university, eventually with the help of your current supervisor, since he told you that he doesn't feel competent to handle your topic. Note that to add a new co-supervisor you will need him to support that change before FCT. I don't know if it is possible to add a foreign professor from a foreign university, especially if you want your fellowship to change from "national" to "mixed", in order to spend time at the foreign university, which would demand higher costs (what is complicated because of the crisis) and might not be accessible for you as a foreigner (possibly you can only have a "national" fellowship to make your work only in Portugal).
I also don't think it would be a good idea to change to a foreign supervisor if you keep doing your work in Portugal, since this will in practice leave you with very little supervision anyway, as that person won't be there, where you are, to help you.
I think it will be difficult to change your host institution.
Anyway, it seems to me that you really should talk calmly with your current supervisor to try to reach to a solution to your problem. Even because whatever solution you reach must have his approval before FCT. If it is possible to change your work plan for something that is within his area of expertise, that's probably the easiest thing to do. Otherwise, I think that you should try to find someone with his help, or at least approval, within your host institution or university (even if in another department).

Wnuczka Escreveu:I believe changing supervisor would be extremaly difficult in that case. So I was thinking of adding a co-supervisor to my thesis, and leave my supervisor calmly waiting for the work to be done, and just signing papers - but at least - not disturbing...!
(...)
And now the question for you, dear forumers - how can I proceed with adding a co-supervisor to my investigation? Can it be a professor from abroad? Have you ever been in similar situation?

In your application to FCT, was the title of your thesis defined in a very specific way? In case it was not, the best thing for you to do is to calmly steer away from your initial plan and do something else. Although I do not know any details about your particular situation, this should not be a major problem to FCT, provided that academic research is hardly predictable 3-4 years in advance and no one knows exactly what the end-result will look like.

Besides, FCT will definitely not be against an additional co-supervisor. In 2011, a few friends of mine added co-supervisors right after the official results were out and FCT accepted it pretty much automatically. They can be from the same host institution or from a different one, Portuguese or not, provided that the main supervisor remains (officially) unchanged. In fact, as far as I know, even if more than one supervisor is considered since the very beginning, only one of them would have to associate him/herself to your FCT scholarship application. I am writing from memory here, so you'd better check this last bit of information yourself.

However, I'd like to stress that, regardless of the changes you decide to operate, you should remain affiliated to the same host institution in Portugal and you should not, in any circumstances, expect your scholarship values to be upgraded to either "mixed" or "abroad".

I wish you the best luck in your endeavours and satisfying research work in the pursue of your PhD degree in Portugal.

Thank you for your answer. The most important for me is the fact the co-orientador can be easily added to the working plan.

Just to clarify a little bit- my current supervisor is only one that can be at least a little close with his specialisation to my topic... In whole country... So that is why i look abroad.
And of course i do not want to change my bolsa to mixta or abroad, but probably i will , with the "national " amounts of money try to steer my thesis out of Portugal, where my co-supervisor might be from . And it will probably be my co supervisor, who will contrinute the most to my thesis.

There is probably an option to have more than one cosupervisor, not listed for fct, but then can they be mentioned on the cover of the thesis? Are they going to be interested in contributing to the thesis if they cant have profit of it in form of publication?

I am going to see my supervisor tomorrow, I hope we ll manage to talk reasonably about all that...

Hello.

The ideal situation is that supervisor (and eventual co-supervisor) in FCT and in University are the same. However, there can be some changes, such as co-supervisors not indicated in FCT. If they are not officially recognised in the university, they are not officially co-supervisors. It is the university who grant you the title; FCT is paying for it...

In any case, you can have as many collaborators (as co-supervisors, younger students or others) as you want and they can, of course, be listed on the authorship of papers and communications.

Tiago

Mais um excelente exemplo do rigor e seriedade com que a ciência é gerida em Portugal. O orientador não percebe nada do tema de investigação do candidato, mas aceita a orientação na mesma. Aparentemente, o painel de avaliação nada diz, nada faz e concede a bolsa. Naturalmente, o orientador de pouco vale para a investigação em curso. O que se sugere? Um adicionamento ad hoc dum co-orientador, enquanto o orientador original se limita a assinar de cruz os relatórios que lhe aparecem à frente. Daqui a cinco anos, temos o bolseiro a queixar-se que não entregou a tese e a FCT exige o dinheiro de volta, mas o orientador assinou sempre os relatórios...