Conference: informing the advisor?
Dear all,
I would be grateful for any help. In short, a year ago I have finished my Master's at the university X. My topic was related...lets say to A. After this (in July) I have received an offer from the university Z and my PhD topic now has nothing to do with my Master's except the very broad field and methodology. It is the topic B. Although I have accepted the offer and I actually started working on the topic B (my supervisor is not on vacation and encourages me to write) I will be officially registered at the university from October because of some problems with the fees. So now I am formally "nowhere", in limbo. Now I found a conference where I want to present my research which I have done for the Master's and I am a little confused about how I should behave. Should I inform my supervisor about it at this stage or not?
On the one hand, I have just started more or less seriously thinking about my PhD topic and I haven't sent yet a single written page to my supervisor, although we have discussed the direction of work. I am afraid that if I start bothering him at this stage with the conference and my presentation on a completely different topic he would think, that I have a mess in my head and I don't know what I want, etc. It is not nice to jump all the time from topic to topic and especially to give the impression of being an lightheaded person to your supervisor from the very beginning.
On the other hand I would like to participate at the conference, because I am planning to develop professionally also in the topic A. I was also planning to inform the supervisor about it, but a little later, may be in a year or in half a year, so that by this moment he would already (hopefully) see that I am serious about my PhD topic and receive something written from me. Besides this in his earlier career he also published on the topic A, so i hope that he will find it interesting to go back to A.
The 300 word abstract for the conference should be submitted sometimes next week. Then if it is accepted I should submit the actual paper sometimes before October. I am a little confused. Should I
1) Forget about the conference and concentrate on my thesis? Hopefully there will be another opportunity to present my Master's research later (with the supervisor being aware about this)?
2) Inform the supervisor about the conference and my intention to present the paper risking that his opinion about me will change to the worse?
3) Submit the 300word abstract and if it is accepted discuss the conference and the presentation with the supervisor?
4) Submit the abstract (with questionable affiliation at this stage) without informing the supervisor at all risking to make relationship very complicated in the future?
I would be grateful for any help. In short, a year ago I have finished my Master's at the university X. My topic was related...lets say to A. After this (in July) I have received an offer from the university Z and my PhD topic now has nothing to do with my Master's except the very broad field and methodology. It is the topic B. Although I have accepted the offer and I actually started working on the topic B (my supervisor is not on vacation and encourages me to write) I will be officially registered at the university from October because of some problems with the fees. So now I am formally "nowhere", in limbo. Now I found a conference where I want to present my research which I have done for the Master's and I am a little confused about how I should behave. Should I inform my supervisor about it at this stage or not?
On the one hand, I have just started more or less seriously thinking about my PhD topic and I haven't sent yet a single written page to my supervisor, although we have discussed the direction of work. I am afraid that if I start bothering him at this stage with the conference and my presentation on a completely different topic he would think, that I have a mess in my head and I don't know what I want, etc. It is not nice to jump all the time from topic to topic and especially to give the impression of being an lightheaded person to your supervisor from the very beginning.
On the other hand I would like to participate at the conference, because I am planning to develop professionally also in the topic A. I was also planning to inform the supervisor about it, but a little later, may be in a year or in half a year, so that by this moment he would already (hopefully) see that I am serious about my PhD topic and receive something written from me. Besides this in his earlier career he also published on the topic A, so i hope that he will find it interesting to go back to A.
The 300 word abstract for the conference should be submitted sometimes next week. Then if it is accepted I should submit the actual paper sometimes before October. I am a little confused. Should I
1) Forget about the conference and concentrate on my thesis? Hopefully there will be another opportunity to present my Master's research later (with the supervisor being aware about this)?
2) Inform the supervisor about the conference and my intention to present the paper risking that his opinion about me will change to the worse?
3) Submit the 300word abstract and if it is accepted discuss the conference and the presentation with the supervisor?
4) Submit the abstract (with questionable affiliation at this stage) without informing the supervisor at all risking to make relationship very complicated in the future?