How do I convince my professor to allow me to go to a conference?

Question

I am an international PhD student of 2nd year (my PhD is supposed to be for 3 years). When I just came to this lab, my professor mentioned a possibility to go to an international conference or visit some other lab. Later when I asked him, he said that I don't have any result (I have done a lot of work but didn't get the result which he was expecting) and why then go to a conference. I explained that I would like to a) discuss my work with other people and possibly get some new ideas and b) I want to get a postdoc later and need to do some networking, if possible, at an international level. My professor responded that a conference is not necessary for getting a PhD degree, and as I don't socialize much in lab (I am rather shy), he doesn't understand how I can discuss with others at a conference (he thought it is a very funny joke).

In my PhD 1 year progress report presentation, one of the opponents said that it could be beneficial for me to go to another (specific) lab for a couple of weeks, but my professor ignored it and when I tried to remind him later, he changed the subject. This opponent is from another institute, unfamiliar to me and I can't just contact him and ask for assistance.

I am concerned because I am new in this domain and thus without going anywhere I am unlikely to meet people for possible collaboration in future.

All other students here (around 10) have already participated in 2-3 conferences minimum (and in some cases, research visit for several weeks), including two other students of my professor (but they both have a second supervisor, so my professor doesn't have as much control there as in my case). Many have found the funding through the lab, so I don't think that the lack of funding is the reason.

What should I do? How I can convince him that it is really important for me? Any idea is appreciated.

Answer 1

Tight question and hard to answer without knowing the details. It may be that your advisor is right in that your results are not good enough to publish and that other colleagues you ask are just polite and it may be that your advisor is wrong…

From the perspective of your supervisor it looks like this: Sending you to a conference will cost money from his budget or grants and it can contribute to his reputation if good results are presented from his work group and it could harm is reputation if bad/shaky/unfinished work is presented. On top of that, your advisor has genuine interest to promote his students appropriately. However, many supervisors do not send students to conferences without own contributions - maybe a rationale behind this is that you have to earn this privilege.

Let me comment a bit on the things you wrote. You say your arguments have been

a) discuss my work with other people and possibly get some new ideas and b) I want to get a postdoc later and need to do some networking, if possible, at an international level.

I can relate a little bit to the response of your supervisor. Conferences are great for sharing ideas and for networking but it actually easy to go to a conference and fail in both respects. Often there are tons of people, many knowing each other, other actively networking and for somebody new (especially if a bit shy) it is not straightforward to get involved. In fact, it is harder to network at conferences that to share ideas within your workgroup. Also, a talk at a conference is a great way to start networking and without a contribution, networking gets even harder.

You got the advice to try more local conferences in a comment and responded

There were some local conferences, but only the people from our (small) community presented. I mean that if you go and see only your colleagues' talks, it will not really help you in networking...

In view of the above, this sounds like a strange response. You say you don't think networking on the local level is beneficial but only international networking is helpful? That doesn't make sense. Start small, practice networking with locals and then go for more. Also "local" does not necessarily mean you workgroup or university, but could mean "within your region or country". Actually, networking within the own region and community is very important (and a bit different than international networking).

In conclusion, the conflict between you and your supervisor seems to be, that he thinks that your contributions are not good enough for the conferences you proposed and you disagree on this.

So here is a suggestion: You should get qualified external feedback on your work, probably even anonymous:

• Submission to a journal. Does not seem like a good idea. The feedback will take a long time, higher chances of rejection (even with mildly positive feedback). On the positive side, the feedback can be quite detailed.
• Submission to a mid prestige conference with peer review. On the positive side, there is a fixed time frame for the feedback. Depending on your field, the feedback may be very brief.
• Find a double blind refereed venue (so a bad feedback would not harm your supervisor reputation). Pro and cons for conferences and journals are the same as above.

Then there was this piece:

one of the opponents said that it could be beneficial for me to go to another (specific) lab for a couple of weeks

To go from here, contact that very person and if you can manage to get an invitation from that lab, your supervisor should be happy to let you go (if the person is not from this lab, you may ask him to introduce you to the people from that lab). Even more so, if the lab could even contribute to the costs of the visit.

Answer 2

The way you describe your request may indicate part of the reason your Professor isn't convinced: You seem to be treating this as though it was a cone of ice-cream for a child: You didn't the chocolate ice-cream last time, so you want him to buy you a strawberry flavored cone now.

No. Just no.

It's not your advisor's choice whether you go to a conference - it's yours. You decide whether you go or not. The advisor may help you with funding, and perhaps with introductions and recommendations regarding who to talk to and which sessions to attend, but it's your research, your career. So - just go. Will it cost you money? Maybe. If you're strapped for cash, try to use BeWelcome.org or HospitalityClub.org, or personal academic contacts, to find a place to stay for free. Or stay in a multiple-bed room in a hostel.

(The only exception to the above is if your lab work is such that requires constant presence, or the experiment timing is delicate etc., but you haven't indicated that is the case.)

Once you decide you go, you ask your advisor for financial support - after you've told him you believe the conference is important for you to attend and that you're going.

Answer 3

Are there any conferences with PhD Symposia in your field of expertiece? Usually you need to submit an abstract for those, which will be peer reviewed, but in general accepted. Having an accepted abstract at a PhD Symposium might convince your supervisor to let you go there. Additionally, presenting your current state of research there helps both for your current research and eventually for training your defence.

At least in my area it is very uncommon to go to a conferance without having a paper accepted for it, so I udnerstand that attitue of your supervisor. But some conferences provide travel and registration grants for students. That might also be way to convince your supervisor.

Other than that, I could only suggest writing a paper about what you think are your current results. Maybe upon seen the paper, your supervisor will realize that there is more to it than he thought, and let you submit it to a conference.

Answer 4

Perhaps in this instance you could start by looking for an appropriate local conference in your State or country or a remote conference, so that you can attend something without the larger expense of an international conference. It may be easier for you to get funding from your research group or university (or bear the cost yourself) if you can remove the costs of international travel and accommodation. With the COVID pandemic shifting many conferences online, there should be opportunities at the moment to "attend" a conference without the normal travel costs.

From your general description in your question, it sounds like you may have a broader problem with your progress, and perhaps your supervisor is not happy with your progress. Speak to your supervisor about your general progress and the expectations on you, and ensure that you are not falling behind. If you can attend an online or local conference, that will give you a chance to attend some talks and perhaps also present your own research ideas, which will set you in good stead for opportunities for attendance at an international conference later on.