The advice

You’ve already taken a healthy first step by identifying one of your key goals: preserving good professional relationships, no matter what path you chart for yourself going forwards. By using skills you already have as a scientist (gathering data, problem-solving and looking for positive ways of resolving to thorny issues), you’re likely to find a way to regroup.

Nature spoke to current and former graduate students, ombudspersons and academic leaders at several major research institutions around the world, and a career counsellor for PhD students, about navigating your situation and making informed decisions as to whether and how to change labs during your training years.

Define your goals

Jennifer Polk, a career counsellor based in Toronto, Canada, who advises PhD students who wish to craft careers outside of academia, says that you should “give yourself the grace that you need” to define, and perhaps redefine, your goals. What you thought you wanted at the beginning of your PhD programme could change as the reality of the day-to-day grind of lab research sets in. “The clearer you are about what you want, the better,” Polk says.

The office of the ombudsperson at your institution could be a good place to start an informal, confidential conversation around a perceived mismatch with your adviser. Many other institutions, both in the United States and internationally, have a similar person in place to resolve conflicts. Katrin Jordan, head of the research directorate at the Dresden University of Technology in Germany, says that German universities provide graduate students with “persons of trust”, who function as a source of support. “These advisers are available for early-career researchers,” Jordan says. “When a student says, ‘OK, I’m not happy’, we can try to mediate and to facilitate a switch if possible.” Other places to look for support might include trusted members of your dissertation committee, or the office of your institution’s director of graduate instruction.

Craft your approach

There are a few options open to you. If the issue is a purely scientific one (for example, your research interests have changed), you might be able to transfer to a different lab while ensuring that your current supervisor remains on your dissertation committee. Alternatively, you could ask for a co-supervisor if you don’t already have one, who could help you to shift the focus of your project or provide extra support.

“We often talk to people proactively about having more than one mentor,” whether acting formally or informally, says Ellen Goldstein, director of the Office of the Ombuds at the University of California, San Francisco. “It’s good, practically, because you learn different styles of leadership. You learn about different kinds of science. You learn about different perspectives.”

Another approach, especially if you’ve completed most of your graduate work or if it is not possible to secure funding to change labs, is to shorten your time to graduation. One former graduate student whose mentor won a Nobel prize described a highly competitive work culture in her lab that allowed little time for anything except research. “I don’t have a competitive bone in my body,” she told Nature. “I was deep into my project, and I approached [my mentor] with some trepidation about leaving,” she said. “But [they] heard me and agreed that we would figure out what body of work I needed to do to complete my degree.”

Challenges can arise when the reason for wanting to make a change involves interpersonal friction. It’s understandable that you are concerned about retaliation or severing relationships. Shirley Nakata, the ombudsperson for students at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, emphasizes that although advisers, ombudspersons and members of your dissertation committee can help to guide you, it’s important to be realistic about the balance of power in relationships with advisers. “You’re not going to change the behaviour of a star PI,” she counsels. That could require treading lightly when navigating difficult interpersonal issues.

Hold key conversations

Communicate clearly with your PI, centring conversations around mutually beneficial goals. You might also wish to identify potential new advisers and discreetly discuss with them the possibility of a move before reaching out to your current adviser. Your new mentor will need adequate funding if your existing funding cannot be transferred, and this could limit your ability to move between labs. You will also need to discuss timing: it could take longer to graduate if your research is not transferable to the new lab, but acquiring the experience you’re actually looking for in your graduate studies might be worth the trade-off.

When speaking to your current adviser, “you want to do it thoughtfully and honestly”, Polk says. Approach the conversation with curiosity and open-mindedness.