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A professor stole my dissertation topic. Now what?
After completing my dissertation proposal, I got data from a company for my idea. After that, I was searching to find an advisor for my dissertation.
I talked with an assistant professor. Let's call him Alex. He asked me to send all of the collected literature and the proposal to him.  A few days later, he informed me that he could not accept me as his student.
I found another professor (Bob) and then began to work with him.  However, my advisor forced me to give up the proposal without any clear reasons.  So I needed to give it up because for a month, he kept asking me to find a different topic.
About 2 years later after the time, I found that my advisor and his former student (Carol) had been working on my proposal topic and began to submit several papers.
The story was that: His former student was in a relationship with Alex, whom I initially contacted before starting to work with Bob. Alex sent my stuffs to Carol and she contacted Bob to ask for his help to develop the idea.
Such a thing happened one more time as well.  Carol was unable to find a topic and so Bob had provided my research ideas to her again.
This Fall, Carol tenure will be under review.  I'd like to send a letter to dean of the department to inform this. However, I am unsure how to do that effectively. I appreciate any suggestions on this.
By the way, I do not work with Bob anymore. I had a chance to talk about this matter with Alex. He said that he just shared the proposal with Carol because it was an interesting idea.  He did not know the other stuffs and why and how she worked with Bob. Finally, Bob said that it happened because Carol brought the idea to him before I met him.

@MadJack I didn't read "relationship" as a romantic relationship before the edit, did I miss something?

@rpattiso You didn't miss anything so much as I took it and ran with it. I edited that out and I'll let OP clarify. Thanks.

@rpattiso: And which alternative interpretation do you suggest for "was in a relationship with the assistant professor" if you didn't read it that way before the edit?

@gnometorule the English was not clear in the post so I read it in the more general sense that they know each other. If it was obvious, there would be no need to add "romantic", if it's not the OP should clarify.

@rpattiso In a relationship can only mean a romantic relationship to me. If it was another kind, you might say she had a relationship with him, but not that she was in one with him.

@starsplusplus I guess I did miss something, Mad Jack's edits to the post made it much easier to parse overall.

If the OP's not a native English speaker then he may have mixed up the relationship nuances, so we should wait until OP clarifies to make a judgment.

@daaxix That is true; however, I think everyone will interpret OP's original wording as meaning a romantic relationship as it stands. If we want to leave it ambiguous until OP clarifies as you suggest, we should edit away from the original wording to something like "had a relationship with".

I hope this was resolved somehow. What I would have suggested at the time would be to gather factual facts supporting your point and look for an ethics or audit committee of your university or something of the kind.

In two of the answers, people just suggest you to move further and forget about what happened. I disagree with it and think that if you truly believe that people took advantage of you (in my answer I assume that you described the situation in a correct way), you should stood up for yourself and be firm.
I do agree with D.W.'s answer that your chances are not high, and not all wrongs have a good remedy, but I think that you have to report it because:

how the next potential students of A and B know that they are not people who should be trusted?
when you hear a shot and a sound of breaking glass in the night you call a police, not because you think that your information is enough to find a culprit, but because you do not want this behavior to continue. Whether they will be able to find a person who did it and whether it is really worth of opening a crime case is not your responsibility.

Sorry, but I am unable to give you a suggestion as to how approach this situation, but please do not give up.

No, if I hear a shot and the sound of breaking glass in the night, I call the police in the hope that they can stop the crime in progress and arrest the perpetrator while he's still perpetrating. That analogy doesn't apply at all in this case.

@DavidRicherby so if you would know that police would come in 10 minutes and the person is running away, will you just ignore it? If you need another example than how about this: if somebody would stole you mobile (you do not know who has done it, and it happened yesterday). Would you file a police report?

There are at least three reasons to report other than catching the perp in the act. One is prosaic, because you can't make an insurance claim for theft of your mobile without it. Another is to give the cops information about the crime in the hope it'll help them catch the perp later. Another is to give the cops information about crime in general, in the hope it will help them with resource deployment and preventative actions. It's arguably worth the police knowing about shots fired even though you don't know for sure they'll get to the bottom of it.

So three reasons to report: 1. You can explain the company who gave you the data why you didn't do anything with it. 2. You hope (A,B,C) get caught or better monitored. 3. The academia could introduce a registration system for entering ideas (patents?) when it happens more often.

Pragmatically, your best solution might be to just move on with your life.  Not all wrongs have a good remedy.
It's not entirely clear from what you said about whether C did anything wrong, or whether it's directly relevant to C's tenure case.  But even if C did something wrong, it might be hard to prove it, as it will be full of "he-said-she-saids" and "C should have known" and so on.  (For instance, how will you prove that C knew that the ideas were improperly shared/appropriated from your proposal?  How will you prove that your ideas are substantial enough that you should have been a co-author?)
And even if you were to prove it, there's a non-trivial risk that your standing in your community will suffer.  You could become known as "hard to work with".  Given how the process works, it's a near-certainty that if you were to send a letter to the dean complaining about this, word will get out.
Instead, there's a good chance that your best response is to simply move on with your life.  When a collaboration with someone goes bad, the most effective remedy is often simply to not work with them again. Yes, it sucks, but that's life.  The best strategy is to learn to be resilient, bounce back, and keep doing good science.  Do good science, and people will come to respect you.  Don't worry too much about others; focus on yourself, on being the best person and the best scientist you can be.  It's natural to be angry and upset; my advice on that is to find a sympathetic friend and tell them how you're feeling -- take a moment to get it out of your system... and then move on.
Caveat: This answer is speculative.  It's unlikely we'll be able to give you definitive advice, given the level of detail in your question.  It will be difficult to give conclusive answers to your situation with any degree of certainty; only someone with detailed knowledge of the specific situation you're in can help you.  Therefore, if you still have doubts, I suggest finding a senior member of the field who you trust and respect and talk privately with them to solicit their advice.

+1, especially for the last paragraph. Without the details, it's hard to give a good answer, and it would be unwise to share the details in public.

I am genuinely wondering: Why would it be unwise to share the details in public? Why is there this kind of atmosphere in academics of sweeping things under the carpet if they make someone look bad? Thanks for answering my question in advance.

This is, in a sense, a terrible answer. Is there something special about academia which means that people should not stand up for what is right?

@L0j1k: there are other places than academia where snitches get stitches, it's not special. You'll see this approach on workplace.SE too, ranging from "pick your battles" to "shut up and keep your head down, serf". Doesn't make the reprisals right, just that when you analyse the problem in terms of likely outcomes, and authority is unable or unlikely to protect you, then the prognosis often isn't good. That said, never mind A/B/C, the people who think of you as "hard to work with" because you object when people refuse to work with you and lift your proposal anyway, are the absolute worst.

This statement " You could become known as "hard to work with"" is just ridiculous. It is like blaming the victim of rape for the rape itself. People need to stand up against these kind of actions, especially in academia, otherwise it emboldens bad behavior and unethical actions.

@daaxix Problem is: we have seen only one side of the coin. While I tend to believe OP the way this is described, I know from cases where junior members of academia (won't mention levels) have believed they invented something which was stolen from them by a prof while it was them that didn't understand the prof in the first place, and when they understood they thought it was their own idea, they forgot where they got it from and thought the prof had stolen it from them. This is usually not a serious threat to an established prof, but still this is what the warning "hard to work with" is about.

This answer is not saying that people should "not stand for what is right*. It's saying that the story is pretty thin and the trouble/benefit ratio is most likely detrimental to OP.

Move on and move far..
First of all, an idea is nothing in science. I know everything says the opposite in lecture rooms, but in practice an idea is just idea. When you work out someone's idea yourself (eg as a graduate student or a postdoc told by your prof), working on the details for several years, building up a whole research topic and writing several papers from a 5 min vague description that someone gave you - you will feel the same.
Second, it is very unlikely that a dean would even raise his/her eyebow, whatever you do. Unethical what A, B and C did if your description true? Yes. Happens often in science? Oh, you bet. Can you prove it? Do you have labnotes, with proper time-stamps and signature showing you made any preliminary work? Your story also contains a lot of allegations, juicy details, you cannot prove half of it and also makes A, B, C deny even parts of the story.
Can you argue that it is such an important issue that should automatically nill a tenure, or at least worth some serious disciplinary action? Even if you would have some evident, you have to prove some malicious happened, not an accidental negligence, so I hardly think. Also, there is a high chance that your dean / most professor in any disciplinary committee would share my opinion on the first point, even if you don't think so.
Third, and idea is just an idea. If you don't have 10 new every day, don't go to science. You may lost a couple of weeks (days?) of work, but going into battle for this will earn you nothing. Learn to keep a distance from people with questionable reputation.
Remark: anyone with a "-1" is welcome to actually comment or argue

This is a very negative answer, unreasonably so it seems to me.  First of all, "an idea is nothing in science" is a terrible thing to say.  It is not borne out by your argumentation: if as a graduate student or a postdoc you spend years implementing a professor's idea, then the professor gets credit for the idea: in many fields, as a coauthor; in some others, via an acknowledgment.  So you seem to really be saying "In science, students don't have a right to be treated fairly."  That may be the case in certain parts of science, but if so that's exactly what the OP is complaining about.

Second, all the business about the OP arguing that someone should get tenure: of course that's not up to him.  He can just present his case -- which he should do whether someone is going up for tenure or not -- and then it's up to others to evaluate it.  Third, the idea that the OP has to "prove malice" is dead wrong.  The burden of responsibility is on academics not to misappropriate others' work and ideas.  Stealing someone's ideas by accident is a sign of gross incompetence and need not reflect better than stealing someone's ideas maliciously: the latter person sounds more competent.

it was my -1 and I disagree with a couple of points here. First of all, ideas are be important as well. I am sure that if someone would mention the idea for fast fourier transformation, dijkstra algorithm or theory of relativity a year before each publication, a lot of people would come up with the solution/theory. The second is that a person should just ignore injustice. If somebody steals a mobile from me, I would report it to the police. I do not care that I have no idea who has done it, and that it happens a lot. Whether police will find a person or not - it is another story.

@PeteL.Clark  You are jumping to conclusion and misread details. "In science, students don't have a right to be treated fairly." - I never said it was a fair or ethical treatment, neither argued that he would not deserve fair treatment because he is a student. My answer would be the same even if he is a professor. You say, it worth an acknowledgment, maybe a co-authorship. Right.I never argued that, I argued that i don't see no easy and effective way to get him fair treatment to answer the OP's QUESTION.

@PeteL.Clark Somehow that gross incompetence happens every day in science, and I can name several big professors who is famous for doing it on regular basis. Better being safe than sorry, and learn to handle basic politics.

@Greg: If you think I've misread something, please point it out specifically.  I explained why "An idea is nothing" is not a tenet of actual science.  In fact it is the opposite of a basic principle common to all of academia, that ideas are treated with primacy and respect.  All you seem to be saying is that some people behave badly, even very famous ones.  As Salvador Dali says, because crimes are committed frequently does not make them okay.  It is very irresponsible to suggest otherwise.

@PeteL.Clark The question was what to do. My answer was I see no effective way to do anything. The fact that I see this everyday happen, and I see rarely caught and proved (or more like ever) is a proof for that argument. It is not an argument for that it is being ethical. You misinterpret me on purpose. If you don't agree, you are welcome to  show a way what the OP can do. Preferably something that actually works, not just ruining his career. Saying I am encouraging unethical behavior or I agree with this behavior is factually wrong, and gross misinterpretation of my answer.

"You misinterpret me on purpose."  Certainly not.  Your assumption that I am not proceeding in good faith is rather uncollegial.  I took the time to comment on your answer, as you explicitly wrote that you wanted.  Please decide: do you want people to explain why they disagree with your answer or not?  If so, you need to be civil about it.

@PeteL.Clark Please note the tone of your first comment might be considered hostile. I tend to agree partially with both of you. I'm looking forward to additional answers, since I feel the best answer is still out there somewhere.

I apologize if you see my answer hostile. I don't like when my answer is interpreted as encouraging unethical behavior.

Since you invite us to explain the -1: your answer is destructive to people who start in science, plus you blatantly throw the blame on the person who has been treated in an unfair way (if OP says the truth). It's people who believe in your principles who have done academia the mess it is. All of your suggestions are wrong, e.g. having tons of ideas or go, distance yourself from bad reputation people at the moment that he's trying to prove their bad reputation...

Btw: "better being safe than sorry, and learn to handle basic politics". This speaks tons about your approach, which, as I remarked above, has made academia what it is. My advice: people, learn to handle important politics and not let people like this answer-er mess up your careers.
(Gosh, it's one of the evilest answers I've come across in SE. I'm sure you're either tenured or in a high managerial private position by now, right?)

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What is the name of the text that might exist after the chapter heading and before the first section?
In manuscripts, a text between the chapter heading and before the first section might exist. Does this have a name?
This seems to be a good community to know the answer.
Thanks in advance.

Descriptively speaking, it is the "introduction" or the "chapter introduction". What more do you need?

It might be confusing if your first section is also called, e.g. "1.1 Introduction", but if that is the name. Thank you.

If your first section is "Introduction" then why do you need something prior to that?

Section header, epigraph, ...

Can you give an example? Perhaps as an image?

Will try to find an image. Thanks.

Are you referring to a 'Prologue'?

Text between the chapter title and the first section heading is usually called the "lead paragraph" or "lede". Despite the name, this can be one ore more paragraphs of text.

If the text is a quotation, it is called an epigraph. See this APA blog post on how to format epigraphs.
Other than that, most citation guides do not seem to recommend the insertion of a section between a chapter heading and the next subsection.
But I have not found any particular term for that. The descriptive terms listed in the comments seem plausible to me (e.g. "chapter introduction" or a "preface" to the chapter with multiple synonyms).

I don't recall which one it is, but some style guides do not recommend placing a subheader directly after the (level - 1) header. Might be a Knuth recommendation? Or AP style, I don't remember

It's become quite common in academic books in the STEM fields to add such a section as a kind of abstract for the chapter.  The reason for this is that the publishers are now selling online access to individual chapters of books through their web sites.  When you search on Google Scholar, Web of Science, etc., you'll often get results which are book chapters- if you follow the link to one of these book chapters, you'll get access to the brief summary, but access to the full chapter will be behind a paywall.  I've heard these called "chapter abstracts."

I agree - this might not be a formal name for the section, but it's a good description of what it's (often) used for

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Is including references of journals with low or no reputation considered bad practice?
I am working towards my PhD in a quite specialized area of engineering, at the overlap of two technologies. Because of this, there are not as many publications available in my field compared to other topics. Furthermore, there is no journal specializing in my area of work, and articles are published in a wide range of journals, some of them not the most reputable ones, to put it gently.
I nevertheless have used such references from journals perceived by some as disreputable, just because there are not that many in total to choose from. But often also because the articles aren't of bad quality, in fact, some of the articles in "shady" journals can be of better quality (IMHO) than articles in more reputable publications.
On the other hand, a lot of academics seem to find the idea to publish in a "low quality" journal abhorrent and claim they would never do so, indicating that these journals represent second-class science.
So my question is: is it bad practice to reference journals of low or no reputation or is it OK to do so if

there is a limited overall number of references to chose from?
the quality of the article is high enough? (This would beg the question if I, a lowly PhD student would be able to determine quality in a publication...)
any other reason

I am curious what your opinion on this is.

A citation is not an endorsement, it is simply a record of where you came across an idea.

While you are technically right @Ian Sudbery, I am not sure if ir really is perceived that way. For example, in my institute, there is a research score calculated not only by the number of theses, publications, but also by the number of citations the publications receive. And e.g. for SCOPUS indexing, the number of citatons is also important.

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/122531/citing-a-research-article-coming-from-a-journal-you-suspect-to-be-predatory

https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/1519/citing-or-not-a-flawed-or-incomprehensible-paper-or-preprint

Might be a duplicate of https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/4992/13240

Citations are used to measure the quality/impact of a paper, no argument there. But that doesn't mean that this the purpose of citations. If you got an idea from a paper, but didn't cite it because of where it was published, then you would be guilty of plagiarism.

I think it is a good idea. About citing a source: double, triple-check that you cite correctly and that you embark on discovering something really new https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/9602/rediscovery-of-calculus-in-1994-what-should-have-happened-to-that-paper

See also https://academia.stackexchange.com/q/86584/4484 ... Cite the paper even if the author was a member of the Nazi Party.

@Sursula: Following this thread I get the impression that it would be good to be more precise about what you mean by "disreputable". Is it just journals that do nothing wrong except not having a high impact factor, or is it journals that are accused of some kind of misconduct, particularly regularly accepting low quality papers for dodgy reasons (such as taking the fee from the authors)? In general you have to assess the paper quality yourself; journal "reputation" is by no means a reliable indicator of paper quality, see my answer.

Lets talk about the elephant in the room: what are you doing in this field? From you description it looks like the field is not considered important by the community.If your goal is to put the field on the map so to speak, by providing some breakthroughs with will show the usefulness then go ahead. Otherwise stay away. Only big progress in an (until then) unimportant field, or small progress in an important field offer a future for you. I recommend (although a bit too brutal) Hamming's "you and your research" https://www.cs.virginia.edu/~robins/YouAndYourResearch.html

Good papers get published in not-so-good journals.

To answer the question: No, it's not considered bad practice. You are meant to cite work that is closely related or even had an impact on your work, regardless of in what journals this is published. There is no problem with this.
Generally you should not blindly trust published work and make up your own mind about whether it makes sense, regardless of the reputation of the journal.
Something more general about journal reputation. Impact factors and the like, as well as the subjective opinions of people about journals, are not a very reliable quality indicator for the work that appears in the journals. Some journals achieve high impact by publishing headline-grabbing cutting edge stuff fast, sometimes sacrificing quality. High impact journals get loads of submitted papers these days and can easily reject papers after having an Associate Editor looking at the paper for three minutes. The authors may then be forced to publish in a lower reputed journal even if their work is actually fine. The same may happen with work that editors of highly reputed journals don't find "of general enough interest". I have even occasionally experienced better qualified reviewing at lower rated more specialist journals because these would nominate specialist reviewers whereas high impact journals are sometimes more interested in appealing to a more general audience and use reviewers that are, while mostly good, specialised in areas somewhat further away.
I'm not saying that high reputation or impact journals are in fact worse; surely the best people send their best stuff there, which means that many top papers appear in top journals. However there are a number of reasons why top papers may end up in not so highly regarded journals, many of which are in fact OK (some exceptions may exist). Particularly, any journal organising a standard peer review  without putting pressure on reviewers and editors to accept papers (which may happen in "author pays for publication" journals or also if the main editor presses for speed too much) should normally publish OK quality stuff; responsible competent reviewers wouldn't accept anything wrong. As a reviewer, I will basically write the same stuff in my report about a paper regardless of the level of the journal, however I may recommend "accept" for a lower level journals and "reject" for a top level one if I think that the work is OK but with only rather small and/or predictable new results that don't require much genius even if these results make sense and are for sure fine to cite in related work. High level journals may have a somewhat easier job to convince the best people to review, but this doesn't mean that all reviewers of top journals are super-competent and those of lower level journals are ignorants. From my personal experience as author, the quality/level of compentence of reviews isn't very clearly correlated to the journal reputation. They just reject more at a higher level. The differentiation between the top and the not-so-top journals often is more according to how original and difficult the material is, and how "hot" the topic.

If you get an insight (or are referencing an idea/discovery), you need to cite where it comes from.  Good/bad journal.  Even trade journals, websites, personal communications, etc.
In addition, if you are surveying the literature (or semi-surveying at the intro to a paper), than you should list all the papers that would be useful for readers.  I would use some judgment (this is a favor you are doing for the reader).  List the most useful papers (good ones, mini-reviews, etc.).  You should not feel the need to show everything (impossible in active fields, e.g. electronic thin films).  But give the reader the best ones--after that he is on his own to get "cites from the cites" or to do his own ad hoc lit search.
In the event that citations are limited, I would probably lean more towards inclusion (of junkier stuff).  Conversely, if there's a lot out there...show the best stuff and skip the "this is a paper about an individual film, not a set of them" type dross.
At the end of the day, this is not a Euclidean proof, but a thoughtful help to the reader.  And some element of selection/exclusion is what you are delivering to them (and they will appreciate it...after all they can do their own search in addition).  It can't be done perfectly since it is always up for debate.  But it can be done thoughtfully and helpfully.  Just like most practical problems in business, government, etc.
I definitely wouldn't be tentative about junky journals if you know the papers are good or if that's all there is.  If anyone contests it, just say (truthfully hopefully) "I have spent years reading and working in this area and am one of the world's experts in it" (as an older grad student, this is actually a reasonable position...you are the expert in your thesis.)
All that said, I have found that junky journals are usually worse.  But you will develop your own intuitions here, within your field.  I know that in physics and chemistry, the APS and ACS specialty journals still are quite good.  Even some of the Elsevier and the like competition.  And Nature/Science (while very prestigious and many good papers) do tend to have more of a problem with headline-seekers and fraud.    Since it is a big deal to get papers there and since they see themselves as more than just science journals, but somewhat news-y.  Non-US national societies (especially excepting France, Germany, UK) tend to be worse.  TEND.  But I would look with a wary eye at Japanese Applied Films or the like.  And I definitely wouldn't bother ever skimming the table of contents of such a magazine--only coming to their papers as parts of lit searches or "cite from cite" tracing.
But of course, look at the specific papers.  You should develop enough perspective (and be enough of a critical thinker) to recognize some of the attention-seeker crappiness in Nature and/or find a diamond in the rough in Japanese Applied Films.  And then obviously put the better stuff forward.  Don't be a mouse.

As a PhD student in engineering myself I personally got the feeling that not many scholars care about the journal reputation in our field of research.
I do not know how it is perceived in other areas, but, if the articles you cite are of quality although they are published in a „low reputation“ journal, you should absolutely cite them.

Edit: I expressed myself very poorly in my original answer (hence, I deleted the paragraph!). My original answer could be (and was) understood in such a way that I recommended you to not cite papers from predatory journals. What I originally wanted to imply was that you should proceed with caution when using results from such papers if they were published in predatory journals. However, if you use them, you definitely have to cite them, also!

This is incorrect.  If you use information from a predatory journal, you must cite it.  If you do not, it is academic misconduct.

Dangerous advice. "You should avoid citing articles from it" is promoting academic misconduct. Perhaps you meant "You should avoid reading articles from it lest you be tempted to use their ideas and having to cite them", which however would still be questionable in terms of scientific integrity. If a crackpot has an important scientific idea, will you work around it, just to not give that person credit?

@CaptainEmacs My original statement was phrased as ill worded as possible! I must sincerely apologize as I expressed myself extremely poorly! I have edited my answer accordingly, as I do not wish to promote academic misconduct in any way.

@AnonymousPhysicist You are completely correct, my answer was worded very poorly. Hence, I have edited my answer.

@pbaer Thank you for this fix! I have removed my downvote.

@pbaer, I never misunderstood what you said as "don't cite a reference even if you use it". In fact, my question was never if it is ok not to cite a paper you use in your article, but rather if you should not have used the insights from papers from disreputable sources in the first place. In contrast to other, upvoted answerers, you understood what I meant with my question.

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How to negotiate such toxic competitiveness during my master’s studies?
I came to a university for my master's studies in computer science, along with five batchmates from my country. Since most groups are formed in threes, two teamed up with me and instructed me not to help the other two. While strictly against plagiarism, I see nothing wrong with collaborating and sharing information.
I soon noticed that these two group mates only care about people they deem helpful and ignore entirely those they consider beneath them. You also lie to mislead others and ensure they don't complete assignments correctly. For example, one of them lied about finishing an assignment, saying he hadn't completed it when he had. e could have said, "I've completed it but can't share it. However, I can help you understand the topic." This behaviour annoyed me, and I began distancing myself from them.
Realizing this, they flattered the other two batchmates and included them in their team, trying to isolate me further. Unfortunately, I later discovered that the other two shared their mindset of ignoring those they don't need. I am without teammates and handling everything alone, which puts much pressure on me.
There was an internship position for five people, which they secured by approaching the professor before I could, despite my better grades. I was preoccupied with completing my courses alone. There was one more position available, but they didn't inform me.
When I finished my exams and sought a position, only a lesser opportunity was left, offering one-third of their total payment. I found out I would be working in the same lab as them. On the first day, their pale faces showed they didn't want me there. Hey had not told me about the opportunity they secured a month earlier, yet they questioned why I hadn't informed them I was joining the lab.
These childish, competitive antics are making me feel sick. Sometimes, I wonder if I did something wrong. I grew up in a different culture, where I competed with myself rather than engage in such competition with others. Unfortunately, I now have to work with the same team. I'm worried they will plot against me to force me out.
Please advise on how to address this situation.
Clarification based on a few answers:

I have no complaints about not being informed initially. I focused on my exams and approached for the internship two days before the deadline, getting a smaller package. When I didn't inform them about my role, they reacted negatively, though they hadn't informed me either.   Later, I discovered the professor was looking for one more person, and the slot remained empty. It made me feel they might not want me on their team. Should I be comfortable with working in the same lab going forward?

Initially, I chose to work with them due to the ease of language. However, they isolated one of our four apartment mates, ignoring his general questions and confusing us about course topics. When I asked why, they said he was from a lower-ranked faculty (business) and wouldn't be helpful to them in the future. His behaviour disgusted me and seemed likely to spread unnecessary toxicity. Helping: I mean answering general questions or helping resolve confusion regarding a topic, not explicitly tutoring him. Would someone have to lie because he is from a lower-demand faculty?

After the incident mentioned in point 1, I worked with other people, including those from different countries. Any of them were warm, collaborative, and helpful with questions. Unfortunately, I applied for the internship at the last moment and ended up with the same group. That's why I've mentioned only these five people. Ignored only two of them; the others might be unaware of what is happening.

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My advice is to ignore them and focus on yourself. In my field in the US, the type of person you're describing is not all that uncommon - usually a type-A person with no self-awareness and a willingness to throw others under the bus for a perceived advantaged. In my experience, sooner or later they get found out - others tend to not like them and they eventually rub superiors the wrong way. It doesn't always work out, but 9/10 times, these people start to make more enemies than friends.
In terms of what to do on the day-to-day, remain professional and detached. If they tell you something, verify it for yourself. If they don't tell you something, oh well, you can't rely on them for info. Don't help them or work with them outside of what is required. If they start to do things that actively harm you or are dishonest/unethical - lying, plagiarism, sabotaging experiments, whatever - talk to your supervisor. Most importantly, don't stoop to their level.
And try to surround yourself with people who aren't like that.

I just want compete with myself and stay away from people who invent competition with others out of thin air.

"ignore" is maybe too strong, but "protect yourself, don't be distracted, don't waste emotional energy" is along the same lines.  @sErlSaNo explicitly says to report actively harmful behaviours up the chain.

@Trunk I did not literally mean ignore them. More figuratively - as in don't devote energy or brainspace to worrying about them. BenBolker said it well.

I didn't say to turn the other cheek. I said that these people were not worth engaging with and, if they do escalate, to reach out to a superior who can actually do something. I wanted to give the OP the benefit of the doubt, but we don't really know what is going on. This whole thing could very well be an interpersonal issue on the part of the OP. Plus, they're a student. What type of "showdown" exactly would you recommend? A duel at noon? The best course of action is to worry about themselves and if their classmates do something objectively wrong, to report it to their supervisor.

Let's consider.

There was an internship position for five people, which they secured by approaching the professor before I could...There was one more position available, but they didn't inform me.

Why is it their job to inform you? Why is it their fault if the professor gave the position away before you got around to applying?

They also lie to...ensure they don't complete assignments properly. For example, one of them lied about finishing an assignment, saying he hadn't completed it when he had. He could have said, "I've completed it but can't share it. However, I can help you understand the topic."

How can they "ensure" someone else doesn't complete assignments properly? This is too much. It sounds to me like they told a white lie to avoid being asked to provide tutoring services. While occasionally tutoring your classmates might be a nice thing to do, they are under no obligation to do it, and refusing to do it does not "ensure" that others will fail.

I began distancing myself from them. Realizing this, they flattered the other two batchmates and included them in their team, trying to isolate me further.

You deliberately distanced yourself from them, and now it's their fault that they replaced you? And you assume that they did this to "isolate you", rather than simply to fill the spot?

Unfortunately, I later realized that the other two shared their mindset of ignoring those they don't need. Now, I am without teammates and handling everything alone, which is putting a lot of pressure on me.

So there are 4 other batchmates, and all 4 of them, according to you, are toxic. Hmm. Also, are there no other "batchmates" from other countries who you could work with?

On the first day, their pale faces showed they didn't want me there...These childish, competitive antics are making me feel sick. Sometimes, I wonder if I did something wrong....I'm worried they will plot against me to force me out.

I recommend you stick to actual facts of things they did wrong (e.g., lying), not just your inferences from "their pale faces" or your conclusions about "their childish...antics." If you rewrite your story to contain just the facts without the inferences and conclusions, then you'll find yourself in one of two situations:

There won't be much left. You might not like your coworkers, but they haven't actually done anything wrong. This is then an interpersonal matter rather than an academic one. Or,
There are many facts that didn't make it into the above narrative. In this case, you can use this list of facts to do a much better job telling the story in future (should you ever have to) than you did above. As for next steps, I agree with @sErlSaNo's answer: remain professional but detached, don't rely on them, and talk to your supervisor if they cross the line.

On the contrary, I gave two different interpretations and gave advice for each.

I would suggest that you not extrapolate so much beyond what I wrote. There are certainly situations where I would respond with kindness or anger, but on the internet, I've found it's best to be detached and professional and to focus on next steps rather than assigning blame. In this case, OP is convinced that their labmates have formed a conspiracy against them. I do not believe it would be kind to allow such an extreme assumption to pass unchallenged, though note that I also acknowledged the possibility that the assumption is correct. In any case: I have no more to add, good luck.

This answer would be better if it was gentler and a more charitable interpretation was given to what OP wrote. Probably half the points are to do with OP's non-native / non-standard English, or cultural differences.

They didn’t have to inform me, and neither did I. I didn’t question why they didn’t tell me, but they did ask why I joined at the last moment.
You overextended it. I didn't mean helping with assignments. Living together requires some courtesy. If someone is struggling with a topic and asks for help, saying no despite understanding it is too self-centered. At least honestly say, "I understand, but I can't help right now because I have other tasks." This would have prevented unnecessary toxicity.

Not all of them are toxic. I avoided only two of them but didn't want to make enemies. However, it feels like they are treating me as one.

@user_009 Maybe you are used to a warm, very cosy atmosphere. Not all surroundings are, and between full-on toxicity and cozy familiarity, there is a spectrum. Your situation may be on the cold side, but not yet on full toxicity. Extricate yourself, and your former "fellow students" may not feel they have to actively distance themselves from you. Worry about their machinations after they happen, not before. Sometimes one projects what one fears, causing it to happen in the first place ("self-fulfilling prophesy"). Just treat them as near-strangers in a coffee shop. Courteous but distant.

@user_009 My assumption would be that someone who lies when asked for help is doing so because they want to avoid an argument about it. It seems that they were likely right to expect an argument if your view is that living together comes with an implied promise/obligation of help with coursework.

I would go so far as to say when 4 people are avoiding YOU then you are the toxic one. Always interpreting misfortune as some other person's fault or malice is a telltale sign of a narcissist.

@Stian If someone in a group is being bullied, do you tell the person who is being bullied that it is their fault? We don't know these people and we need to be considerate and moderate.

@Stian Not necessarily. Group dynamics can be nasty. OP might be a very sensitive person, and overly reactive to less sensitive and probably more driven characters. It may be a misunderstanding or they may actively bully OP. Or they consider OP as too strongly attached and do not want to encourage that. We do not know enough. For what I have seen until now, I would probably give OP the benefit of the doubt; but they need to distance themselves from the situation and try to see it as an uninvolved observer if they want to improve it.

Re: "If someone is struggling with a topic and asks for help, saying no despite understanding it is too self-centered." On the contrary; expecting fellow students to help you out of pure courtesy is too self-centered. Your question and such comments do indeed read like it is you who is the 'toxic' one in this dynamic.

@Servaes I think that's a bit too far. The OP simply likes to holds himself to high standards and can is confronted with the reality of an imperfect world that has no interest in doing the same. When I was studying, we largely had a mentality of being in there together, as a team and I'm very glad for that.

@Wouter It's fine to hold yourself to high standards, the problem comes with holding others to that standard and labeling them "toxic" when they don't do things that you've unilaterally decided they are responsible for.

You didn't mention which country you are from. In my country, France, Master's programs are highly competitive and will impact your career and determine your capacity to pursue a PhD program. This kind of behavior is not unknown, and such approaches are as old as the world. Many people here are telling you that you should ignore them, but it is not always possible. One piece of advice: work hard and try your very best. I have a PhD and I worked at Harvard (as a post-doc). My master's degree was one of the most competitive place I have ever been. This can be a shock. My advice is not to let yourself be influenced by people informing you that they did not study or complete their assignments. If you have to work in a group, send emails so that you keep everything in writing. This may help you if things go sour and you need to justify what you have done and what other people have done. As for collaboration, again not sharing your homework in such a competitive place is not a bad idea, all depends on what you want. Because depending on your goal, you may want to be at the very top of your class.

This answer provides useful information, but much of it ("[don't] let yourself be influenced",  the idea of focusing on your own work) is not that different from what others are saying ("Don't help them or work with them outside of what is required")

You misunderstood some aspects. I did not say to share homework. I mentioned not to unnecessarily lie with someone you live in same apartment. Eventually he will figure out and spread animosity. Same happened with the apartment mate and now with me.
What kind of top you are talking about? A lone place where you put anyone under the bus when not required?
I believe most "top things" in the world came out from collaboration not competition

You don't have to put people under the bus to be successful, but some people find it easier that way. What I am saying is that you need to learn to work with all kinds of people. You can only be betrayed by people you trust. What we find acceptable or not is up for debate, from what you describe, I would not like working with them, and I would definitely not trust them.

In addition to the useful answer from @trunk , I suggest that you document all interactions with your colleagues, assuming "colleague" is the right word in this case. A (paper) notebook should be fine: record dates, and don't leave blank paper, so that it is obvious that you aren't inserting stuff later. Stick to objective facts (no "pale faces") and don't leave it behind in the lab.
I also agree with the suggestion of "courteous but distant", and suggest not retaliating to deliberate insults, (but record them). One possible response is: "that is interesting".

@Fe2O3: Probably you mean discreetly.

@Fe2O3 OTOH, it my be more practicable to record interactions discretely, rather then with continuously.


text:
Do we add references of the dataset?
I'm doing a thesis on the generic organisation of the conclusion section of research articles. I already had the authors' consent to use their conclusion sections as part of my data set and extracted some examples to illustrate my findings.
I'm wondering if I have to put all the sources of my data set in the reference list or just the ones I extracted, or is there no need to do so?

Can you ask your supervisor?

I did message them about this but haven't heard anything from them for almost a week. Usually it took them at most 2 days to reply or they would just leave something to let me know they already received the message, so I'm not sure what to do.

Caveat: I am not very familiar with studies of academic publications on a textual level, however, I am somewhat familiar with bibliometric studies and similar.
I do not consider citing those publications to be appropriate. There is a clear distinction between using an academic paper as data and using its results (e.g., in a review paper). The probably easiest way to see this is by slightly modifying your scenario:

Suppose that you were studying novel blurbs instead of academic conclusions. Would you cite the novels? If this isn’t already clear enough, consider a study of graffiti or school essays.

Suppose you were studying citation graphs (and compile your data yourself). In that case, your data can easily originate from thousands of papers. Would you cite all those papers?

By contrast, I do not see a continuous path from your scenario to one where it is clear that you should cite.
Of course, it should still be clear where your data comes from and citation tools might be a convenient way to document this.

Agreed it should be separate. Sometimes people intermingle in e.g. meta analysis, with the analyzed studies intermixed in the reference list with all the conceptual motivation etc, and it makes it annoying if you're actually interested in the data source.

@BryanKrause: And even in meta analyses, you are using the results from the studies in question, not the text. So while it may be in some grey area, it’s not a grey area pertinent to this question.

For this I wouldn't put them in as references, I would have them as part of the data. So wherever you have the data you have extracted (probably a supplemental), have a column for source.


text:
My advisor is toxic
I have recently defended my dissertation. It was not my wish to defend since I was only three and a half years into my PhD. The reason was my advisor was pushing me to graduate. Even though I thought I had more things to do. However, I had enough paper to graduate, and my committee members were more than impressed with my work.
However, the drama started after passing the defence. We had one paper pending. Now, he is blackmailing me that he will not sign my thesis until I finish the whole paper. I have not found a job yet. I could not due to extreme pressure and torture for the past three years. I will need to focus on paper rather than looking for a job. I have a family with one kid who I need to support.
What can I do at this point? Is it worth it to complain against him at this last stage? Will I need his recommendation in future? Any suggestion is appreciated.

"What can I do at this point?" You could finish "the whole paper" so that he will sign your thesis. This will end the "extreme pressure and torture for past 3 years" and allow you to look for a job so that you can support your family and kid as soon as possible.

I am an international in a foreign country. Everyone here usually finds a job first and does the final defense.

Or finding the job triggers a defense. If your advisor signed you would be graduated and the clock would be ticking on visa issues.

The question as posed is confusing. If you have published other papers, you are familiar with the process of preparing papers for publication. If the paper is work from your PhD, it sounds like it is just a matter of finalising a manuscript for submission rather than needing to do extra research. This sounds like something that you can do while also looking for work or even while working full time. Can you elaborate on the problem?

Is it that the paper will not be about work that you completed during your PhD, but about something that requires new research following on from your PhD work? If that's the case, since you have mentioned that you'd have been happy to stay as a PhD student for a while, is the problem that your funding has been discontinued since you passed your defence? That sounds like something you need to talk to your university about (your graduate research office, postgraduate co-odinator, department chair, or dean, depending on how things work where you are). It doesn't need to be posed as a complaint against your advisor: just explain the situation in neutral terms and ask if there is a way for your funding to be re-instated until you have sign-off. You are still a student until then, after all.
Is it that not having officially graduated is impairing your job search because "defence successfully completed but PhD not yet signed off" doesn't look as good on a job application as actually having the PhD in hand? This might not matter as much as you think (though that might depend on what sort of job you are looking for, what country you are in, and how fierce the competition is).
Is it that your family commitments mean that you would not be able to manage working say one day each weekend or a couple of hours after work each day on finalising a manuscript while also holding down a full time job? Worry about that once you have a job offer in hand -- meanwhile, you should be able to both work on the manuscript and look for a job.

The work is related. I need to do some extra work, like 2 weeks' worth of experimental work. I am willing to do that. But, the data needs verification as well. And that needs time. Anyway, reading your comment it feels like the best for me is to finish the paper as well as continue searching for a job.  For the funding, it is still alive. I will seek help if it is stopped. As I am a nonimmigrant student, finding a job is much more important for me rather than finishing the paper. My thought is, that if I shift the focus too much I will be in trouble. Thank you for your kind comment.

by trouble i mean unemployed and later leaving the country

Finishing the paper will be another paper on your CV, which will make your job applications stronger.

This is confusing. You don't like your advisor. Likely they didn't like you either. So they pushed you through to graduate early, which seems the best-case scenario for everyone involved. Now they just want you to wrap up a final paper before you leave. This is fair enough and very common as I assume resources were invested by your advisor on this and perhaps it was part of the negotiation your advisor made with your committee to let you graduate faster (i.e. that you had all those papers and one final one that will be sent in).
This seems like the most productive way to end a non-ideal mentor-mentee relationship. You got a degree and a list of publications to bolster your CV, they got some papers and another graduate student through, and now the final piece is one paper needs to be finished up.
Frankly the notion that you cannot wrap up a paper and look for a job at the same time is over-dramatic. Postdocs juggle advising students, writing multiple papers, handling part of group/lab business and looking for faculty jobs.
You can do it.

Sorry, but I feel I had to downvote this. Nothing in the question indicates that OP only needs to put some finishing touches on an existing paper, it may well be that this "last paper" still requires months of full-time work. And independently of that - OP defended and is not sponsored anymore by the university, by definition their previous advisor has absolute no, zero, nilch rights to demand anything from them.

It requires significant experimental work. As well as verification of data from collaborators as well. However, I have seen questionable data being published without further verification within my team, which I cannot do.
I agree that the best thing for me is to finish things up.

@xLeitix in many universities the student is not done until the advisor signs off on the thesis. The oral defense is just one part of it. It is very typical that they will hang around until the end of the semester during which they defended to wrap things up, hand over any data, if in an experimental lab, dispose of wastes, clean up, etc... (basic close out). But the student can raise a case with their department/college and force the completion of all degree requirements. At which point they will completely burn their bridge with their advisor. Do it and accept the consequences.


text:
Other authors are notified except me, good or bad sign?
Recently, I submitted a paper for an IEEE conference. A week after the notification deadline, I hadn't heard anything from the committee yet, so I emailed the Technical Program Chair directly. They told me that 80% of authors have been notified, and the rest must wait longer.
I'm unsure how that is possible since the quota for accepted papers is limited, and the committee should make all decisions simultaneously. Is their acceptance rate higher for the 20% of authors who haven't received notifications?

“I'm not sure how is that possible, since the quota for accepted paper is limited and the committee should make all decisions at once?”  At least internally, the committee probably doesn’t make all the decisions at once.  In my experience it’s typical that a conference with (say) 100 submissions for 30 slots might quickly agree on 20 submissions as clear accepts and 60 more as quick rejects, and then take a lot longer to discuss the 20 borderline cases for the last 10 slots.  Of course, the conference should still have all cases decided by the promised notification date.

@PLL That should be an answer. Please post it as one.

I've seen such things happen when the papers are split among multiple sub-committees for different topics/tracks; it may be that most of the committees have done their assessments on time, but one is not for some reason e.g. unavailability of a key member.

Regarding the chances for your paper, this is neither a good or bad sign. The program committee is probably still busy with making the decisions on some remaining papers, which means that both rejection and acceptance are absolutely possible - there is no indication as to which outcome is more likely.
But, exceeding the notification date by one week is unprofessional and, therefore, a poor sign for the quality of the conference. Some authors might have plans to submit the paper somewhere else, which they cannot do without the notification. Please note that being an "IEEE conference" is not a quality indicator these days, but a way for IEEE to make money.


text:
Is it worth writing and publishing a survey paper while a PhD student
There are opportunity costs associated with spending time on writing a critical analysis of the literature and submitting that review article to a journal as opposed to conducting research (although the two aren't mutually exclusive). As a PhD student, is it worth spending the time to write and publish a review article as opposed to just pursuing research, without impacting the graduation timeline? And if the review article is published, would it be reasonable to incorporate it in one's dissertation?
This question is of particular interest to me since I also work a full-time job and only have enough time to allocate to one, maybe two, major projects for school at a given time.
This question has been significantly revised. The old version of the question is below.

My PhD program (United States, Computer Science) recently changed the comprehensive exam requirements so that we now have to write a research survey critically analyzing an area of our choice and orally defend it. The expectation is that the survey, either as is or with some additional work, would be of publishable quality, although there is no requirement for it to be submitted or published. My advisor is encouraging me to strive for actually submitting the survey once completed.
For those familiar with the either formal or informal requirement to publish a certain number of papers in order to graduate, how would publishing a survey impact that paper count? Should or would surveys be considered to count towards the paper count requirement? Additionally, there are opportunity costs associated with writing and trying to publish a survey, such as not being able to dedicate as much time to research; however, writing the survey will certainly help with research.
I understand there are many factors in play with respect to the type of program, quality of the survey, committee members, advisor, etc., but high level considerations would be appreciated.

That is an entirely local question. Most of CS doesn't have such requirements, but if your university does, you need to inquire locally. I think the question is moot, in any case, as you are required to produce the paper even if not to publish it. After you earn the degree few would be aware of or concerned with the details here.

Perhaps I should have avoided putting the first paragraph and just said this: is it worth putting the time into writing a publishable survey as a PhD student as opposed to focusing on research?

@Buffy I've revised the question. Is it still a local question or would others find value from this?

I think the general question has the same problems. If a university requires it or permits it as part of the official program it is up to them and other universities will have different rules. But once you have the degree, the details of how you got it are much less important than the fact that you were successful. Having a publication in general, is normally a good thing, of course.

This is not the local question as I too had the same question. Thanks @kjacks21 for raising this.

A survey almost certainly would count towards your paper count requirement.
A proof based on common sense is that surveys can generally be hard to distinguish from research papers: there exist review papers that have notable amount of novel work added but are still called reviews. Thus it is very unlikely for your department to put such a distinction.
Publishing your (already finished) survey is worth it.
Your original question states that you have to produce a survey of defendable quality. Then, the effort required is just polishing the survey further to publishable quality and handling the communication with a journal. The reward will be getting a publication, with all its formal (increasing your paper count, see previous paragraph) and informal (getting recognised) positive consequences. Surely worth it!
The proof is again based on common sense: if the pros did not outweigh the effort in your local environment, no work would have made its way further than internal discussions within your department.

Given that this question is being deemed too specific to individual circumstances, this answer brings up some points I hadn't considered and answers my general question. Thank you!

You should consider why your school requires a survey article in place of a more traditional comprehensive exam. I am familiar with schools with such requirements, and I personally think it is an excellent approach. It requires students to engage broadly and critically with the literature so that at the end of their doctoral process, they are not only very narrow specialists in their particular topic (which they need to be), but they are also broadly knowledgeable generalists in their discipline.
In my opinion, does not require too much additional work to uplift the survey from merely an exercise for your comprehensive exam to making it an article worthy of submission to a good journal. And having the explicit target that your effort will end up in a journal would increase the quality of your work so that you not only barely meet the exam requirements, but exceed them.
Concerning the additional work required after the exam to actually take the article to publication (submission and then multiple rounds of revision), in most fields, a survey article counts as a regular publication. Indeed, survey articles are generally understood to be cited more highly than regular articles, and that would be a very good investment for your career.
So, in short, I recommend that you put in the additional effort and take the survey article all the way to publication.

These are excellent points, especially how making publishing a target will ultimately increase the quality of the work for the exam. Thank you!


text:
I have PhD degree in Mathematics. Can I get a research supervisor for another PhD?
I'm from Ethiopia, and I completed my PhD degree in mathematics three months ago. Now I'm working in one of Ethiopian universities as a mathematics teacher. Unfortunately, I'm not satisfied with my current position and did not enjoy the work that I did in my PhD study. So I'm looking for another PhD (in Mathematics) in Europe or Canada. Is it possible to apply for a second PhD? How can I convince a professor to get his consent?

Why do you want to do this? As I’m sure you know, PhDs aren’t something people do on a whim. In almost every circumstance there’s something that will be better at achieving that goal.

There are some places that would forbid this and others probably permit it. But there are better options, such as a post-doc or even a paid faculty position somewhere. Earning another degree won't do anything for you that further study won't. But you can get that study while working, even in your current position.
What you really need is a relationship with one or more other professors in your field with whom you can work and extend your knowledge. You want colleagues, not supervisors. International cooperation is even possible these days if travel is difficult.
But two PhDs in the same field seems to me, at least, to be spinning your wheels.


text:
Is it better to go for a postdoc in the US or Europe?
I've recently got my PhD in Europe and I am doing applications for the postdoc positions in Europe and in the US. I've got two possible offers and I am a bit confused to decide which position would be better for my future. One of the offers is from the US and the other one is in Europe. My initial plan was to choose the position in Europe and to spend some more time to expand my academic network by staying close to home. Meanwhile, I am almost sure that I eventually need to go to the US either I decide to stay in academia or go into the industry in the future, since it is very difficult to settle in the Northern European countries as an expat or a foreigner researcher due to different reasons (mostly because of the social life, language and funding options etc.), at least I need to spend some time there to be not seen as only moving inside of Europe. I am also not planning to go back my country at the junior research level since it is too challenging to secure a job as well (Mediterranean country).
I still would like to take the position in Europe and then try to find a better position ( as research associate, Assistant prof or instructor/ senior postdoc) in the US later. Do you think would it be better to go there directly after my PhD? Would it reduce my chance to find a position in the US if I do a postdoc in  Europe first?
PS : The position in the US is so close to my current field, it is very similar to my PhD topic. I will still learn different methods and expand my skills technically but the scientific approach is not so different what I have done in my PhD. It has good job benefits for two years (e.g. health, pension etc.) except the visa (J1) though.

It depends on what you want to do in your life. I don't think anyone in here knows that better than you do.

You have done your PhD in Europe. If you don't do a PostDoc in the US, it may be hard for you to find a faculty job in a US university.

The answer to this question will come down to your personal circumstances and goals. There will be advantages and disadvantages to both options (both professionally and personally) that only you can know and weigh up. And, of course, it matters more how good the postdoc will be for your development than what continent it is in.
However, it sounds like your goal is to eventually end up in the US. In that case, my suggestion would be that there is no time like the present to make the move. Getting a position in the US is tough and it helps to have as many local contacts as possible, so you should start building them up as soon as possible.

Do you think would it be better to go there directly after my PhD? Would it reduce my chance to find a position in the US if I do a postdoc in Europe first?

The first question is personal opinion, but I can offer some thoughts about the latter question.

For primarily teaching positions, yes.  I don't know if either of your postdocs involve teaching (if so, they're not super relevant to primarily teaching posts anyway, but math postdocs in the US typically involve teaching) but if so, teaching in the US system is a boon.  Also, it's easier (cheaper to fly you in) to interview if you're already in the US, but you could always try another postdoc in the US first.
For a research position, a US versus European postdoc doesn't matter too much in and of itself, but you should go to conferences in the US and meet people and tell them about your work.  For this type of position, you should take the postdoc that you think will be most beneficial to your research.  (Caveat: if the research you would do in Europe is not so popular in the US, this will make it harder for you to get a job in the US.)
For an industry position, I don't know too much about this, but I guess like for teaching positions it would be somewhat easier for companies to interview you if you are already here.
One thing that may be a possibility is to take both postdocs and defer one.  At least in the recent past this was not so uncommon in mathematics.  E.g., you may be able to do the postdoc in Europe for 1 year, and then postdoc in the US, or start the US postdoc first but take a year off to postdoc in Europe.

Take a dice. Roll it. If it's an even number, go to the US, if it's an odd number stay in Europe. If you feel bad after rolling the dice, roll it again.
Sounds stupid, but might be the best advice in your case ;-)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/


text:
How can I join/volunteer a research group for short term?
I am a working professional and I wish to try working on some research projects after 9-5 job. My average skills doesn't allow me to be a part of big research groups, however, I would still like to volunteer (little or no pay expected) and work with a research group for some time and experience what's it like, gain some exposure on how they are done and finally figure out if it's for me or not?
Goal is to gain some exposure by doing, just like people have summer internship during graduation or "On-job-training" during employment in provisional period.
Are there any open, public or community-driven research groups where I can get a feel for how research is done? How can I search groups like these?
I am looking for something in fields like IT, data, computer security etc.

Is your plan to work on the research project in your free time, after a normal 8-hour work day?

In which field?

You need to clarify your question further. What is the purpose of 'trying your luck' on research projects?

The purpose is to TRY and gain a little exposure in how research projects are done as I have never done any earlier, to be able to decide if they are for me or not.
"Volunteering" means I expect little or no pay. It's mainly for testing my abilities to be able to work in research-based environment.
Anything related to computer software field should do, as I do understand a little portion of it.

If you want to do it as a hobby you should look for "citizen science groups" near you or in your area of interest. See the Wiki article to get an idea.

Citizen science (also known as community science, crowd science, crowd-sourced science, civic science, volunteer monitoring or networked science) is scientific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur (or nonprofessional) scientists.

If you want to participate in research at universities and research institutes I would just try to contact the group(s) there that work on the topics of you are interest in.
I guess plenty of groups would be happy to have someone to do some research assistant work and for you it would be a possibility to get to know them and their work.

I am less optimistic than you regarding the chances to work as research assistant. At the places where I've worked, RA positions were tied to being enrolled as a student.

@henning OP stated to "volunteer" which I read as "no contract, no pay". Also (at least for my university in Germany) I can say that it is possible to give contracts to non-students, as we have someone like this employed.

I would guess that even if there are such groups, the research they conduct would not develop any sort of research skill.
The idea behind conducting research is to publish it (otherwise nobody will know what scientists have found). While publishing, scientists have to write the names of all contributors. And having your name on an article is sometimes more valuable than the money. Thus, it is not very likely that a research team, which is good enough for you to develop skills in case you help them, to accept that kind of contribution.
If they accept your help, they have to write your name. If they write your name, there will be a random co-author on the article they publish. This is not very prestigious.
You can promise that you will reject authorship, but then how can they know? They cannot prepare a contract that says you will not be a co-author.
All these considered, I would say that yes, you can find such groups, probably cannot help you develop your skills by working with them.

Why would it be a problem for OP to be co-author if he contributed? Prestige? What makes OP any different from any young student who joins the group? The also never published before, meaning they have no "prestigious" name.


text:
On GPA and Applying for PhD
I am an undergraduate studying mathematics interested in pursuing research in this field. I am interested in differential geometry and have tried several courses involving geometry/analysis. However, I have B+ grades for these courses, which I believe is because I couldn't react to exams as quickly as many others in the same class. I can clearly explain my understanding to others and solve many difficult questions under untimed conditions. Will these B+ grades impact my application if I want to pursue a math PhD degree in a geometry-related field?


text:
Professor seeking to sell independently created software
I am a public-sector university teacher in Brazil. For the last few years, I have been independently working on teaching software, which I firmly believe has excellent commercial value in academia and outside the broader public of school teachers.
This software has not originated directly from my research. Still, mostly from my teaching expertise, I have chosen not to publish anything about it nor use any funding or university resources. It has been entirely developed in my free time with lots of personal sacrifices and money invested.
My university does not enforce a strict policy on intellectual property, nor do I have any interest in licensing this, as it is a very personal approach to some specific pedagogy questions in my field. I would instead explore this idea independently as an indie developer selling individual user licenses directly to end-users through digital marketplaces/app stores while maintaining my complete duties at university.
Regardless of my country's legislation and university policies, how do you feel about this situation? Is it standard/acceptable in your country/university? Am I at risk here?
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Whether or not you are at risk is something you need to discuss with a lawyer

This situation is probably not all that different from cases where an academic creates a textbook to use as a teaching tool and sells it independently for profit.  In many cases the academic even assigns their own text in courses and teaches from this, creating a revenue stream for textbook sales from their teaching.  That activity is generally considered to be an acceptable part of academic teaching.  The only time it raises ethical issues is if there is cause to believe that the academic is assigning inappropriate teaching materials in courses for the purpose of exogenous gain.
For the legal side of your proposal, you should speak directly to the university lawyer or hire your own lawyer.  There may be IP issues you need to consider and possibly other legal issues.


text:
Should I give a brutally honest feedback on course evaluations?
We are towards the end of a graduate-level course of about 20 students, and it is time for course evaluation. The instructor is pretty new (they just graduated with a PhD a year ago) and is not a native English speaker. Overall, the instructor is knowledgeable about the subject. However, the style of delivery is very monotonous and often sleep-inducing. The instructor reads off from slides, almost like a news reader, but with less modulation. Sometimes, the thick accent requires additional effort to be listened to more. However, comprehension has never been an issue. Also, the instructor is generally a good person, accommodating to missed lectures and wants students to succeed.
I am conflicted about whether I should give honest feedback about how the lectures were so monotonous or just a cliche positive one. On the one hand, if I do not provide honest feedback, the instructor will not realize how to change the teaching style. However, I do not want to make a relatively young and new faculty feel inadequate since we can't say how people react to negative feedback. I also think that the monotony is something other students felt, so even if I don't give honest feedback, someone else will. Some advice on what the correct perspective should be would be helpful.

Please don’t write answers in comments. This question already has 13 real answers, please don't try to jump the queue by posting answers in comments. Further, answers in comments bypass our quality measures by not having voting (both up and down) available on comments, as well as having other problems detailed on meta. Comments are for clarifying and improving the question; please don’t use them for other purposes.

To clarify: your title mentions “brutally” honest feedback. Is this something you want to convey? It can carry a certain connotation of maliciousness.

Getting honest, but not malicious feedback is invaluble when you are just starting with teaching. Most feedback we receive is either of the bland, cliched, positive nature you describe, or "it was crap".
Being able to give honest constructive feedback in a way that does not offend the reciever is a difficult but incredibly valuble skill.
One way to start might be the "compliment sandwich". Structure your feedback in the following way:

Something you liked.
Something you didn't like.
One concrete suggestion for something the reciever should focus on for maximum improvement.

Hmmm. "Feedback sandwich". It is actually a Pedagogical Pattern. It can be (should be) used by instructors as well.

Oh. I've not heard that name before. The instructors on our teacher training course all refered to it by the less polite name.

FWIW, feedback sandwich is a tempting concept that didn't stand the test of time.  Instead, feedback that describes actions and their impact (like "when you read off the slide without looking up, I lose interest) is more effective.

It's also known as a crap sandwich, and as mentioned, is a crap idea itself. Please don't use it if you want feedback to be effective and constructive. But go ahead if you are okay with being vague and diluting your point, and potentially coming across as insincere.

@greenasjade I don't see how that doesn't fit the structure I outlined.  1. You are very knowledgeable and this comes across. 2. When you read off the slides without looking up I loose interest 3. I think the key thing to concentrate on is connecting directly with the audience. The point is,  it's not enough to say what is wrong, which actions to avoid,  but also which actions to take to make it better.

@nij there is no reason why using the sandwich approach has to be vague and definately shouldn't be insincere.  We should all be able to come up with something we sincerely like about someone else's work. If we want someone to improve we need to be able to say what to do to improve, not just what is wrong. Giving good feedback is a skill we must develop, and as a someone gets more skilled as it, there is less reason to be constrained, but for someone just starting a predetermined structure can help getting started and ensure that feedback has some constructive element and is perceived as such.

The point of the positive in the sandwich (and positive feedback in general) is not just to make the recipient feel better. It's to make sure that they don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. For people starting out it can be just as difficult to know what they're doing right as what they're doing wrong. Think of something they should hang on to in the course, to help them understand what to focus on.

Another good reason to use the sandwich is to demonstrate some level of "hey, I'm on your side!" Many/most people naturally feel defensive when criticized, so leading with a compliment contextualizes the criticism as more constructive rather than an insult.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPVnOonSO-s ;)    I understand why the concept of feedback sandwich appeals.  Nonetheless, any "leadship training" I've seen recently has moved on from it - probably due to it's potential to degrade into the sort of thing in that video.      Of course there are nuances, and it's helpful to have all the techniques in your toolkit, blend them to fit...

@GreenAsJade obviously as skilled any experienced mentors and teachers we should use a range of different techniques in different situations.  But when someone is just starting out on their giving effective feedback journey,  they need to start somewhere.

Also,  that video doesn't demonstrate a feedback sandwich.  A feedback sandwich isn't 1. good, 2. bad, 3. good, it's 1. good, 2. bad,3.  what one specific action would do most to make the bad less bad

The last part is almost certainly the hardest, and it is what is missing from the action/impact formula, which is only really useful when the point is to convince someone not to do something they would otherwise want to do - ie when the "how to make it better" is just "stop doing it".

Some people call that a "love sandwich", even though sandwiches are normally named for the inside, not the outside.

@IanSudbery I think that the concensus is moving in the direction of recommending something other than a feedback sandwich for someone starting out on their effective feedback journey.  Just from what I've seen and recent training I've received - we've learned and moved on

Monotonically reading off slides is a poor presentation technique in any area - whether lecturing or presenting a research talk or reading the daily news on TV/radio.
You can give honest feedback without being brutal. I'd focus on things like the presentation style rather than the accent, as the latter is mostly an accident of where the instructor grew up (though they may also be inter-related - an instructor who feels uncomfortable lecturing in English might defer to reading text verbatim, regardless of their actual English proficiency). Generally, feedback is best when it's constructive: suggest what you'd like the instructor to do differently, rather than just what they did wrong, e.g.: "I think the lectures would be more engaging and easier to follow if the instructor spoke conversationally about the material rather than reading directly from the slides."
It's also appropriate to mix positive and negative feedback. Sometimes this is suggested as more of a "management tool" to convey areas for improvement without offending the target, but it's also appropriate when it's fully honest and natural - if you appreciated the instructor's flexibility or willingness to spend extra time to help students succeed, point those out too.

"Monotonically reading off slides is a poor presentation technique"  Approach this with caution - maybe they have a speech-related disability.

@AnonymousPhysicist: Could you elaborate? Indeed, the poor presentation technique of some people might be due to a disability. But what's the conclusion you are suggesting?

@AnonymousPhysicist Most presentation software has a separate "Notes" view; this can be populated with a script, if needed.

@wizzwizz4 Monotonically reading a script that is not on the slide is no better or worse for students.

@AnonymousPhysicist Strongly disagree; slides with key points while someone reads a more detailed description would likely be a big upgrade. Not the ideal I'd aim for, but still an upgrade.

If the script that is not on the slide is a bit longer, it might be a bit better.  One could always make the text on the slides longer too.  But no matter where the script is, simply reading a script is quite likely to put students to sleep.

You should give honest and constructive feedback.  Try to avoid "brutality" in course feedback, and instead aim to report the shortcomings clearly, in a calm and measured fashion.  Go through each of the problems you observed and report clearly what went wrong and how it detracted from your learning or participation in the course.  If the course was very poor in quality, you could consider giving a shortened version that focuses on the top three problems, to avoid overloading the instructor with problems.

The OP also mentions positive points; don't neglect to mention those!

You can be honest, but not cruel. So "brutally" is, perhaps a bit too strong.
Note, of course, that new instructors are often fairly poor at it, learning on the job as they are.
If you think the person has potential, even if not realized, be aware that it might not be best to say things that make their career harder. In a small group (20 students) it might be an option to speak with them rather than make the evaluation overly negative.
New instructors (myself IIRC, though it was long ago) can fail in many ways. I was overly pedantic and only learned (if slowly) that such things didn't work.
Also, as a grad student, don't get into the habit of depending overly on the quality of lectures. There are other ways to learn, including asking a lot of questions, work groups, exercises, outside readings, etc. If you were successful at learning, then the flaws of the instructor are less important than if they were an actual impediment. Painful, yes, I've seen that too.

"If you think the person has potential"  I disagree.  In a course evaluation, evaluate the course, not the person.

@AnonymousPhysicist, actually the OP is asking about evaluating the instructor.

Instead of a generic unactionable criticism such as:

These lectures were so monotonous that they encouraged me to write a will, just in case one of them bored me to death.

One might give concrete ideas for improvement:

To make the lectures more engaging for students, it might be good to have:

Interactivity, e.g. frequent short questions/quizzes that the student first tries, and then the teacher demonstrates the correct method.
Frequent "breaks" with discussions, real-world examples, videos, ...
A lively tone of voice, with clear diction and separation between words. (Might help with the accent.)
Other relevant strategies.

Do you like to hear "brutally honest" feedback on stuff you didn't do well? Or at least ready to? If so, you are entitled to do so.
I do not know you, of course, but my experience is that people that are quite generous with brutally honest criticism are not quite so gracious in accepting similarly brutally honest criticism. Maybe that's not true for you, I do not know.
But in general, criticism works best if it shows improvement opportunities in the process and action, and it's clearly not referring to the person. If the person comes from non-western cultures, one needs additionally some cultural sensitivity to convey the message in a way that will help improve things without causing the person to either shut down or be significantly hurt in their self-esteem.

I like the third paragraph, but the first two paragraphs avoid the question in a misleading way. Being entitled to do something doesn't imply that it's a good idea to do it. In the case of harshness of feedback, it's might be preferable to adjust the feedback to the receiver, rather than to assume that they're OK with receiving the same level of harshness that one is OK with oneself.

Frankly, I do not think this is a good approach. I am naturally inclined to bash both others' work and my own, and I know full well it is just not helpful. If I did not do something well, I am usually very much aware of that fact, in likeliness have endured a long internal struggle greenlighting the project, and am very willing to accept I should not have done so (although it will probably be bad for me, rationally). Again, rationally, I understand the merit of releasing something imperfect, but it is still a struggle, every time. And criticizing others the same way does not help them, either.

@lighthousekeeper Your are perfectly on point, of course. My first paragraphs are a bit polemic. However, OP chose to write "brutally honest" and my initial paragraphs basically meta-reflected to some extent the style of the comments they would consider to give.

@Lodinn See my response to Lighthouse Keeper. You are right that, taken literally, this may not be the best thing to do - but OP need to realize themselves what "brutally honest" means. Frankly, I never believed in "bashing" as an effective strategy to improve, neither others, nor oneself. Some people seem to think it works or it's simply an obsessive behaviour that they cannot unlearn. I am not talking about the second type, in but the first type of behaviour they need to be confronted with what effect it has on the receiving side.

Even if the instructor is from somewhere considered non-western (OP only mentions accent—it could just as well be an American student and, say, a Scottish prof), they've surely received enough feedback (i.e. at the very least while completing a PhD) from "westerners" to have a sense of how they tend to give feedback. By which I mean it's not so much "cultural sensitivity" that's required in this instance, but simply compassion and collegiality. Also, feeling hurt by careless or cruel criticism isn't a function of western vs. non-western cultural background—it's a fairly universal response, no?

@cpit Yes, but people from other cultures can see an even "neutrally critical" response as a direct and personal attack; not by virtue of an overly entitled attitude, but by simple misinterpretation of what a communication conveys. I have spoken to these people and they were people with integrity and not resistant to suggestions of improvement.

@CaptainEmacs Agreed, I've known perfectly reasonable people to sometimes react to (what seemed to me to be) gentle constructive critique as if it were a personal attack, although in my experience that sort of reaction isn't by any means limited to folks from different cultural backgrounds. I'm from the US and have seen people also from here (or who have been here for decades) be deeply offended by pretty standard feedback from peers—and by not-so-constructive criticism in student reviews.

I agree with the answers that all (at the moment) say yes to honest but not brutal feedback. You could almost copy you question here to the feedback form, complete with your hesitation.

I was thinking this myself when I first saw the question yesterday (this was before any answers were given), and at that time I thought about saying in a comment something similar to what you've said. FYI, I didn't downvote (2 as I write this), and I don't have any strong ideas as to why you got them, but I suspect if you said this in a comment then someone would say your comment should be an answer!

Indeed, nothing wrong with a good short answer. Some may have downvoted because of the first sentence (if you agree with existing answers, just upvote them). But I thought the second sentence was valuable, so +1 from me.

@DaveLRenfro I debated comment vs answer when I posted.

I think feedback should be honest but respectful and courteous.  You should offer points to improve, but there is no need to be a jerk about it.
It's the worst thing when you have an awful lecturer who has been teaching for twenty years and never improved because no-one gave them honest feedback.  If they need to improve, then you have to tell them, as they won't do it otherwise.
Also, don't just assume that other students will give the feedback which is on your mind, as it may be that they are thinking the same.

Constructive criticism is often very much appreciated. Give feedback based on the presentation of work and make the person understand that what you are addressing is their style of delivery and not the person directly or their personality.
You often get people who say things like, "After you pointed out my robotic/monotonous voice, I have significantly improved my mode of teaching." Try to give honest feedback at all times but use words wisely to differentiate between the person and their delivery of work.

First, students' course evaluations are notoriously biased.  Faculty who do not look like white men consistently receive worse evaluations from students due to bias.
The age and experience level of the instructor should not be part of your evaluation.
Be honest, but keep it constructive.  Do mention the instructor just reads off the slides.  That is something the instructor can change (though, depending on circumstances, perhaps not easily).
The typical instructor is not going to be able to learn a new accent (assuming this is not an acting class).  Mention the instructor's accent only with great caution.   If they have an accent with a low social status, this can bias student evaluations.  For example, if they speak Black Vernacular English or Appalachian English, that might be causing bias.  Some students might find faculty with a low-status accent to be excellent role models.
Where possible, evaluate the course, not the person teaching it.

There is a separate section for feedback or comments on the Instructor, as part of the course eval. Hence the question.

This is a crucially important consideration in the context of this question. There's substantial empirical evidence that instructors with accents, especially when they don't look like white men, receive worse student evaluations. In aggregate this has an exclusionary effect that not only materially harms the instructors but also ultimately reduces the overall quality of education. Mentioning the instructor's accent is irrelevant and inappropriate (you likely wouldn't say someone with a high-pitched voice made it harder to pay attention, for example).

I depends what this implies.
In countries where the impact is zero (most European universities for instance), when there is a feedback system it is either

to make the school more modern and whatnot, and it goes to the bin
to create some statistics for advertisement
an idea of the instructor themselves to get useful feedback

I was in the latter case, I wanted students to tell me what they liked and what they did not. Some of the feedback was not useful (either a nice gesture via a "great!" or a less nice one via "it was crap"), some were expected but not useable ("the curriculum is too complicated", "the math is too complicated" → these I would take to the dean as inputs for possible (though unlikely) general changes), and finally, some was pure gold (what they found was good because..., what they found was bad because...).
I always encouraged the students to be frank and make the because... part as detailed as possible. It was anonymous, but someone could put their name if they were fine with following up (which happened a few times and was great).
In countries where there is impact (my understanding is that the career of teachers in at least to some point the US is dependent on this feedback), you need to use your ethics.
If you think that the teacher was competent, you may want to give good "grades", but highlight in the "comments" section that their writing was not very understandable, or that the course would gain with more excitement from their part or whatever.
If the teacher is bad (which is subjective, but some are really bad) then you have a chance to influence how others will be educated.

I know this is 2 years old but I really like an aspect of your answer that I didn't really find in any other answer. A lot of answers say "give constructive feedback: say what was bad and propose some ways of improving it". But, while hearing suggestions can sometimes be interesting, especially with more complex changes to the content or style, the academic should select the change that best addresses the issue. So I would find the reasoning (the because you mention) much more valuable than suggestions on how to fix it; as they give me a deeper insight into what to fix.

What do you want to achieve? Do you want to let the instructor know that his/her accent makes it hard to follow the class? Do you want him to improve? Ask yourself what is your goal and then what kind feedback helps you arrive at this goal. If your goal had been to make it easier to follow the class, why didn't you bring up your issues already during the semester? Critique for the sake of critique is a waste of everyone's time..


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TV-L 13 Classification (stufe) for PhD with Prior Industry Experience
I recently got accepted into a fully-funded PhD position in distributed systems in Germany. I have over five years of experience as a software engineer in Greece, working on a product closely related to my PhD research. I understand that prior work experience can sometimes be considered for salary classification under the TV-L system.
Should my prior industry experience qualify for consideration under the TV-L 13 salary?

See also the answers here; https://academia.stackexchange.com/questions/152169/does-a-3-year-phd-experience-in-a-non-german-eu-university-count-in-determining?rq=1

You can try, but the chances are not high.

You can try. This is mostly an issue for HR, so there is less chance that would lead to a conflict between you and your advisor. In fact, if a conflict happens, you and your advisor will often be on the same side against "the evil university bureaucracy". So, I would say just try and maybe it works.