I'm a CASE student, but in my case the extra work has largely been put upon me by my supervisor, and really you have to start saying NO. Be very wary of becomi

I'm a CASE student, but in my case the extra work has largely been put upon me by my supervisor, and really you have to start saying NO. Be very wary of becoming a dependency for a side project. This is particularly dangerous if you're good at something that nobody else in your group can do. I've lost around 6 months to these kind of shenanigans and ultimately my supervisor agreed that it could be part of my thesis so that it wasn't wasted time. Took a long time to get that acknowledgement though. Ultimately a CASE studentship should give you an idea of what it's like to work in industry. This almost certainly means you'll do some non-PhD work, but if you feel that it's becoming a big distraction then you should speak out. It really depends on your supervisor and the company you work for. By contract you are obliged to spend 9 months there over the course your PhD (at least with mine). I tend to go over when I need to. I've helped out on things that are both directly PhD related, kinda-PhD related and stuff that isn't at all PhD related. Talk to your supervisor first and let him/her know what's going on - at 2 months in they have better negotiating power and could be more subtle (e.g. "I notice X has been spending a lot of time away from the lab, is this work related to his PhD?"). Be honest with the company, tell them that you feel that it's a big commitment and you're struggling to keep up with your PhD work. They're not going to chastise you - if they do then you know you don't want to work for them in the future.