How to tell pushy "advisors" to back off?
It's hard to tell exactly what's happening here.

It does not seem unreasonable for collaborators to sync up daily. Ideally all three of you would be syncing up with each other, rather than just this student syncing up with her supervisors -- but since she is only staying for a short time and working on a single project, it is sort of natural that there is an imbalance. I wonder if the student is interpreting standard collaboration/teamwork as &quot;pushing&quot; and &quot;having to prove herself&quot;.

But I can also see scenarios where the supervisors are really being overbearing and negatively affecting progress.


Either way, this is not the student's preferred work style, so I would consider trying to schedule some standing meetings. Maybe send a brief e-mail that says something like:

Hi guys,
I'd like to schedule some additional meetings where we could all sync up on the nuclear waste project. So far we've just been doing these discussions &quot;on the fly&quot;, but I think it might be better for all of us if we had a set time for the three of us to sync up. Maybe Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1 PM? Please let me know.
Worried

They may react with

No, things are fine, you're doing great, just keep doing what you're doing

In which case, you can say bluntly:

I'd really prefer to have a set time -- that way I can prepare a summary of my progress/questions in advance, and won't have so many interruptions during the rest of the week. Could we give it a try?

If they still push back after that,  you may have to accept that this is how the group operates.