also, if you applied for a funded place, you won't need to make a separate application for funding. But if you were to start in September 2008 and make sure you had funding set up, it would be best to get an offer from a University first (let's say around March 2008) and apply for funding asap after that. I don't know all councils' deadlines, but AHRC's funding application deadline is usually end of May each year.

depends on the institution. Some let you start any time, some have standard times only (usually September, January and April) but other universities have only one. September or October. If you want your studies to commence in September 2008 (or October depending on the university), it would be ideal to start applications by March 2008. If you want to start this coming September however, now is a good time to start applying for places.

It is about citations again. I set EndNote to put (Author Year) only when citing. But when I want to add a page number (not alway, only when I get a direct quote) Microsoft Word deletes the page number and brings it back to Author-Year in brackets. Any suggestions?

just to add: some universities offer part-time (fees only in most cases) funding. This can be departmental or school-wide. It's worth checking the bursary and funding pages of each Universitiy.

I had the same dilemma a few months ago. Not only I was presenting the same work, but the conferences were a couple of weeks apart from one other. Perhaps you could consider approaching them with different purposes. This will change your abstract and your presentation. So for example, one would concentrate on the results, the other would introduce the project (the poster one probably), and the other one could talk about your PhD research but use this particular project as recent findings. Because you are talking to different audiences, it is sometimes necessary to present the same findings at different settings.

Yeah. But don't tell anyone. Consequences will be dire..... (read with Peter Griffin's voice, not with the Death's)

I agree with Otto. And to my surprise, the Universities don't even seem to care about the quality of the proposal or the research candidate in those cases. I don't mean to put all the self-funders in one box but I've seen very bad self-funded research projects. Very disappointing of the system.

any luck with spartans golfpro? I saw the long version of the trailer last night on tv... looks great. I won't have time to go see it this weekend though

I might try and download 300 chocolate bars instead. Goes better with writing-up

Hi H. I forgot to say it worked after my last message.

It was my fault, I wasn't putting the field names, assuming they would show up by default. Now everything is working, your plan saved me hours worth of work.

and now is a very good time to start submitting applications.

weird... it doesn't appear there.

oh, and don't quit. There is a solution out there, you just need to consider your options

have you read the regulations of your university jojo? My university accepts external supervisors only on justified cases. I have an external supervisor now (since my mid-second year), and I think it was a great decision. There is nothing worse than having a supervisor like that, so can understand your feelings. (OK mine aren't exactly like yours, but they are no use to my phd whatsoever). I think you will need to speak to your director of studies. And if your director of studies is one of the supervisors that you've already mentioned here, it might be a bit difficult for you. Perhaps you can contact someone from your research office and tell them about your concerns and inquire about the possibilities of an external supervisor. I think you'll need to find this external yourself.

you wanna download a chocolate? awesome

confused again... I can see the newly created Reference Type (from one of the unused ones)in the preferences, with the new name I gave. But how do I make it visible in the New Reference's "Reference Type" list?