Congratulations! This sounds really positive - I doubt very much that they'd say this unless they really did want to find you the funding, so while it's not an outright acceptance it's not too far off!

Something similar happened when I applied for my PhD - I had an interview for a particular project, but wasn't successful for that one (someone with more expertise in the exact topic of the project got that place) but then they said they would put me forward for a separate bit of funding provided by the department. I got that separate funding and now am happily doing my PhD there (and am pretty relieved I didn't get the original project anyway, as mine is way more interesting to me!)

I'd just send an email saying thank you and that you're really interested in taking up the extra funding if it becomes available. I'd save any questions about feedback for if this funding falls through and you need to look elsewhere - but fingers crossed, if the funding comes through you'll never need to ask!

Oh Ev, I'm sorry to hear things have been so tough for you. I hope you're feeling stronger again now - make sure you're kind to yourself and don't pile on too much pressure. And I totally hear you about feeling awkward around colleagues you've shared with - but don't worry about it, most people are very human and understanding and will only be wishing you the best, not thinking any worse of you for anything you may have told them while in such a difficult situation.

Anyway, welcome back!

Well done, Star-shaped, sounds like you're making great progress.

I'm making good time too. If I can get the next section written by lunchtime, that will leave me with the conclusion and abstract to look at this afternoon, plus typing up changes and adding references. The 5pm deadline is still tight, but possible I think.

Thanks anyway Ady (and yes, I have read that other paper, it's very useful!)

Hi all

I need to get access to the following paper pretty quickly, but my university's subscriptions don't cover this journal and it's not available on Google Scholar. Can anyone get hold of it for me, please?


J.M. Hines, H.R. Hungerford, A.N. Tomera, (1987) Analysis and synthesis of research on responsible environmental behavior: a meta-analysis
The Journal of Environmental Education, vol 18, Issue 2, pp 1-8

Thanks very much in advance!

Thanks star-shaped, hope yours goes well too!

I have just under ten hours to get my paper written and sent to my supervisors. Yikes! It's very tight, and it won't be a polished piece of work, but it should just about be manageable.

Oh no Teek, the last thing you wanted to hear! Good luck with getting it done.

And thanks for the pixellated turkey. It's the thought that counts, right? Have a tree! (tree)

I'm typing up today's rewriting now and trying to ignore the thought of getting up early to rush through the remaining work. Only another five pages of edits to go through tonight and then I can sleep. Eyes are tired and back is aching...

Good luck Teek, I hope you're managing to battle the demon section!

I'm starting to flag now, but I'm over a third of the way through rewriting my paper. A bit daunted by looking ahead and seeing the unfinished sections that are still left, but if I can keep powering through I may still make tomorrow's deadline. The stuff I've done today feels like good work so at least that's positive. I'll keep writing until I completely run out of steam then type up the handwritten changes and call it a night after that I think. Which will be a good few hours away yet! Oh well.

Hi KB

I'm not at the same stage as you either, but I definitely recognise that random crying from when I was stressed in my job before my PhD. And stress was what did it - the pressure I was holding down inside me while I tried to get my work done just had to find a way out somewhere, like steam getting out of a crack in a sealed unit. Stress doesn;t always manifest itself in the same way, I suppose I'm saying!

If there is any way you can take a step back and do something to relive some of the pressure (even if it's just taking an afternoon off and getting out in the sunshine and having a relaxing walk with the sun on your face and no thoughts of work, or something like that) it would probably do you the world of good. Something to clear your head and let it all float away for a short while. Let all the pressure out and allow yourself to deflate for a while (hmm, maybe this metaphor isn't quite working...)

Anyway - be kind to yourself.....

Hope that helps!

The award event was quite good fun actually, thanks! Got to meet people from all over the university doing things related to my research area, and we had nice food and wine. I didn't win a prize but I wasn't expecting to - I think my supervisors were more hopeful of that than I was! It was nice seeing my supervisors in a less formal environment too - it was relaxed and friendly, we even chatted about places to visit by Eurostar and other inconsequential stuff. A nice night!

Today, it's back to work. I deliberately didn't turn my laptop on and was rewriting my journal paper by hand this morning. The introduction is rewritten now, and I've made a start on the next section. The next deadline for sending this to my supervisors is tomorrow at 5pm - gulp! I'm not going to work through the night again (that nearly killed me last week!) but I expect I'll be working pretty late tonight. Oh joy!

Goal for today - get everything except the discussion/conclusion redrafted (yeah, right...)

Good luck with all of your stuff!

Sounds like you're making good progress there star-shaped!

I've restructured my journal paper and made notes on the bits I need to develop further. I now have an hour until I need to set off for the award event I'm going to this evening, so hope I can rewrite the opening section in that time. Seems like a reasonable goal!

Ouch, that does sound like a lot, good luck!

Today I need to make serious progress on rewriting my journal paper. I've also got an event to go to this evening - a university award dinner which includes a poster competition I've entered. So nice polite dinner conversation with my supervisors. Oh what fun that will be (not)! I want to get lots of work done before that.

Oh yes, if there's one thing worse than deadlines it's having to wait around for information from someone else before being able to get on with work for a deadline!

Anyway, my conference abstract is now rewritten and just needs submitting to the website, which I'm going to do later after a final read-through. So there's no excuse now - I have to face the journal article. Bleugh.

There does seem to be a lot of negativity about the value of doing a PhD on these boards at the moment - understandable, given the difficulties people are facing finding work or meeting deadlines. But I think it is important to note that the view on these boards does tend to be more negative than in reality, simply because people tend to post when they're facing difficulties rather than when things are going well (and that's fine, it's at least part of the purpose of these boards!)

I'm in the second year of my PhD, and I love it, and am very glad to be doing it. Whether it will turn out to have been worthwhile I really don't know, that all depends on whether I get a job in academia at the end of it. If I don't, it still won't have been a complete waste because I'm really enjoying this focused time to study something that interests me, and I can feel that it's changing the way I look at things and think about things, and my self-confidence is increasing. But I'm doing this full-time, just like a job, and I have a studentship so get paid to do it. I'm really not sure I'd feel the same way if I was paying for myself, or if I was trying to do a PhD part-time while working. It's such a massive commitment, and I would hate to give up so much more for it than I already am and then to not benefit in terms of future career or income or whatever. So yes, it's worth it, for me, in my circumstances, but there's no guarantees that it will turn out to be a positive for my career, or that it would be worth it for someone else.

Well, I hope everyone had a nice weekend and got a break from the work! I know I did (even if I did sneak in a little work on both Sat and Sun).

Back to the grindstone today. I have until Thursday to rewrite my journal article following a meeting with my supervisors on Friday, so this is the main focus of my work. (Great - reminds me of last week!) But I also have other deadlines to meet - they always seem to come at once! Goals for today:

1.) Rewrite abstract for conference paper following reviewers' comments and submit to conference website
2.) Go through supervisors' notes on draft journal article and draw up a plan for rewriting it
3.) Make a good start on rewriting draft journal article