Don't know if it's true but click here for the rumour

We've heard a rumour that Mars are going to scrap Revels.

H - Fulfilling the research council's basic criteria for funding does not guarantee funding. In most cases they simply have more applications than funds. In some subject areas a first and a masters with distinction provides the only hope of funding.

Anna - As long as your project supervisor has a good reputation in his or her field, whether or not it was funded shouldn't make much difference (except to your pocket).

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information.

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information.

Take advice from your supervisor, as practice in your area of research may be different from that in other fields. However postdocs advertised now will probably expect you to be able to start some time in the next few weeks or months - not in a years time.

You can read the article on the Chemistry World web site

In the UK most science PhD students spend 3-4 years in the lab.

What is your subject area?

An MRes is a training in research and research methodologies. It is ideal if you wish to move on to a PhD. If you want to work in research or go on to do a PhD it will probably be of more use to you than an MSc with a lesser research component. However an MSc in one university may provide a very similar training (and go on as long) as an MRes in another university. These titles, although a strong indication of the aims of the course, are really a question of branding.

The MPhil is distinct. It is a degree by research. Most universities require PhD students to register for an MPhil, before changing their registration after 12-18 months to that of PhD. It is unusual for students to start an MPhil with the intention of completing it - most intend to transfer to a PhD. This process allows universities to weed out students who they feel may not be up to completing a PhD, without upsetting their PhD drop-out or failure rates (ie the candidate hasn't failed a PhD they have passed an MPhil). Conversely it allows students who run out of motivation or cash to write up an MPhil thesis, rather than carry on for another 2 years. MPhil's are also sometimes awarded by PhD examiners who feel that even after three or four years research the student has failed to reach the standards required for a PhD.

The Business & Law section of the forum is leading up to the introduction of a new Business & Law zone within FindAPhD. This new zone is an experiment to see if FindAPhD can encourage more universities to place information about their PhD opportunities in subject areas which are currently underrepresented on FindAPhD. If it is successful then we will introduce other subject specific 'zones' to encompass more of the arts, humanities and social sciences. If you have used our search facility you will know that we already cover the sciences.

As for who is better, I hope you don't expect us to get involved in that debate!!

We don't recommend looking at reputations of universities, rather you should look at the reputation of the specific department and the research supervisor. See our PhDs Explained sections for links and information.

The Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) ratings (www.hero.ac.uk/rae). will give an indication of their overall reputation for some broad subject areas. Hopefully other contributors to the forum will be able to tell you what it's like to study there.

Try our web site www.FindAPostDoc.com. Search Google, there are plenty of other places advertising post-docs.

Zoe - We are not here to answer for universities who accept below par candidates. However, the nationality of these students is not relevant to your question.

Although it was probably not your intention to imply that all students from a single country do not treat their education seriously this is the view that your comments portray. Your question about some UK universities allowing underqualified students to take inappropriate courses is valid - it is not valid to assert that all such students come from the same country.

Pretty much. A review article would not usually present any new results.