You can try applying early, but funded projects need to be started at set times. If there is a very specific area of research that you are interested in it may be worth writing to the relevant academics to stake your interest in a 2006 place, but they will not know if they have anything available or not as the funding decisions will not be announced for some time.

Quota studentships are awarded to universities, who then allocate them to students. You can get a list of universities who have been awarded quota studentships from the ESRC website

You should be fine as PhD funding for UK students to study in the sciences is widely available (although positions rarely go unfilled). Competition is stronger in some of the more popular areas of science such as ecology and zoology.

We would disagree with Stuart. 3a is not a good RAE score, however he is right to say it's not the be all and end all. Look at the publication history of your supervisor - is he publishing in the major journals in his field? (try ISI web of knowledge, if you have access to it).

If the project is research council funded this will be a good sign. However if the department itself is low on funds (which it may well be with a 3a score) then some of the resources you need for your research may be unavailable, out of date or shared between a large number of people. Check that this is not the case before you accept the position.

If the project is one that really inspires you then you should probably go for it. If not then you would be well advised to check out other options first.

Search the internet for an academics working in the area in which you'd like to carry out research and write to them.

You need to search South African university web sites for supervisors working in your area of interest. Then you should write to them telling them what you would like to study. You are unlikely to get replies here.

If you've been waiting more than a couple of weeks for a response, write to ask if your application has been received and to ask when you can expect to hear back from them with a decision. If you have already received an acknowledgement then I'd suggest writing immediately to say that you forgot to ask when a decision on interviews was likely to be made.

Sounds complicated. I presume that there is no guarentee that you will end up being offered either place. If so then there is no problem with you appling for both positions. Once you have an offer from one of them you will either have to ask them to wait until you've heard from the other department or accept their offer.

Ditto. You should ask this question of your current course tutors.

It is the department that you should be concerned about, not the university. There are poor departments in 'good' universities and good departments in 'poor' universities. Have a look at the Research Assesment Exercise Rating of the department you are interested in.

Could you clarify. What subject area are you looking at, what funding is being offered?

Not all ESRC recognised departments receive quotas and not all departments are recognised. The ESRC states of the +3 studentships that:

"...applicants will apply through a recognised outlet which holds either 1+3 or +3 recognition"

Ask in your department, they will know if they are an ESRC recognised outlet or not.

Search the internet to find academics or departments who are working in your area of interest and contact them directly. Scholarships are hard to come by, but try contacting the British Council in Kenya for information about potential funding.

See our latest PhD Poll for more opinions.

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