BTW Fled, I'd not come across that blog you posted before - it's really really good! Thanks for sharing it.

On the website front, I'd also recommend Thesis Whisperer:

Ask whether there would be the opportunity for the MPhil to be extended into a PhD if your progress was satisfactory (rather than having to start over). If so then your situation would not differ markedly from students at unis where one is required to 'upgrade' after a year or so.

Is the availability of funding influencing your potential supervisor's advice (e.g. is it just that there isn't money for a full PhD?)

Have you asked your wife's opinion?

If you're going to be working at home most of the time, I would encourage doing what you can to establish work-life separation. Having a dedicated study performs two functions - firstly giving you some 'do not disturb, I'm at work' space. But also, when you're not working, you can physically leave your stuff (and hopefully stresses) there and rejoin your family.

PhDs tend to be a bit all consuming, so anything that helps you stay rooted in reality would be likely to be beneficial.

I've said elsewhere that I would caution against doing a full time PhD unfunded as the employment opportunities at the other end are slim, so it can be a dubious investment of personal resources.

However, it depends on whether your post PhD plans are academia or something else. That will affect the decision you need to make.

Sorry, my wording was ambiguous - the other two are both right.

Basically you continue to be a student from the university's point of view until your PhD is properly viva-d and signed off.

You cease to be a student from a tax point of view when you commence a full time job.

I see no reason why the latter requires you to formally de-register.

And if that doesn't work, contact their PAs/department admins. They're usually pretty good at sorting these things out

Hard to comment without knowing the institutions and subjects but...

- depends on your long term aims and the field you are in. In some fields the academic career prospects are dire regardless of where you've studied.
- that said, a 'good' uni may boost your credentials.
- at research level, sometimes it's the PI/department reputation that matters more than the university, so do your homework on this front.
- generally I would caution against anyone doing a full time unfunded PhD *anywhere* (even Oxbridge), but others will disagree with me on this. This applies particularly, in my opinion, to anyone wanting to pursue an academic career, as the chances of the 'investment' paying off are so slim.
- depending on what you're doing, it can be good to mix it up and not do all three of your degrees at the same university.

I'm not sure, but I would have thought you do not cease to be a student until you've defended and any corrections are signed off, so would have to say registered until then. There is nothing stopping you from working in the mean time, but some HR department will need to assign you a tax code.

I don't think you need to have been 'discharged' from your current uni in order to get a tax code. After all, people have part time jobs and study full time, or vice versa, so the two statuses are not mutually exclusive.

As I asked on your other thread....what does FGD stand for?

We can't help you if we don't know what you're asking! :)

Yes, that sounds like a good idea. Just ask whether there is anything you're supposed to do, or whether you should just wait to hear from them.

Do you know why people left? If it is because their projects ended and moved on that is less of a concern than if there is something like bullying/poor management going on.

As TreeofLife says, there are various ways to get funding to apply to conferences. Either through charitable trusts. university grants, or from the conference organisers (e.g. if you want to go to the annual conference of an academic society, join them as a student member and you may be eligible for a subsidised place or a grant.)

Conferences are helpful for meeting people and to get the opportunity to present and discuss your work. But it is not the biggest problem in the world if currently you cannot attend one. You just have to get creative. There are other ways to network, such as online (e.g. lots of academics use Twitter to connect). And if you want to present your work outside your institution, make contacts with other universities that might host a talk from you and try to organise it to coincide with other travel plans e.g. if your home town/country is elsewhere, consider giving a talk nearby next time you visit.