======= Date Modified 09 Oct 2012 13:50:21 =======

Wikipedia's a useful resource. But the best written Wiki articles cite all their facts. So the sensible thing to do would be to look at the primary source being cited by Wiki and use that.

One of the problems with Wikipedia is it is dynamic. So if there was a very good reason for citing it, you'd have to ensure that your examiners were able to check the article version to which you were referring.

Firstly, I'm sorry to hear about your situation.

Secondly, I would advise speaking to someone (postgrad tutor, counsellor) about how you feel about your PhD right now to see whether this is something that can be changed.

Thirdly, onto your question. I left a UK research council funded PhD once without obtaining an MPhil. The only money I was required to repay was for part of the quarter for which I had been paid in advance but left before the end of. Thus I wasn't required to pay back any fees, or any of the stipend for the period during which I was actually working on my PhD.

I'd suggest checking the website of the relevant funding body but I tried that at the time and it was impossible to find out the information. Still worth a shot.

It might vary by field - what general area are you in?

Between now and Christmas you'll start seeing bioscience PhDs advertised for next Sept, especially 4 year schemes. 3 year projects get advertised all year round but I suspect there are more popular times. Not quite sure exactly when though!

I'm assuming that you'd be willing to relocate to do a PhD? If so, why not think about applying for research lab assistant/technician jobs in other parts of the country. They would teach you far more than working in a school. In addition, they may make the passage to PhD easier in that lab.

It sounds like you're massively underselling yourself right now. Yes, it would be really good to have additional lab experience, but there's nothing stopping you applying for PhDs/research assistant posts based on your current credentials.

With the benefit of hindsight, I would suggest start out as a research assistant to clarify your ideas about what interests you on the research front (you're still quite broad in the scope of your current interests) and then move on to a PhD. Finally, don't worry about not knowing what to put in a research proposal - in lab scientists almost all projects are advertised by the lab. You wouldn't be expected to come up with your own ideas at this stage.

You are right to be suspicious. There's no way that a supervisor can give adequate attention to that many students. Furthermore I would question the general soundness of a department that allows that to happen. Avoid!

I would also think very carefully before self-funding a science PhD. It's a risky move to make that might not pay off. Have you tried applying for advertised positions?

It might be worth joining Twitter and following people in your field. Academics will often tweet about papers and conferences of interest, and it's a good way to pick up things of relevance that you might not spot via your usual channels. A lot of professional organisations/societies will also have accounts via which they publicise lectures and conferences.

It'd be nice to think it would, but I'm pretty sure that if you're up against another equally qualified candidate, and they've got (non cancer) lab experience and you've got cancer related charity experience, the other candidate would have the edge. You can always give it a try (and it's a nice thing to do) but from a career point of view, any paid or unpaid laboratory, quantitative or other experience that demonstrates research skills would be preferable.

I'm making the assumption that you want to do lab work, but if you are interested in more analytic work (med stats/epi) then it would be probably be easier to get relevant experience in other sectors.

Did you do a dissertation for your Masters? Is that something that could be written up into a paper?

======= Date Modified 04 Oct 2012 17:07:05 =======
I've not done a poster before, but the advice here might be useful:
http://thesiswhisperer.com/2011/05/19/5-ways-to-poster-fail/

At the conferences I've been to, I tend to read the intro and conclusions, and the only read the rest of the poster if those bits were sufficiently interesting/relevant to me. Might be worth bearing in mind that people don't always read these things in a linear manner.

I started getting some white hairs appearing during (stressful) PhD attempt #1. They stopped when I quit!

I've never come across a viva for a research proposal before. Are you based in the UK?

In which case you are definitely entitled to a response. I suggest a polite and friendly gentle reminder by email. If there are any deadlines you need to meet, which are being held up by the lack of response, perhaps mention those. You could also ask if it would help to meet in person to discuss your proposal. Good luck :)

And was this your first contact with them, or did they invite you to submit a proposal?

As it's been a month it is probably worth chasing them up as they may have been away or got caught up in activities at the start of the academic year. I would email in the first instance then maybe call a week later?