Do any of your supervision team have expertise in this area (I hope so!) If so, they may be able to point you in the direction of people/resources which will help.

Ha ha haa!:-)

You would think, wouldn't you? Have you seen some of the threads that end up on here?

======= Date Modified 19 Aug 2009 11:26:48 =======

I have fallen foul of this too, but in mentioning a different site. Whilst I can understand that they have a business to run, I did feel a bit put out as:
1. I mentioned the site in question because it performs a different function to findaphd.com (by listing funding from small charitable trusts etc rather than just PhD studentships)
2. I really don't think this constitutes advertising - I have zero to gain from it.
3. All I was trying to do was help someone, and being modded makes you feel like you've been naughty.

I would hope that they would be sympathetic in such cases. If you had to interrupt your studies for medical reasons I would hope that they would permit you to finish off the course the next year if that was a suitable arrangement, without incurring any extra cost.

In the case of exceptional circumstances, there may be funding to support students who would otherwise have to drop out because of finances. See whether the student union there can offer you any additional advice/guidance.

Good luck with your studies :-)

You'd probably be best off contacting the uni - these things may vary between institutions.

What do you want to do after a Masters? That might influence the kind of advice people give you.

You have my sympathies.

I dropped out of a PhD over a year ago. I feel it's quite likely I will undertake another at some point, but have also used the gap to switch to a different field. Quite how to explain those years on my CV is something I've not quite sussed out yet, particularly as the first year of my funding enabled me to do a few short rotations, so it's a bit hard to put down something waffly about '200X-200Y: research undertaken in the Z lab' as there were some other places as well. I didn't bother trying to get an MPhil out of the situation, so I don't have that dilemma.

One thing I would say - if your current situation is really beyond redemption, don't jump headfirst into another project. You need a break, intellectually and emotionally. I was given the opportunity to stay on in lab Z and do a different project focussed on my other interests, but apart from the fact I really wanted to get away from that particular enviornment, the idea of starting another PhD on the back of one which had done me a fair amount of damage was not an appealing prospect. It took me a good few months to recover in various ways. The last thing you want to do is end up in the arms of an unsuitable project 'on the rebound'! ;-)

======= Date Modified 13 Aug 2009 17:31:41 =======
======= Date Modified 13 Aug 2009 17:30:04 =======

No need to feel silly - everyone starts not knowing these things at some point.

Essentially, this is not a funding application. A funding application to a research council, government organisation, charity, foundation etc will involve some or all of the following:
(i) a list of your qualifications
(ii) a list of your publications (if you have any)
(iii) funding awards previously received (ditto)
(iv) CV
(v) references
(vi) a decent length of statement
(vii) a research proposal
(viii) well defined eligibility criteria
and so on...

This is not a funding application. I'd put it on a par with a competition from a student insurance company or associated with one of the student bank accounts or something. Essentially (and I am no marketing/advertising expert here) I imagine how it works is:
- They get advertising revenue/consultancy fees via their business, of which they have put aside a small amount for bursaries
- People apply for bursaries and in doing so have to join the site
- They can then say that membership of their site has grown by X number of people in a short space of time. This makes them more attractive to people who were thinking of advertising somewhere as they will feel they have access to Y% of the potential market they wish to reach.
- Having joined the site, prospective applicants might then see other things of interest, which they check out, thus boosting the 'click through' rate of their site, again making it attractive to clients.
- They also pay the bursary direct to your uni, which means if your uni hadn't already heard of them, they will now.
- You can also be quoted as a happy customer, having provided them with 200 words of text on why you're a worthy recipient
- It's also tied in with Hobsons who are a commercial careers service that you might not have otherwise heard of but may notice via their website, and who thus get some publicity too. They probably contributed some money to the bursary too.

I'm impressed by their business model. £1000 is really quite a small amount to spend on marketing, and they get quite a lot out of that!

So, in summary:
(i) applying for it will probably do you no harm
(ii) if you get a bursary then great - you've saved some money on fees
(iii) consider it more analogous to winning a holiday by coming up with a slogan than applying for and receiving a PhD studentship.

I've actually found the T&Cs now, and it's very much like a competition - they don't care about your qualifications, only your 200-word 'Pick me!' bit. Given the amount of advertising on their site (and the income I assume that generates), the fact that they are only offering 2 £500 bursaries isn't exactly Philanthropy of the Year.

Essentially, I see no reason not to go for it, but don't agonise over it, and don't take it personally if you don't get one - it's not a reflection of your achievements but rather your skill at marketing yourself. 'Winners' are effectively used for advertising, so as long as you're comfortable with that then I guess have a go.

Let's face it - it will be by far the easiest funding application you will ever make in an academic career!

Curious. I'd never ever heard of them. Looking at their website, it looks like a commerical enterprise as much as anything else. So I don't think that writing on your CV that you received funding from 'Postgrad Solutions Ltd' would have the same impact as 'Research Council Studentship'. But hey, cash is cash, and £500 off the cost of fees is not to be sniffed at.

Do read any terms and conditions very carefully though. I note that you have to join their website in order to apply, that their 'about us' section (http://www.postgradsolutions.com/corporate/sections/about/aboutus.jsp) talks more about marketing and consultancy than it does education and research, and that they describe the process as 'winning' a bursary. It's a very commercial sounding set up. But if your happy that applying doesn't bind you into some contract where they get the credit for your first 20 research publications, then go for it. :)

I once dreamt that I was in the tissue culture lab, waiting for a hood to become free.

For some reason I was wearing my pyjamas....

First author is first author, and it shouldn't diminish your boyfriend's perceived role in things (well, depending on the nature of the work actually being published - you don't want to end up in 'HOW many people did it take to change that lightbulb?!' territory).

BUT

what your bf's supervisor is proposing is highly dishonest. When a paper is submitted all authors have to sign to indicate that they have made a valid contribution. If something like this happens, and the 3 other authors genuinely have made no contribution (worth checking - perhaps they were involved in early study design and have at least proofed the manuscript) then there could be negative implications

Think about it - if everyone did stuff like this then we could all end up with huge long lists of publications and you'd never really know who worked on what. It damages transparency in research and does no-one any favours.

I suggest that your bf diplomatically raises some concern about this with his supervisor and/or one of the other genuine co-authors, and if given the opportunity to get his name on another paper for which he has done no work, declines to participate. You never know when these things can come back and bite you.

You could also send an email around your faculty/department asking if anyone has any of what you require that you can borrow and then reimburse them with when yours arrives. Depends on what the culture of your place is like though - maybe check first to see if that would be ok.

======= Date Modified 10 Aug 2009 13:58:04 =======
I don't know if there is an equivalent to www.findaphd.com in the US. What field are you in? It may be best looking at the advert pages of key periodicals e.g. if you're a scientist then Nature Jobs and Science have a lot of PhD programmes advertised.

But I think that's what's different between a PGDip/Cert and a masters - the former omit the research project and just focus on the taught element and any associated assessment. I think they are probably mostly geared towards people at a more advanced stage in their career (e.g. those who already have a Masters/PhD or equivalent experience) who just need to plug a knowledge gap.