Hi Danny, My phd is a funded advertised project so I didn't have to go through attracting supervisors and funding bodies. After my interview, they nominated me for an ESRC studentship (I get nearly 15k tax free per year). If you have a very good proposal and one which a supervisor at a university is very keen to take on, your more likely to receive an offer from any university, although this is most likely to be complicated by the popularity of the university and funding available. Also, if your supervisor is particuarly keen in your proposal, then they are more likely to help you with the funding process. Having said that, certain unis such as my previous one at UCL who offer funded phd positions do have stiffer competition for PhD candidates and are therefore very picky about applicants. However, a friend of mine bypassed the competition for funding by self funding herself, and as a result, managed to secure a PhD offer from UCL almost immediately-so I think it depends!