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No. I won AHRC funding but had a 2-1 in my BA. I also had a distinction for my Masters. I started the PhD straight after my Masters, self-funded initially, and won funding for the remainder. When I applied to AHRC the acceptance rate was 1 out of every 5 applicants, so I did very well to win funding. It may also have helped that I had relevant RA experience to backup my application.

Well done Sue. Very pleased for you. And you have a viva date Alpacalover. Keep thinking calm thoughts. One step at a time. Get the thesis out of the way, then worry/deal with the viva.

Are there any mods at the weekend though? If not this will have to wait until next week to be fixed.

My viva preparation involved reading a viva preparation book (Tinkler and Jackson) to demystify the process, rereading and summarising my thesis to familiarise myself with it and spot typos (I took a list into the viva on the day and handed it out - all examiners/convenor were very grateful), and thinking about and memorising my answers to 5 key questions: originality of my thesis, contribution to knowledge, methodology, weaknesses/gaps/mistakes, and what would I do differently if starting again.

I had huge challenges throughout my PhD too - a severely disabling progressive neurological disease, which meant I could typically only study for 5 hours a week total, in 1 hour chunks. And I was very scared about failing the viva, because I'd already had to leave a full-time science PhD over a decade before due to the illness developing, so had gone through a terrible grieving experience for one PhD already. But I hoped for the best with my part-time humanities PhD, and I got through :) Good luck to you with your viva.

Excellent! I logged in just now hoping to know what had happened. Brilliant news. Delighted for you :)

I was a part-time student, so no cubicle/office. In my department even full-timers don't have those.

I worked from home, with all my books/papers/computers etc to hand. Oh apart from trips to archives to find and examine research material, though I increasingly dragged even that to me at home in the form of photocopies, microfilms and digital photographs of records.

Don't cram too much into your slides. Don't use glaring colours. Keep it simple. Black letters on a white background is good for example.

If I was in your position I'd be asking for advice from lecturers/tutors that you can talk to directly. They should know your background to an extent, you can talk face-to-face about your research interests, and they should be able to advise you well.

I left a full-time computer science PhD in 1996 after falling long-term ill with a progressive neurological disease.

I started a part-time history PhD in late 2003, and completed it within the 6 years allowed by my uni, including time out for a medical break in the middle.

I was totally honest about having left one PhD. Both positions were funded. On my second funding application I declared the first PhD, and expected to lose some funding as a result. But, perhaps because it was in such a radically different field, I got full funding the second time too.

Aren't these answers likely to vary by uni/course, and you should be asking your supervisor and/or head of postgrad studies? Especially the second question, but also the first one, because opportunities for teaching experience/pay vary a lot from department to department. There are also often rules restricting how much funded students can work.

You shouldn't offer to volunteer. You need to sell yourself as worth employing. Personally I would apply for the RA, but in your CV play up the wider angle, and see if he bites on either front.

My husband applied for an RA post after his PhD, but withdrew his application because it was a bit too far outside his area of technical expertise. But the team leader (who was growing his team at the time) invited hubby down for a tour of the lab, and offered him a post-doc on the spot. He's still there, 9 years later.

My university doesn't send out copies. They have an online code of practice, and that's it. It is linked from online VLEs and Registry, but it isn't the most obvious.

I don't need any infrastructure: I did my PhD completely from home, so can carry on like that. But access to electronic journals is a problem area. I've asked if I can get an honorary research fellowship, which would solve that problem for the short term. But I do have life membership of a local university library, so that helps a bit, though it doesn't get access to the electronic resources.

Just battling on as best I can really! Are you hoping to get a post-doc?

Congrats on a good viva :) Mine was great too, back in March. I graduated a month ago.

I'm now an independent researcher, converting my thesis into journal papers and planning more research. I'm long-term seriously ill, so can't take on any academic posts, but want to produce more academic stuff.