I'm there too! Mine was technically due at the end of July but I've been given to the end of August do to about a million delays I had during planning/sampling/analysis and writing! I have a full draft now but it's absolute rubbish and I only have this weekend to re-write the whole thing as I'm away next week eek (I work full time study part time)!

So you're not alone just keep chugging along!

I'm no stats expert, but your data sounds similar to my masters data where I had small sample sizes, data that was not normally distributed and lots of zeros, I used a Chi Square Goodness of Fit Test. Perhaps that's something to look into? But Mann Whitney U might be sufficient too I think, but again I'm no expert.

Do you have a stats advisor at your Uni to ask? Or can you Supervisor give any insight?

Good luck!

Sorry I didn't see your post until after my second one! 'Small' amount of work is very vague! But I guess it means you can argue that 9 hours is small compared to the at least 37 hours that you'll be doing your MA/PhD a week! Hope it works out!

http://www.esrc.ac.uk/_images/Postgraduate-Funding-Guide-2010-11-studentships_tcm8-14765.pdf

Looked it up as I was curious, it seems they have different rules as they cater for more part time students but it did say:

"Students may undertake a small amount of other paid work either in term time or vacation. The ESRC does not, however, encourage such work especially during the times when they are expected to be engaged fully in research training and thesis preparation. Full-time ESRC studentship award holders cannot also hold either a full-time job, or a permanent part-time job, during the period of their award."

I think they are more lenient if it is related to your research, but again I think it is down to your supervisor overall.

Caro

I'm pretty sure it's 6 hours a week, it is for NERC and I think they have the same regulations. Check online though there should be a handbook available for you to read on the ESRC website. I'm pretty sure the handbook says you have to check with your supervisors if it's ok for you to work too.

It could be possible that you will be able to work more for your first year as it's not a PhD, not sure though! Also will you not have classes to go to etc that may clash with your work times?

Hope you get it all sorted anyway!

Caroline

I'm not sure how far into your PhD you are, or if you're current PhD is in the UK, but if you have been looking for other opportunities abroad and think you may get funding there you can always apply for it. You will need to mention what you have been doing this year, as long as you can give a good explanation of why you are leaving your current PhD it should be ok.

Apart from that I don't know anything about PhD's out of the UK.

Hope that helps a little.

Congratulations =) I've been following your threads for a while and you have really inspired me with your hard work and dedication, you really deserve this. Good luck with everything in the future!

I tried but it asks you to register with your address and all which departement you're in etc and then agree to some licence thing so I got frightened! It then said there was another stage of registration so I don't think I can do it!

I think most uni's still have some sort of Athens, my uni now uses Shibboleth (I'm not sure if that's the right spelling) but it's still just like Athens and signs in the same way, it just uses my Uni username and password. I wouldn't have access to anything if it wasn't for athens/shibboleth even if it is a major pain to sign in to every website every five minutes!

Oh yeah I sent a thank you letter after the interview too as Chococake says and it allowed the sup to let me know on the timelines etc. Although I was in email contact with the supervisor before the interview so already had a rapport going so it wasn't awkward or anything.

I didn't create my own project so hopefully someone more knowledgeable will help later! But I think it's standard for you to send a polite email to the potential supervisor with a summary of your idea and ask if they would be willing to supervise, you can mention that you would need funding but I think the responsibility of getting funding will often be a joint venture not just the supervisor, or perhaps just you alone with some advice from the sup. I may even look into the potential funding options so that if you discuss this with the supervisor they know that you've done your research. Not to be too disheartening but just keep in mind how difficult funding is to get at the moment, and I think you've missed funding apps for this year so it'd be 2012 you'd be applying for. I would definitely attach a CV too.

Hope that helps,
Caroline

I think it depends on the Uni/funding body (if it's funded).

For mine it was competitively funded with around 12 projects going for 9 funding spaces, and I was the first project interviewed so had to wait until all the interviews were over until I heard, I think it was about 2 months. Although I did hear unofficially back from the supervisor a week after the interview to say I was picked for the project and they just had to wait for the funding news. I have heard of people hearing back the same day though so it can differ wildly!

They should have told you after the interview how long it would take, but if they didn't after a week or so I think it would be fine to email and ask when they think the decision will be made. Either way they should contact you and if you're successful they should email/phone you and then send you an official letter. It's horrible waiting though! So hopefully they won't keep you waiting too long!

Caro

Sent, thank you so much! You're a star!

My uni seems have rubbish access to anything over 10 years old!

No problem thanks for trying! Damn the article being so old!

https://springerlink3.metapress.com/content/hv24824t008704pv/resource-secured/?target=fulltext.pdf&sid=qbhvhniti33ikm454k5gk4ja&sh=www.springerlink.com

Mason, C. F. Snail populations, beech litter production, and the role of snails in litter decomposition
OECOLOGIA
Volume 5, Number 3, 215-239

I'd be eternally grateful if you could check if you have access to this =)

I tried, no luck sorry =(