I was told that I have to complete an RD1 form for the reserach degrees committee in order to be registered.
I was wondering if someone has already completed one. Is it difficult? Is there a possibility that I will fail?
Thanks

Hello!!!!
I writing this post because I am really happy for my self and I want to share it with you.
I have made a (very rough) first scedule of my PhD!!!! It's really early for such a thing, as I have just started, but for the last three years I have been reading articles and books on the subject and I have almost everything that has been published on it. So, I know what I want to write about. The problem (?) is if my supervisors agree with me!!!
But no matter what it's a first start and I am really happy about it!!!

I believe that it is very unfair for those who do not have the money but have the ability and will to study, to go further..
It has made me realise that I am very lucky. That I must be grateful for what I have. That I must "keep the humility of realising how priviledged" I am (as shani puts it).

Later, I decided to do a masters. But, I couldn't do it in my own country, as I had to know the right people in the right positions to be accepted at the course I wanted. And even if I were accepted (after passing very difficult exams and an interview) the lectures were starting in November and the course lasted for 2 years (if I were lucky, as it is normal for lecturers here not to appear for semesters at the university). So, I had to have one more lost year. And one more year of family support.
So, I chose a UK uni. I spent a lot of my parents money although I tried to save as much as possible. If they weren't able to help me.... I would have never had the opportunity for a masters.
The same thing is happening now. I am a PhD student in the UK and I have the financial support of my parents as the money from my full-time teaching job in my country are almost enough to cover my personal expenses.

Well, I consider myself as "lucky", because my parents had and still are helping me with my studies.
In my country, it is almost imposible to enter a university without extra help (I mean lessons apart from school), which means a lot of money,as it's almost 45 euros per hour. My parents could provide that for me and I managed to get into a university.
There comes the second financial difficulty, which is studies!!! We don't have to pay tuition fees, but almost always we have to change cities, we have to rent houses (as there aren't enough halls), pay the bills etc. Which means that someone without the help of parents' cannot study. Simple as that!

I studied for a year at Notts Uni (although it was in 2001) and I had a great time. I found that they were very organised and ofeered a lot of support to their students. I also liked the city a lot.
The choice is yours but Notts is nice.

Sorry, I just saw that I wrote that I they told me I had 10 minutes to talki. That's why it seemed strange. They told me I had 20 minutes, so I prepared for 17 minutes!

I had a presentation the day before yesterday. It was a really bad experience. First, I was told that there was no specific theme, and I could do whatever I wanted. So, I prepared some very good meterial. Then 3 days before the presentation, I learned by accident that there was a theme, which was completely different from what I had done!!!!! So, I prepared anothre presentation. I was told that I was having 10 minutes to talk. So, my prepsentation was excactly 17 minutes. On the day of the seminar, I learned that we had 10 minutes to present our work!!!!!!
I had to cut out a lot of my material. But overall, the audience seemed to understand what I was saying. So, I guess it was bad experience as far as preparartion is concerned but it was a good one as far as the presentation is concerned!

Usually they take the father's name. But lately there are some cases where they have taken the mother's or both. I think it depends on the couple. However, as we are a very conservative society, the name of the child (not the surname) almost always is from the father's side of the family (usually his mother's if it's a girl or his father's if it's a boy). It'a a kind of tradition, not written anywhere.

In Greece, by law, the woman does not take her husband's surname, even if she wants to.
Personally, I like my surname and I would like to keep it.

i am emmy from greece. i am a teacher and currently my work involves assessing children with special needs. i have completed an mba and i am just starting my phd on women and educational management. in three months i'm entering the foufth decade of my life!!!

well done!!!!! many many congratulations. i am just starting my phd, so there i have a loooooong way ahead of me.

The tutor I had for my second master was the same as yours. He kept telling me that I wasn't capable for postgraduare studies. He kept telling me to do corrections and when I did them he was telling me that it was wrong and the first was the correct one! He was telling me that they did not know anything and they let me pass on my first master!
Also, he never answered my mails and it was taking him about 3 months to give me feedback on my essays!
And most important, once he told me that foreign people should not study in the UK!
It's a good thing that I am over with him! And now I have two very good supervisors (so far) for my PhD.

I will turn 30 in September and I juste started. I took two ywars off after my first master then I got a jov, decided to do an MBA and found an interesting area for research.

I can tell you about Greece. You get, officially, 2 weeks for Christmas and Easter and almost 2,5 months during the summer. You don't have certain hours per week that you have to be at your office, although many academics (especially in big, central unis) are almost every day in their offices. But the money is no good. It's about 1500 euros per month for a lecturer and 2800 for a professor, but there are othre opportunities to raise that money, like research programmes, committees etc.
Of course, my experience comes from a school of education, I guess in science, where a lab is involved, working hours are different.
Nevertheless, it is very very difficult to get into academia in Greece. You have to know the right people with the right influence and you have to do a lot of unpaid work beforehand.