You really need to follow through the links to find the information relevant to you. If you are a UK student and apply for a project with research council funding then the average studentship is about £13000 pa tax free. All your fees will be paid and you should be able to apply for a travel allowance if you live more than a couple of miles from your lab. Other expences during your study (eg travel to a limited number of conferences) will also be covered.

See our PhDs Explained section for information on qualifications.

You have done exactly the right thing and received the correct advice. Sadly, this probably isn't the place to ask. Try the Linguist List web site, where they have a Linguist Finder database as well as numerous other resources.

See our PhDs Explained section for links and information relating to qualifications and equivalent grades.

Yes you can do a PhD in the USA. Have a look at the Fulbright Commission web site.

PhDs in the USA take between 5-7 years (and sometimes more), as opposed to 3-4 years in the UK.

If your references are good then it's worth applying.

Feel free to talk here.

If you can't find projects on this site you'll just have to visit the web sites of every university with a medical school in a 2 hour radius. By my reckonning that's Keele, Leeds, Leicester/Warwick, Manchester, Nottingham & Sheffield, maybe even Birmingham.

Dear Josh

Search the internet to find an academic (university lecturer, professor or research fellow) who is working on similar projects to the one you are suggesting. Write to this person with your suggestions. They are the only people who will be in a position to put your proposals into action. Before you do this check with friends and colleagues that your proposal is clearly written. Your initial posting isn't very clear 'a new PhD topic that life can get a PhD with' doesn't actually make sense. If you like, you send your idea to us - we're intrigued.

The qualification they're after is your final degree. Most masters courses will accept you provisionally, particularly if your references predict a first.

Rocks are very hard

We're not experts on such matters, and you should contact the Chinese embasy in London for advice. If Dublin is more convenient for you then you could ask the embasy there, but it's more likely that you'll have to use London.

It all depends on the amount of funding you get. For UK students studying a PhD in the UK a Research Council studentship will cover course fees, lab fees and living expenses. EU students receiving funding from the same source to study in the UK would receive a 'fees only' award and would need to find funding elsewhere.

Students from outside the EU need to look far and wide for funding and will find it hard to find funding to cover all of their course fees.

Your PhD will not generally hinder you in applying for other jobs.

Your department should offer some kind of advisor or mentoring system which gives you people whose job it is to 'independently' monitor the progress of your project. If not then approach the postgraduate tutor or head of research degrees in your department. Do not drop out without talking about your problem first.