There are two ways to be able to use Dr before your name. One is to train as a medical practitioner and become a 'Medical Doctor'. The other is to take a PhD, DPhil, professional doctorate or other equivalent qualification.

You should seek advice from your suppervisor. They will know the potential industrial partners who you should approach. Under normal circumstances it would be the supervisor (as the expert in their field) who would seek funding for your research project.

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information on studying in Australia.

You can only apply for ORS at a single institution. The amount of funds and the allocation of the awards vary each year. In 2004 990 awards were made (around 23% of these to Oxford & Cambridge students). Southampton University received 25 ORS awards (putting it in the top 10), we do not know how many people applied for these awards - you could try asking Southampton for this statistic. Oxford University received 106 ORS awards - (12% of those who applied for an ORS through Oxford University).

For more information on how the ORS is allocated go to the Universities UK web site.

If you are worried, write to the people concerned and ask on what date they expect to be able to give you the information that you are waiting for.

I'm afraid that the best advice is to start heading for a 2(i) rather than a 2(ii). Funding for postgraduate courses in the humanities is extremely hard to come by and competition is intense.

Make sure that you do as much lab work as you can during your current degree. As you say, publications are unlikely, but a large amount of laboratory experience will be just as usefull. Good English language skills will also help.

Although some funding is available for students from outside of the European Union to study in the UK it is hard to find and usually will only cover a small part of the costs. As a members of the Commonwealth, Indian students have more chance that nationals of most other countries of finding sources of funding. For example students from China or the USA are offered even less opportunities to study in the UK.

Rightly or wrongly the British government prioritises the education of its own residents before that of other nationalities.

What job will you be doing whilst undertaking the PhD?

Search this site for opportunities. Also see our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information.

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information.

Your best hope is to apply for funding from your own government.

You can suggest your own research title if you wish to fund the PhD yourself. The majority of PhD projects in the sciences are funded by the research councils or research cahrities and have fixed research projects.

Universities are not so despirate for students that they need to search the internet for one. They advertise, you apply.

It is probably true that most universities will take anybody with the right qualifications, if they fund themselves - they are selling a service and if you look like you're capable of completing it on paper the interview would ordinarily be a formality.

Not having an interview at all does seem worrying and might lead you to question your new supervisor’s commitment to your research proposal. For a start it means that you don't get a chance to see if you like your supervisor or your new working environment. It gives you no chance to find out what facilities will be available to help you in your research.

You should ask to visit and meet your supervisor before you accept their offer. The chances are high that other institutions will be happy to take you. Depending on the nature of your research the university you choose does not even need to be in the same city (although you will need to meet your supervisor every few weeks).

See our Funding and PhDs Explained sections for links and information.