Sure, working with different people at different institutions is a good thing. But why achieve that via a second MRes? Surely having acquired one already, your thinking ahould now be more along the lines of 'well I could do my PhD *here* and then a Post-doc *there*...'

Have you thought of asking academics in your field whether it's a worthwhile enterprise to do a second MRes?

How's it going, Lara?

*boxes

"Another consideration is that I am of the opinion that a PhD should
be about mastering techniques and methodologies rather than forming a nice and pretty novel argument."

You can't write a thesis on the basis of 'I learnt to do X'. You'll be expected to have learnt how to do X. What a thesis needs to contain is what you did with that. You can learn as many techniques as you like, but that kind of thing is viewed as a given. Your examiners aren't going to be impressed by how many skills bixes you tick.

I really can't see any point in doing two MRes degrees. There comes a point where you just need to get on with a PhD and learn further methodologies 'on the job'. It's not like you'll have got to grips with all methodologies by doing two MRes degrees or a PhD - you'll carry on learning these things thereafter. So if there's any way you could get on and do a PhD straight away, that's the route I'd take.

On the other hand, because you'd be their first student, they might be really really supportive and helpful, because it'll look bad for them if they mess it up.

If everything else is fine, I wouldn't let that put you off. Can you make sure you have a secondary supervisor who is a bit mroe experienced at supervision?

The application format will depend entirely on the course for which you're applying. You will need to choose a course and then contact that university to find out from them what kind of application they want.

Do you have one of the following that you could go to advice:
(i) a secondary supervisor
(ii) a grad tutor for your dept
(iii) a Dean of students?

The latter two can't help you with proofreading your thesis, but they can lean on your supervisor and make sure he does his job.

Incidentally, I wouldn't measure the quality of a university by whether or not it advertises on findaphd.com. A lot of good universities do, but so do a lot of less-good ones. It's only a commercial advertising site, not a league table.

A better indicator would be to look at the research outputs and reputations of the staff of an insitution.

University of London definitely does it externally, delivered by the London School of Hygeine and Tropical Medicine, which has an excellent reputation.

Yep, depends totally on the subject area. I'd doubt, say that you could do a BA in History and then do an MSc in Particle Physics. But I have a friend who did a BA in Geography then an MSc in Quaternary Science. It depends just how artsy and sciency the respective course are, and how well the topics are linked.

I'm not sure how worthwhile it'd be to do two Masters by research, particularly as you say the second 'has a possibility of leading to a PhD' rather than that it definitely will. If you did two taught Masters on different topics, I could see the point in that, but how much extra 'added value' are you going to get from that second MRes? Are you really going to learn *that* much that is new/different to your first one?

You'd be best off asking the university in question

"but now i dont know how to "reference" it. cause its a website link, and i heard that you are not allowed to reference website links in a phd thesis. but will worry about the referencing later."

Delegate!

That sounds like a good plan Lara.

Just one thing - why not start trying to arrange a meeting with your secondary supervisor now, before waiting for the feedback? These things can take a while to organise, and the sooner you can see her the better.

Keep at it. You're doing a grand job.

Actually, the figuring out what to do about the stats thing is perhaps one of those things you could delegate - you've got to get past the 'being a burden' attitude. If you feel guilty, buy chocolates for the people helping you!

As for dealing with the sups being away - we could give you all the advice in the world, but ultimately it can only be sorted between you and them. I think you need to start communicating to them some of the things you share here - such as your week by week plans etc. If they don't know these things, it's going to be hard for them to find the right amount of time to support you.