Thank you for the kind words.  Of course I know that I'm better off not getting an interview of it already has someone's name on it. But I am struggling with the encouragement - he didn't even say that it is slightly to the side of your experience but I'm not averse to you applying. He said he would welcome my application.

I suspect that part of the problem is I am going away in two weeks time for 5 weeks research / holiday in the Rockies and so I phoned up the HR person to see what the timescales were (after a couple of people told me I was better to tell them in advance rather than if I got offered an interview.  They said the chair was away in China but they would contact him. I suspect he decided I was too complicated and so just said tell her no.

Well then they are very lucky if they get a pay rise for supervising PhDs - most don't (although it is a factor which can contribute to moving up the grades so indirectly it might help.

Most people I know do it for (either or both of) the esteem and the pleasure from nurturing new talent

I applied for a job at the uni where I am doing my PhD, I acted on the feedback from the two previous jobs there which I was interviewed for (when apparently it was so close if they had two jobs I would have been hired), I contacted the chair of the panel in advance to ask if it would be worth my applying and got a favourable response.

AND I DIDN'T EVEN GET AN INTERVIEW

Feel really crap - totally demoralised and not at all motivated to do anything except watch crap tv and hug my kids (who are so great "at least you have a job mummy") (and it's that time of year when us part-timers who are in universities have the time to get on with PhD).

And I've got a headache so cant even hit the bottle

:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(:-(

@Goodboy
But they don't get that money as extra - it is part of their pay 60 hours a year (out of the 1470 or whatever) so about 4% which if they are on £40k equates to about £160 per student - not a lot (compared to the fees).  But as I was an accountant in my previous life I do know that there are lots of other costs (eg library facilities, labs where applicable) and overheads (computers, office space, support functions etc) but it aint a lot.

You can't use the £35 sessional lecturer per hour pay for full time staff as that takes into account holiday, sick pay, prep time (they are all rolled into the rate as you only get paid for the delivery hours not the prep or marking).  Most people who do hourly paid work reckon they are on around £10 an hour. When I started out as an hourly paid I travelled 100 mile round trip to teach 2 hours twice a week so earned £130 for what took me (with travelling, preparation, seeing students etc) about 15 hours and cost me £30 a week in fuel - I saw it as work experience (which did result in my getting a permanent job).

The uni I work in gives 60 hours per year per full time post grad which aint much (esp when getting t reading drafts)

Depends on the subject and university. I have never heard of financial incentives. I think they do it for academic prestige, because they are genuinely interested in the subject or in helping new researchers; they get some allowance on workload (but it is not very much).

Bad Luck. I've always been told that the presentation is basically a test to see if you are capble of standing up and givning a presentation - if you can't then it does count against you but otherwise it has little or no impact. It is tough when jobs are advertised and interviewed for and they have someone's name on - it pays lip service to transparent proceeses but benefits no-one. Better luck next time.

Well done Bug that is good news.(up):-):-)(up)

I use mindmanager 6 which I've had for a few years - they do a student discount. You can get Mindmanager 8 from here http://www.studentexpressware.co.uk/gbu0-catshow/mindjet.html

I'm much earlier in the process than you are but my supervisors asked for a list of chapter headings before end of April - I did something really superficial (not much beyond intro, lit review, methodology etc) but then I did two things which really helped me get a structure (which not only delivers what they want but also will be useful to me).  The first was looking at someone else's PhD - even though it was only very vaguely related seeing the level of detail in the sections within her chapters really helped me. The second was drawing up a mindmap (using mindmap software) to build on the themes.  As I added to each top level theme I was able to spin them out into themes on their own and also I could draw links from one theme to another which really helped. From having no idea on how I will do the 30,000 words or so of the lit review I have now broken it down into much more manageable chunks.

I'm not sure that funding exists to enable you to study part time (unless porvided by your employer)

You can't usually go automatically from an MA to a PhD as one is taught and the other is research. For PhD what is as important (if not more so) is who your supervisors / examiners were - most of the people I know with PhDs ask other people who supervised them or who examined them rather than where they went. Not sure if this helps.

Hi KB
I've been tied up all day in departmental annual review so have only just logged on but would echo what everyone else has said - about you being one of the people who has been / is so helpful on the forum. Take some time out - everyone needs a break some of the time - don't feel guilty about it. Try to do something relaxing - have a massage or something similar if finances allow or if not go for a walk in the fresh air. Don't worry about the PhD - it will be there next week or next month.

Look after yourself

I didn't watch it - nipped out to do a bit of shopping but got a goal by goal update by phone from my husband (think he was confusing me with someone who cared but the ladies in M&S were glad of the updates). Chatted to an old university friend who moved to Spain from SAfrica a year ago - when they lived their her husband promised their daughters they would see England so he and two teenagers flew out last week for the game - the three of them were spotted on Spanish and Irish tv in the crowd but their mum was on the loo and missed it!

If England had got the the final I would have watched it but I'm glad we can have some normality back in our lives.