Wow, congratulations!

I applied to 6. For one of them, my application arrived too late and was not considered. I withdrew another one, and I got 4 offers, however only one of them with funding. I was lucky that the department which offered me funding was my first choice, if not it would have been difficult to choose.

In my department (well kind of, I'll start in a couple of weeks) in some of the lecturers don't have PhD, but it's a Department of Music and therefore not strictly an academic subject i.e. if you could have Stravinsky as a lecturer of composition who would bother if he has a PhD or not. In more accademical areas like historical musicology, music theory... most people tend to have PhDs.

Any of the ladies here has applied to a scholarship of the British Federation of Women Graduates (http://www.bfwg.org.uk/)? I won't be able to apply in (hopefully!) a couple of years as they are for women starting their last PhD year, but I would appreciate if anybody had any tips about them, i.e. how are applications assessed, if some fields are preferred above others, etc. Thank you for your time.

Try to use the simplest structures and vocabulary. It's the first thing I do whenever I have to do an interview, a presentation etc. in a foreign language (for example English which as you have noticed is not my mother tongue). Ok, it's amazing to see that someone can use complex structures and rich vocabulary in his second language, but if you're not really sure it can be a great risk. Plus I think that English-speaking people (as opposed to speakers of other languages) are well used to hear foreign people speaking their language, so you won't probably be the worst English speaker they met.

I also can't sleep thinking about the PhD I will start very soon... but this is actually quite useful as I'm at work and need to stay awake. But anyway thinking about this whole PhD thing I can't work either. So...

Am I still on time to wish you happy birthday?

Well not in Germany (where I am) but in the UK I think so!

So... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

(last part... hopefully)
This is what I found for the Humanities, hopefully in science fields there are more opportunities (Marie Curie Research Programme or something like that?). Anyway I wish you luck!

Another option is to look for studentships offered by the universities or departments themselves. Check the Funding section of the university's webpage or e-mail the department to find about studentships, requirements, deadlines... This can be a though job as there's not a standard like for Research Council grants, and you'll find studentships for UK/EU/overseas students only, studentships for specific fields of research, etc. As an EU student I have received a studentship from my own department to start my PhD with them so yes, it's feasible.
You could also try to find funding in your home country, for example from local charities or foundations (again you'll have to do some research to find out requirements, deadlines, areas of interest... ). Some British charities also offer studentships, for example there's the British Federation of Women Graduates (yes it is for women only).

Olá Paula,

It seems we're on the same boat! I'm also an EU student and I haven't found many opportunities of full studentships. I'm in the Humanities, where most projects are supported by the AHRC, and they state that EU students are only entitled to a "fees-only" award. In one of the projects I found, I e-mailed the supervisor to confirm if I could receive a full studentship and she answered me that if they really didn't find any qualified candidate from the UK, the AHRC *might* consider paying a maintenance grant to the successful EU student. However this project was in a quite rare, interdisciplinary fields and some of the requirements were very specific, so maybe they were afraid that no British candidate would meet all the requirements (BTW at the end I didn't apply for this project).

I don't know how the other Research Councils work, i.e. if they can fund EU students or not.
(200 words limit...)

chchch... I was at work, nightshift this week, plenty of time to browse the Internet as there's really nothing to do.

A link about transcribing interviews written by a PhD student (just discovered it randomly today and then found your thread in this forum!):

http://www.music.training.rhul.ac.uk/studled_oral.doc

Good luck

Well that`s what a degree in Classics is good for, you can answer questions like that at every forum or party...

Santorini? It has in fact another name which is very different (Thera)...

I'd love to do some teaching as a PhD student, but I had thought it would be really difficult to get. Is it still possible being in the Humanities and (most probably) self-funded?