It's not even a case of just getting a better offer, I think I have really valid reasons for not wanting to do this PhD, but I cant help think that my supervisors at this place will see it like that. I am sure they will say that I've wasted there time.
Luckily the other PhD I want to do is not in a similar field and so it's very unlikely that I will meet any of the people from this lab at conferences in future.
Am not sure what to do since it's not as simple as saying no since my masters project is tied into this and I don’t want it to affect it.
There is a member of staff at my current university (masters) who is involved with my masters placement (placement organizer) who I could ask for advice in solving this issue. But am unsure if I should involve them or if is something which I need to sort out myself.
Any advice would be really appreciated

The place that I am at is not an academic institute, not even a research institute (not keen on this after thinking it through) and so I have to register with a university. Before I started there I was told that I could choose the institution I registered with but now they are saying I must register with a correspondence university which does not have a good reputation in the field I will be studying for my PhD or any field for that matter. Also lab space and is scarce and the facilities are limited and rather out dated. At my interview I did ask to see the labs but there apparently wasn't anybody available to show me around. These are just a few of the reasons why I don’t want to do the PhD there, there are others such as lack of collaborations with either industry or academia, and those that exist are with universities which do not have a good reputation.

I feel like I was pressurized into accepting the studentship, they gave me a very short time to decide and were telling me about all the other applicants being ready to start straight away, but since I have not finished my masters I was not ready to start. Then they suggested to me that I do my masters project in their lab and in the end I agreed. However now that I actually got there, I don’t like the work ethic and the lab is not research focused and there is no structure to the lab, however they implied that there was at the interview. There are only a few PhD students, no lab technician and only one postdoc who was supposed to be supervising me but will be leaving for a year when I start my PhD so I'll get no lab support. But I wasn’t told this until I started my masters project. They changed my masters project when I got there to something totally different to what was agreed, which is something I have no interest in.

I wish I had your problem. I am actually at an institution, doing a short project as part of my masters course and it was planned that I would then start my PhD in late september/early october once this project is finished. However aftyer actually going to the institution and experiencing working in the lab and evaluating a lot of other things I have decided that this is not the right place for me and now wish to go to another institution in october which I have an offer for. Any ideas on how I should break it to them would be much appreciated.

hiya,
I can think I can answer some of your questions.
For science based PhDs its not required to have a MSc before starting however, some people do choose to take an MSc before starting.
From what I understand for most art/social science based PhDs I think it is compulsory to have an Masters before doing a PhD.

The funding question is a little more difficult to answer, since there are many different types of awards available from different bodies and research councils and the ammount of funding can vary from fees only, to fees and a stipend. However again the amount you recieve for the stipend is really variable too. Also your fee status (e.g. home, EU international) can determine how much if any funding you will recieve.

Hope this helps

Hi I know this is going to sound really silly, but I was reading an article which gave advice to prospective PhD students which said the best advice they could give was to choose a PhD with a good supervisor before thinking of other things like interest in the topic and future career. However I think its really difficult to know how a supervisor is going to be before you actually work under them. I mean you could ask other students in the lab but how do u know they awill give you n honest answer. You could also look at their publications, how well they are known in the field e.t.c and whilst this is good it wont actually tell you about their ability to supervise. Any Ideas

Didn't you have to sign an IP agreement before you started your PhD. It's quite common at most universities and institutes to sign an agreement which sadly relieves you of IP ownership. However in some institutions you will be entitled to a cut of any revenue made from your inventions.
But if you havent signed anything then maybe you will have ownership.

Hi im in a similar situation, but have not actually started the PhD yet, am doing a small project as part of my previous course and will then go onto to do my PhD afterwards. But have realised that this is not the right place for me to do my PhD. Its not research focused, quality of the research group i'm in and the facillities are not good. Now I want to do a PhD in academia, and luckily I have an offer for another PhD at another institution with full funding, however I'm unsure how I should break it to my supervisors. Have been really stressing out about this. Also taking up this other PhD would mean moving away, from my Boyfriend and I havent told him this yet as I'm sure it's bound to cause an argument and will probably put me off going. However I know thta staying where I am is totally the wrong direction for me, have spoken to several people about this and they all agree that the move is the best thing.
Any I deas?

For my PhD there were 8 of us for one studentship

Hi guys I just wanted to know what your strategy was for reading papers. I've been reading so many papers since starting my PhD but im starting think that im going to start to forget what i've read because i'm reaidng so much. What strategy do you use? do you make notes?

I read your other thread regarding York university.I did my masters at York, just to let you know on the appplication form for York they donb't ask about Criminal convictions at all so you wont have to worry about that if you plan on applying there

I share with 6 others and we all have our own desk and computer. However at the university where I did my undergraduate degree PhD students did not get a desk, even the lecturers had to share an office, it was 2 to an office.

This is just like that Jim Carey film Me, Myself and Irene

This is just like that Jim Carey film Me,Myself and Irene

Not my field I have no idea sorry